The CSA may publish a monthly -- or once-a-term -- newsletter and plant it around campus. It will post minutes of its meetings on college bulletin boards and on its Web site. The undergraduate student association wants to "open up operations a bit more," says Edmondson. As president, she is also chair of the CSA's communications committee.

        "I don't think people can make good choices unless they're informed choices," she says.

        At a retreat last week, the 31-member CSA board of directors identified its priorities for this year -- planning for a new student centre, developing a five-year student health plan, training students in supervisory roles, producing a CSA manual and writing policies to guide the student union's investments, sponsorships and levies.

        By early November, Edmondson and three others will present a plan of how the CSA would like to proceed with a new student centre on Symons Campus. Preliminary architectural drawings had been prepared, but planning stalled last year after the faculty strike. This time round, the CSA would like a needs assessment included in the process, says Edmondson. If the CSA approves the action plan, a student committee will be struck to January 2000 to see the plan through, she says. "It can't be done in seven months."

        The CSA board has also decided to review the student health plan, under attack for administrative problems, and come up with a five-year plan to improve it "to ensure its viability and stability," says Edmondson. "I'd like to see it administered well before we consider not offering it at all." A CSA task force will present a report in March.

        Edmondson plans to focus this year on Trent issues more than advocate for students at a provincial level. As CSA's vice-president of student issues last year, she grew frustrated by the lack of support from students, faculty and administration for protests against provincial funding cuts. "I don't think people react with enough vehemence to policies made at Queen's Park. They aren't putting the pieces together. They aren't making the links" between what happens there and its impact on Trent, she said. But "it's not up to me to force faculty and administrators to join us." This year, Edmondson plans to focus more on Trent issues than on the macroscopic problems of post-secondary education.