Student Life Levy fall 2016 winners announced

The Student Life Levy committee at Wilfrid Laurier University has released the projects approved for funding for the fall 2016 term.

The Student Life Levy approved eight Waterloo projects this term, with an additional five Brantford projects and both multi-campus applications.

“[Student Life Levy projects must] enhance student life whether it be physical or mental health, for students, since it is students paying into this fund. And it can be non-academic,” said Nick DeSumma, chair of the board and chief governance officer. “It can’t work towards a course credit.”

The two largest projects to secure funding this term were hiring musical group, A Tribe Called Red for Aboriginal Education Week, which was given $31,000 and The Library in High Definition: Film, Data Visualization and Artist Video Project which was given $22,500, both on the Waterloo Student Life Levy Committee.

“[A Tribe Called Red is] an all First Nations DJ crew from Ottawa, Canada, that produce a true unique sound that impacted the global electronic scene and urban pop culture. It’s part of Aboriginal Education Week, a celebration celebrating Aboriginal culture,” said DeSumma.

“It allows students to engage in a culture of learning — learning about Aboriginal culture, trying to educate on Aboriginal culture in more of a relatable way for all students to try and make it a more popular environment for all students, particularly Aboriginal students.”

While this project was for an on-campus event, a number of projects, such as The Library in High Definition, will involve long-term infrastructure-based improvements to aspects of Laurier’s campuses.

“[The Library in High Definition] is essentially more projectors for a film experience so students can watch these in a theater system.

The initiative will help students engage with each other and their environment in a culture of learning outside the classroom, by providing a venue for experiential learning through showing of film, art exhibits and interactive data presentations,” said DeSumma.

Other projects that received funding from the Brantford campus include: The CityStudio Brantford which will be given $8,2777.50, the Formal Gala which will be given $7,500 and FLASS Presents Special Guest Speaker Molly Burke from Me to We which will be given $7,500.

While the two Multi-Campus projects, Wen-Do Women’s Self-Defence and An Event for Social Justice: Education and Community Building through the Arts received $3,400 and $4,000, respectfully.

Overall, the Student Life Levy committee received applications for 14 Waterloo campus projects, seven Brantford campus projects and two Multi-Campus projects this term.

“Personally I wasn’t [happy with the number of applicants] just because we’ve had higher numbers in the past. Particularly, there was a large drop from last years’ application pool, but I was pretty satisfied with how many students applied,” said DeSumma.

“The difference between last year and this year was that, sure there was a lot less applicants, but on the other hand, there was a lot more students applying to the Student Life Levy.”

Overall, the total amount of funding given out this term was $108,874.73.

The Student Life Levy accepts applications in three cycles and encourages curious students to approach members of the committee with any questions they may have before next semester’s deadline.

“Definitely reach out to all of us and get that information to enhance [your] application, because we have the background knowledge of what can be approved and what can’t be approved and the guidelines,” said DeSumma.