Good Day Everyone:

At most universities you get an email address. For example, stevegreen @ athabascaU . com 

When I first started in the AU MA-IS program, I questioned why we did not have this yet. I received a variety of answers. 

• It's coming.
• We're not ready.
• We're lobbying for this.
• It's a money issue.

I've served on the AUGSA Council as the FHSS representative for two years now. Guess what? Despite some low-key lobbying, we still do not have student university email. You would think that, with a distance education mandate, this might be the FIRST thing to consider. Yet, in 2016, we remain one of the few universities that don't have it. 

Sometimes I think that the issue I have with this is ego related. When asked to put in my University address, I got nothing- and so I engage in some form of self-depricating behavior. Then I redouble my efforts to get this fixed for a while. 

Sometimes I think that the administration is not in touch with the needs of students. Do they realize that this lack of email is actually a problem? Do they care? I've attended many events where they want to hear from us. They take notes and often agree. Maybe the right people are not getting the message. We really need University emails.

Sometimes I feel as though there is some secret reason the University does not want us to contact each other. The first time I asked why there was not an easier way to contact fellow students, I was told "It's a privacy issue." Really? With enough technology to encrypt your tap credit card out there, we cannot design a system that allows a university student to edit their privacy settings. Maybe there are many of us (scattered around the world) who actually WANT to get in touch with each other. Once I was given the answer of Moodle. You know, that inflexible and complicated system that we use to do our school work on. I was told I could contact those who were in my class. That's not good enough. And, the Moodle system is rigid and not user friendly. Once again, don't think our tuition money should be spent to have a state of the art system? I certainly do. Let's be leaders...not second rate.

Anyway, I think it is issues like this that keep me involved in AUGSA and in Student Issues at AU. I'm convinced that to GROW our University in the future we need to invest in student engagement, student technology, and student outreach. Our voices need to be louder and more persuasive. Our efforts need to be united (between Student Unions) and aggressive. We have no time for petty arguments or grand-standing. What we need is a concerted effort to give our students what they need to be successful. One of those things is a University Email

Steve Green

AUGSA - FHSS Rep 2014-2015, 2015-2016

Candidate VP Academic AUGSA 2016-2017

AUGSA Website