The University of Manitoba Students Union (UMSU) council met March 8.

Sara Perkins from Students of Fine Arts (SOFA) reported that the arts lab is now “officially opened.”

Perkins said the “faculty of arts is super grateful to have a new gorgeous building.”

Camilla Tapp, UMSU president, informed the council that the university hosted an open house on the parking plan for Blue Bombers event days Feb. 29.

Tapp mentioned that the “administrators did not seem sympathetic” to UMSU’s concerns and several media outlets were present to solicit student opinions.

She reported that the orientation working group, a committee to discuss ideas for summer and fall programs, met March 2.

She said that the fall orientation will be “different this year” as it is now under the purview of Student Life, and the number of direct entry faculties with their own orientation have also increased

“UMSU hopes that more students will get involved in the orientation process,” said Tapp.

She informed the council that a movie night is also coming up on March 26 and 27.

Justin Quigley, vice-president (internal), reported that pub construction meetings took place Feb. 14 and 28.

Quigley said that the construction is “well underway and the major thing left to do is to get the kitchen renovated.”

The construction team is now ready to start bringing furniture into the pub.

Quigley mentioned that he took part in the meeting surrounding the construction of the “bike compound.”

He said that the meeting was to talk about the plans developed regarding the bike compound.

“So far, the decision has been made to look at development of the bike compound in the parkade,” he said.

Quigley announced that the “UMSU awards” are up.

He said that each UMSU award is of “$1,000 each.”

Julie Rempel, vice-president (external), mentioned that the student experience committee met and discussed the update of the international student healthcare coverage, opportunities for undergrad students interested in research and parking on campus.

She said that discussions were also held related to food services on campus.

“Aramark’s contract is coming up and UMSU wants to ensure that students are involved in every step of the process,” she said.

Nour Rashid, vice-president (advocacy), reported that she attended the Water is a Right meeting.

She said that she also attended a meeting to discuss the displaced First Nation community of St. Martin that is “facing a lot of challenges and uncertainty about their future” due to the spring flood of 2011.

“The meeting was about hosting a second Couchiching Conversation, specifically focusing on the impacts   of flooding,” she said.

Rashid also mentioned that the Equity Watch website has been launched