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Your Voice; Our Concern. That is the motto of Sunway University Student Council (SUSC), and it is once again time to uphold it. On 17th of May, 2023, Sunway University Student Council (SUSC) and Sunway College Council (SCC) held a Bi-Annual Town Hall session from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. All Sunway students were invited to attend this town hall; whether it be club representatives, student cohort representatives, or just general students. As the event started, all core team representatives from SUSC and SCC went up on stage and sat in their respective seats. Below are the following members that were present on stage.
From SUSC:
- Charmaine Oon Zi Ting, President of SUSC
- Syarifah Nursyafiqah, Vice President of SUSC
- Chan Lai Hin Andre, Treasure of SUSC
- Vanessa Chong Kai En, General Secretary of SUSC
- Shurti Sohaney, Director of Academic Affairs (SUSC)
- Shireen Ali, Director of Extracurricular (SUSC)
- Lisa Gracia, Director of External Relations (SUSC)
- Brian Anthony Sibert, Director of International Student Relations (SUSC)
- Andrea Lai Yen Yi, Director of Public Relations (SUSC)
- Sritesh Naidu A/L Punniya Seelan, Director of Student Relations (SUSC)
From SCC:
- Ong Zhi Hsuen, President of SCC
- Cheng Chee Thay (Ken), Vice President of SCC
- Wee Jun Ian Matthew, Secretary of SCC
- Mattathias Christopher, Treasurer of SCC
- Aung Moe Thaw (Vincent), Director of Academic Affairs (SCC)
- Ahmad Harraz bin Ahmad Tifla, Director of Advertising and Promotion (SCC)
- Tiong Jia Yi, Director of Community Service (SCC)
- Ethan Tan Ee Teng, Director of Extracurricular (SCC)
- Nam Yoo Jung (Amy), Director of Social Relations (SCC)
- Aw Jit Soon (Sean), Director of Student Welfare (SCC)
Lastly, there is also Gerald Ang Qi Zheng — the fantastic emcee for the evening.
Introduction of SUSC and SCC
Once all the members were seated, the emcee proceeded to mention the two objectives of this Bi-Annual Town Hall, which was to practice better transparency and to encourage better engagement and communication between SUSC, SCC and the Sunway community. Moving on, an opening speech was delivered by the Vice President of SUSC, Shay (aka Syarifah Nursyafiqah), who thanked everyone for coming to the town hall and encouraged everyone to ask their questions. After Shay’s speech, Charmaine, SUSC’s President, moved to the podium and introduced SUSC. In her introduction, she included the functions of SUSC, their past events (such as Food and Music Carnival, Valentine’s Initiative, Global Cultural Cafe, etc) and future events that are being planned (such as Jom! Series and Afterhours ‘23). After SUSC, it was time to introduce SCC, which was delivered by Zhi Hsuen, the President of SCC. Similar to SUSC’s introduction, SCC included their function, their past events (Sunway Campus Trivia Challenge, Between Us, Valentine’s For You & Them, etc.) and future events (Rayalicious, Fitness Fiesta, and Droplets of Life).
Outcome and Resolution of Previous Town Hall Concerns
In this segment, Sritesh (Director of Student Relations, SUSC) and Sean (Director of Student Welfare, SCC) presented the resolutions and outcomes of the concerns voiced from the previous town hall. Below are some of the main key points of this segment.
- There was a request to have recordings for physical classes. However, this request was rejected because they believed that less students will show up to class in the long run. and cameras and microphones will need to be placed in many classrooms.
- Another request was to add Elective Trailers, a 5-minute video that shows a sneak peek of the electives so students can make an informed decision regarding which elective to choose. This request was approved and has already been implemented for the April Intake 2023.
- A “Fresher’s Package” was added. It is a one stop platform for students to get information about staff contacts, printing locations, places to eat or relax on campus, and more.
- More empty classrooms will be opened to students as a study space.
- The campus incorporated “Menu Rahmah”, which includes low-price, affordable meals that most vendors in Sunway will be involved in.
- Multiple faulty plug points around the campus have been fixed by the facilities department.
Live Q&A Session
After the recap of resolutions and updates from the previous Bi-Annual Town Hall last November, the live Q&A session began at 7:30pm with a QR code being projected onto the screen. This QR code led to a Padlet where attendees submitted their questions for the directors of the SCC and SUSC to address. Attendees were also given the option to raise their hands and ask their questions directly to the council members.
Throughout this session, many attendees chose to verbally raise their concerns instead of submitting them on the collaborative platform. Among the questions asked by attendees, many came from Sunway’s School of Arts (SOA) students or those taking creative programs. These students had asked why they did not have subscriptions to Adobe programs such as Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign whereas the Adobe programs for those who subscribed had only lasted for one semester before expiring. Shurti Sohaney, Director of Academic Affairs, acknowledged the question and stated that all SOA students should be able to access said programs throughout the entirety of their studies. However, she recommended that those who were facing issues with this should submit a written complaint in the insert form– for the SUSC to bring it up with the respective faculty. Another concern raised by a fellow SOA student was regarding the printing facilities in Sunway. She had complained that the current printing services were inadequate for design students, seeing that they are required to print many projects at different scales using other materials. The question was met with lots of agreement from other students and the Student Council expressed that this will be brought up to management.
Moving forward, one attendee had conveyed his dissatisfaction with receiving assignment feedback late or only towards the end of a semester. Other attendees also agreed with his statement and demanded that assignment marks be released earlier to students. The council expressed that this matter will be brought up to the higher ups for further discussion. The last question raised during the live Q&A session was met with much agreement from the entire room. One student had asked why campus parking closed at 8am or earlier on most days. Many students had similar complaints about not being able to find parking or not getting access to campus parking in time. In response, the SUSC stated that gates close when parking is full to avoid double parking and to abstain from causing more frustration. The only solution they could offer was coming earlier to get parking as this was an issue of infrastructure that is out of their hands.
Closing
At 8:30PM, the emcee had announced that we were nearing the end of the event. Cheng Cee Thay (Ken), Vice President of SCC was invited to the podium to give his closing speech. He began by thanking his fellow members of the SUSC and SCC for putting their hard work and commitment into planning the event and reassured the attendees that their concerns will be taken seriously, as Your Voice; Our Concern was not just a slogan, but the foundation of how the student council operates. Ken thanked all the attendees for voicing out their concerns and vowed to make the necessary changes to better improve their academic experience at Sunway in order to create a campus that reflected the needs of the students.
The event then moved on to their last segment which was a lucky draw. Winners were drawed based on a spin the wheel that picked a number matching those on the goodie bags that had been collected before entering the venue. Prizes included face masks from a sponsor of the event, Mellow Jellow. This marked the end of the event and guests were allowed to exit the venue. However, those who wanted further clarification on their concerns were given the opportunity to speak with the directors personally after the event.
Written by: Ally & Daniel
Edited by: Caitlin
