$231,000 from the Student Life Levy (SLL) is being used to fund a variety of projects on campus at Wilfrid Laurier University. This amount is one third of the total levy, which is comprised of student fees and donations that go towards enhancing undergraduate student life on the Waterloo campus.
This is the first manifestation of the new process for the SLL, which has changed for the 2013-14 year so that students will actually see the impact of their money on campus.
In the past, the SLL committee didn’t meet until March of the following year, making it virtually impossible to have projects done in time to affect students. Now, one third of the money is being considered for projects put forward by the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union (WLUSU) in June.
“That was the main goal of the restructuring of how we consider the money and the projects is that we weren’t seeing the impacts early enough and so when we made this change we really did want to make sure that what projects we did bring forward and approve that students coming back in September would see the result of the funding,” recapped Roly Webster, executive director and COO of WLUSU.
With a third of the funding, projects will be underway this summer, the majority of which will be completed by the time students return in the fall. The committee will then meet in November and again in March to consider the only two thirds of the money.
The projects currently being worked on include renovations to the study space in the 2-4 Lounge, an added take-out counter at Wilf’s, a new Foot Patrol van, a new hiring system for volunteer positions, and more club funding through the Campus Community Project.
“We’re trying to do a lot of creative remodeling of the space we already have on campus because we can’t do any big capital projects for the year,” explained Annie Constantinescu, the president and CEO of WLUSU.
“So if you look at the study space for the 2-4 Lounge topic, that’s what we’re trying to do,” she continued. “We’re just taking one of the sections in the 2-4 Lounge and remodeling it so that it fits with what the demands have been from students.”
This will involve replacing the couches with more group study rooms and tables to accommodate more organized studying space.
Constantinescu also noted that the proposals were “very thought-out and very in depth.”
“So for the Foot Patrol van we looked at the fact that last year we had around 1,900 rides that were given between 10 p.m. – 3 a.m. during the course of when Foot Patrol would actual run,” she explained. “And same goes for Wilf’s pick up station. There were about 125 orders per night. So it just shows there is a demand, these services are utilized and now we’re making it more efficient for students.”
This year, students are also being encouraged to contribute their own proposals. Come fall there will be a new student portal which, according to Webster, will be more student friendly. This will provide students with the opportunity to easily be able to put forward their own proposals that meet the criteria and would impact student life on campus.
“Across the board I think it’s a broad breadth of programs,” said Webster. “We’re going to impact students right away and we’re going to impact a lot of students. So overall I’m really happy with what we were able to do.”
