By: Morin Mawhinney
February 5th, 2017’s Student Council Meeting began with a call to order, approval of agenda, and approval of the minutes from the January 22, 2017’s meeting. Each executive council member submitted their report, starting with Student Body Council President, Nathan Hood.
The highlights of Hood’s activities since the January 22 meeting include action towards the George Coles Bursary being available to UPEI Indigenous students, which it is currently not, the decision to make UPEI a Smoke Free campus, a meeting with the Canadian Alliance of Students Association (CASA), policy and constitutional amendments, and a variety of glamorous dinners and luncheons. There was much discussion regarding the Board of Governors’ decision to make UPEI a Smoke-Free campus which divulged that “culturally significant smoking,†such as Smudging, will be permitted.
Vice President of Academic and External, John Rix, reported the first screening of candidates for the VP of Academic and External position, the possible split of the George Coles Bursary into three equal payments of $1300, as well as several in-works White Papers. Rix also mentioned that according to regular polls taken at UPEI, there is an 80% satisfaction rate with UPEI policies, which is a heartening figure.
Vice President of Student Life, Kaylee Jabbour, spoke on the success of the Clubs Cup Dodgeball Tournament, as well as the current planning of Sex Week which runs February 14-17 with the Love Junkies hitting The Wave that Thursday night. Zen Week is also coming up in March, alongside Beach Blast which takes place on the 10th and 11th. In addition to that, Jabbour met with Holland College representatives to discuss the possibility of a collaborative, end of year celebration.
The floor then belonged to Vice President of Finance, Clayton Smith, who updated his job description to better inform possible candidates, as well as had meetings about a possible new promotional for Mickey’s Place.
The meeting then turned to a very informative presentation by CASA representative, Michael Mcdonald, on the monetary involvement of the Federal government in post-secondary education. The council peppered Mcdonald with questions, most importantly inquiring if, forced to decided, which Disney Princess he would be. Mcdonald wisely chooses Matilda from Brave, who technically belongs to Pixar, however, the Council allowed it.
Once again, Nathan Hood lead the meeting to talk about amendments made to the constitution, which was mainly made to condense the Constitution and eliminate redundancies. The amendments were listed, and the movement to make them was passed. Along the same lines, policy amendments were also made and passed.
A graduate student also volunteered for the position of Graduate Student Representative; that movement was also passed.
New business included the important mention that it was Don Cherry’s birthday, as well as a repeal of the executive policy of a smoke-free campus being a success.
With that, Chair, Hossein Mivehchi, adjourned the meeting.