The following provides a brief summary of the recent Council meeting on March 31. The complete Council package, which includes the agenda and reports, can be accessed online. Full minutes of the March Council meeting will be available in the April 2016 Council package.
This summary is provided to increase transparency, and to support Councillors in completing their obligations under Bylaw 2.3.5; “shall regularly communicate with his or her constituents concerning the activities, programs, and decisions of the Society”.
If you have any questions, please contact our office or the Speaker.
You may jump to the relevant section:
Announcements
- Graduate Peer Support Weekly Drop-In Sessions kicked off on May 4, and will run throughout the summer on Wednesdays from 10:30-12:30 in the Wellness Education Centre.
- President Hinan will give a presentation at May Council regarding Council structure
- VP Bettle is currently consulting with departments about orientation planning; if you would like to provide any input regarding orientation or have any questions about this process, please email services@sogs.ca
Upcoming dates of importance
- May 19 – SOGS Council (see Motion 3)
- Septermber 15-17 – Orientation; details TBA
Motion decisions
Reminder: Motions generally include several clauses providing the background or justification of a motion followed by one or several resolutions. The resolutions are the specific actions being proposed. For brevity, resolutions use the initialisms BIRT (be it resolved that) and BIFRT (be it further resolved that).
Motions arising from the President/Executive
Motion 1 (President)
PASSED; PROPOSED AS BELOW, AMENDED LANGUAGE TO BE CONFIRMED AND UPDATED SHORTLY
Whereas the 2016-17 SOGS Budget proposed increasing departmental grants from $2 per student to $3 per student;
Whereas our departmental grant structure is outlined in the bylaws;
Whereas making this change to the budget requires changing the bylaws;
Whereas this also led to the discovery that the bylaws do not reflect how departmental grants are currently being calculated;
BIRT 2.15.3.19.1. be changed to read “The number of students in a department will be multiplied by $3.00.”
BIFRT 2.15.3.19.2. be changed to read “The result of the calculation in 2.15.3.19.1 will then be multiplied by that department’s total degree of representation at the term’s SOGS Council meetings. This will be the dollar amount of the rebate earned that term.”
Motion 2 (President)
PASSED
Whereas SOGS Council meetings are scheduled to start at 6pm;
Whereas Councillors are required to stay for a minimum of one hour of the meeting;
Whereas we strive to be respectful of everyone’s time;
BIRT Council meetings will be recorded as officially beginning at 6pm.
BIFRT in the event that unusual or unforeseen circumstances result in a considerable delay in the beginning of the Council meeting of more than fifteen minutes, the official start time of the meeting can be delayed, at the discretion of the Speaker.
BIFRT should this delay occur, the Speaker announce the new official start time of the meeting to Council.
BIFRT this policy be retroactive to the beginning of this Council year (October 2015).
BIFRT any resulting changes in departmental grants for the 2015 calendar year will be corrected with a topup
cheque issued at May Council.
Motion 3 (President)
PASSED
Whereas the May SOGS Council meeting is currently scheduled for May 26, which is directly before the beginning of Congress 2016 of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
BIRT the May Council meeting be held on May 19th.
Motion 4
PASSED
Whereas the line item for Office Reception & Temporary Staff in the 2015-16 SOGS Budget was maxed out
at the end of March;
Whereas this budgetary overage is due to extra hours required to train our new receptionist last summer, extra hours required during bus pass distribution in August and September, and extra hours for the receptionist to act as the recording secretary for Council;
Whereas we have two part-time receptionists who must be compensated for hours worked in April;
BIRT the line item for Office Reception & Temporary Staff be increased by $2,500.
Motion 5
PASSED
BIRT the President draft a letter on behalf of SOGS to London-West MPP Peggy Sattler (NDP critic for Training, Colleges and Universities) regarding the issue that there is no registration category for students on medical leave or with part-time status due to a medical situation within the OSAP system;
BIFRT the letter request this issue be raised in the legislature at Queen’s Park;
BIFRT the letter be signed by the SOGS executive and accessibility commissioner
BIFRT the President explore the possibility of having the letter co-signed by the USC executive, and the Western University administration.
Motion 6
PASSED
BIRT the Sustainability Committee be moved to the portfolio of the Vice-President External and Communications
BIFRT the bylaws be updated to reflect this change.
Motion 7
PASSED
BIRT the position of Vice-President External and Communications be re-named Vice-President Advocacy
BIFRT 2.1.3.6 be amended as follows: “shall ensure that the Society’s website is regularly updated.”
BIFRT 2.1.3.3 “shall represent the Society as necessary at meetings of campus associations, including, but not limited to, the University Students’ Council, the MBA Association, the PSAC 610,the UWO Faculty and Staff Associations, and departmental graduate student associations,” be moved to the President’s responsibilities outlined in 2.1.2.
BIFRT the bylaws be updated to reflect these changes.
