Statement Regarding Bus Issues

Greetings colleagues,

We hope you are all well under the circumstances.

SASCO Medical School would like to shed some light behind the recent strike taking place.

We find students having to take matters into their own hands, going on strikes such as this because we are stuck with a leadership that refuses to champion student issues. The MCRC that promised us change, action and communication is instead inactive and silent. They refuse to communicate with students, and moreover refuse to act on real issues that students are facing.

The issue of buses has been consistent throughout the whole year and became most apparent on the 18th of September when the Westville campus decided to decrease the number of buses fetching students from residences. Students took to the streets because they are faced with a similar

issue, a non-existent SRC.

Medical School is no stranger to the issue of buses, as we have been struggling since the beginning of the year. Students from TAFTA, Hillier, JV Smith & LB have had to share one shuttle. You would find the very same MCRC in those buses standing during the ride cause there was no space. Somehow, it never dawned on the MCRC that this was an issue and it needed their intervention. When it was reported, no notable efforts were made to change this. Rather, the words “trips are

short” & “additional buses will be very costly” were frequently thrown around without any visible effort to address the issue.

We're in the 12th month of EFFSC leadership. One might have hoped that they would have

adapted by now and developed into real leaders, but we are yet to see that happen. They tend to fight/blame other organizations, rather than negotiating with management on behalf of their students – Medical students.

We’ve seen the MCRC constantly misunderstanding how unique our campus and our students are. Now is not the time to play politics with our degrees! Instead of being strategic in resolving this issue, it is unfortunate to see our leadership taking this politically and as an opportunity to

campaign against SASCO.

Now, to provide leadership: Please have central SSSO deal with this. In addition to that, SASCO Medical School calls for a condoned day of absence for those already affected.