Motion 8
PASSED
BIRT the responsibilities of the VP Student Services be amended to include the following: manage the Society’s social media accounts and bulletin boards; oversee the Society’s programming, events, and services that address graduate student mental health and wellness.
BIFRT 2.1.5.1 be amended to read “shall ensure representation of graduate student interests and concerns with University bodies governing student services, including, but not limited to, student ancillary fees, student mental health and wellness, graduate student orientation, graduate student sport and recreation.
BIFRT the bylaws be updated to reflect these changes.
Motions arising from Other Committees
Motion 9 (Policy Committee)
PASSED
Whereas the Policy Committee chair under the President’s portfolio has done excellent work and;
Whereas members of the committee believe the chair has earned her honorarium:
BIRT the Policy Committee approves the $500 honoraria for the chairperson, Andi Ghosh.
Motion 10 (IGSIC)
PASSED
Whereas the International Graduate Student Issues Committee (IGSIC) chair under the VP Student
Services portfolio has done excellent work and;
Whereas members of the committee believe the chair has earned her honourarium:
BIRT IGSIC approves the $500 honourarium for the chairperson, Ladan Eskandarian.
Motion 11 (HPC)
PASSED
Whereas the Health Plan Committee (HPC) chair under the VP Student Services portfolio has done
excellent work and;
Whereas members of the committee believe the chair has earned his honourarium:
BIRT the HPC approves the $500 honourarium for the chairperson, Richard Harris.
Motion 12 (OSC)
PASSED
Whereas the Orientation and Social Committee (OSC) chairs under the VP Student Services portfolio have
done excellent work and;
Whereas members of the committee believe the chairs have earned their honourarium:
BIRT the OSC approves the $500 honourarium for the chairpersons, Valerie Orr ($125), Jessica Johnston
($125). Mike Robinson ($83), and Tana Sayin ($167).
Motion 13 (Grad Cast)
PASSED
Whereas the Grad Cast Committee chair under the VP Academic portfolio has done excellent work and;
Whereas members of the committee believe the chair has earned his honorarium:
BIRT the Grad Cast Committee approves the $500 honoraria for the chairperson, Tristan Johnson.
Motion 14 (Academic Committee)
PASSED
Whereas the Academic Committee chairs under the VP Academic portfolio have done excellent work and;
Whereas members of the committee believe the chairs have earned their honoraria:
BIRT the honorarium be dispersed as follows: Chandell Gosse ($250); Victoria O’Meara ($250).
New business
Motion 15 (Bursaries and Subsidies Committee)
PASSED
Whereas members of the Bursaries and Subsidies committee believe the chair has earned his honorarium:
BIRT the Bursaries and Subsidies Committee approves the $500 honorarium for the chairperson, Eric Diehl.
Motion 16 (Finance Committee)
PASSED
Whereas members of the Finance committee believe the chairs have earned their honoraria:
BIRT the Finance Committee approves a $41.66 honorarium for the chairperson, Paul St-Pierre.
BIFRT the Finance Committee approves a $208.33 honorarium for the chair Jill Veenendaal
Motion 17 (Grad Club Committee)
PASSED
Whereas members of the Grad Club Committee committee believe the chairs have earned their honoraria:
BIRT the Grad Club Committee approves a $250 honorarium for the chairperson, Tom McMurrough.
BIFRT the Grad Club Committee approves a $83 honorarium Driton Nushaj
Motion 18
PASSED
Whereas the Grad Club Committee was without a chair for 4 months;
Whereas the other members of the committee put in extra work during that time;
Whereas the committee has requested the additional monies reserved for the chair’s honorarium be used to provide food and beverages for committee meetings;
BIRT the remaining $166 from the Grad Club Committee chair’s honorarium be allocated to the committee’s budget.
BIFRT the $166 be allowed to carry over into the next fiscal year until it is used up.
Motion 19
PASSED
Whereas the SOGS President is planning an event with her discretionary money that was intended to be held in April but will instead be held in May;
BIRT the remaining monies in the President’s discretionary fund be carried over to the next fiscal year, to be used by May 31st.
Motion 20
PASSED
Whereas the Bursaries and Subsidies committee was refining the criteria for the fieldwork bursary and applications therefore could not be solicited prior to now;
BIRT $750 for the fieldwork bursary be carried over to the next fiscal year, to be distributed by June 30th.
Motion 21 (GSIC)
PASSED
Whereas the Graduate Students Issues Committee chair under the VP External portfolio has done excellent work and;
Whereas members of the committee believe the chair has earned his honorarium:
BIRT the Policy Committee approves the $500 honoraria for the chairperson, Alex Yan.
Motion 22 (Equity Committee)
PASSED
Whereas the Equity Committee chairs under the VP External portfolio have done excellent work and;
Whereas members of the committee believe the chairs have earned their honoraria:
BIRT the honorarium be dispersed as follows: Taniya Nagpal ($250) and Melanie Stone ($250).