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GSA Council Meeting January 10, 2018 Page 1 of 9
Council Notice of Meeting Date: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 Time: 4:00 P.M. – 6:00 P.M. Place: NH 3407
AGENDA
Time Item Action
4:00 pm 1. Chair’s Welcome and Opening Remarks -
2. Adoption of the Agenda (Changes, if applicable, will be noted with **)
For Approval
3. Declarations of Interest -
4:05 pm 4. Approval of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting
a. November 15, 2017 b. December 12, 2017 – Special Meeting
For Approval
5. Consent Items+
a. Board Reports b. Executive Reports c. Committee Reports
For Information
6. Council Membership Report For Information
7. University of Waterloo Committee Membership Report For Information
4:10 pm
8. Delegations a. Centre for Career Action
Jennifer Woodside, Katie Denomme, Kira Brushke,
and Erica Refling
For Information
4:35 pm 9. Discussion Items
a. CASA b. Cannabis on Campus
Discuss
5:00 pm 10. Update from the Board For Information
GSA Council Meeting January 10, 2018 Page 2 of 9
5:15 pm
11. Motions a. Motion to ratify the University of Waterloo Committee
Appointments b. Motion to approve the Terms of Reference for the
Reform Working Group c. Motion to appoint members of Council to the Reform
Working Group
For Approval
5:30 pm 12. Members’ Discussion
13. Notices of Motion -
6:00 pm 14. Adjournment -
+ Consent Items are those items that in the judgment of the Executive Committee require the attention of
Council but that neither require nor imply a decision by Council on any procedural or substantial matter. By adopting Consent Items, Council formally receives information for entry into the minutes. Council may discuss Consent Items at its pleasure. Lindsey Daniels Chair of the Council GSA-UW January 3, 2018
DELEGATIONS
Centre for Career Action Jennifer Woodside, Katie Denomme, Kira Brushke, and Erica Refling The Centre for Career Action will be informing Council on tips for graduate students to help market themselves, how graduate students can transition to academia or industry once obtaining their degree, and what tools are available to graduate student now to help facilitate their career
RESOLUTIONS 11a Motion to ratify the University of Waterloo Committee Appointments
BIRT the GSA-UW Council ratify the appointments as detailed in the report for item 7.
11b Motion to approve the Terms of Reference for the Reform Working Group
BIRT the GSA-UW Council approve the Terms of Reference for the Reform Working Group.
GSA Council Meeting January 10, 2018 Page 3 of 9
11c Motion to appoint members of Council to the Council Reform Working Group. BIRT the GSA-UW Council appoint the following six (6) members of Council to the Reform Working Group:
Applied Health Sciences:
Arts:
Engineering:
Environment:
Mathematics:
Science:
GSA Council Meeting January 10, 2018 Page 4 of 9
Council Meeting Minutes
Wednesday January 10, 2018
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
University of Waterloo, NH 3407
Meeting attendance and Chair confirms that quorum is present. The Chair calls the meeting to
order at 4:06 pm. Vogt will record the minutes.
1. Chair’s welcome and Happy New Year to all.
2. The Agenda is approved. (Tannous/Van Bommel)
3. No declarations
4. Approval of meeting minutes:
a) November 15, 2017 minutes are approved. (Tadayon/Spasov). Reid and Salman abstain.
b) December 12, 2017 special meeting minutes are approved. (Tadayon/Van Bommel) Reid
and Salman abstain.
5. Consent Items:
a) Board Report
b) Executive Reports:
c) Committee Reports
Move that Council receives for information and/or adopts the Consent Items. (Tannous/Wass) Carried. Reid opposed and Cyr, Tadayon, Spasov abstain.
Questions about the guidelines for reading week (fall and winter) from the President’s report
may need to be deferred because the President is out of town and sent regrets for this
meeting.
6. Council membership report.
Councillors Starting January 1, 2018
Mei Lin Chen, Systems Design Engineering
Sushma Dusowoth, French Studies
Archisman Ray, Chemical Engineering
Councillors Retiring December 31, 2017
Patricia Huynh, School of Environment, Resources, and Sustainability
Guratam Singh Ahulwalia, Chemical Engineering
GSA Council Meeting January 10, 2018 Page 5 of 9
7. University Committee Report.
There are five vacancies for University committees. Councillors or graduate students in their
unit may send an email to the Council Chair expressing their interest.
8. Delegations.
a) Centre for Career Action presentation by Jennifer Woodside, Katie Denomme, Kira
Brushke, and Erica Refling. Link to their website: https://uwaterloo.ca/career-action/
Council heard a presentation on tips for graduate students to help market themselves, how
graduate students can transition to academia or industry once obtaining their degree, and
what tools are available to graduate student now to help facilitate their career
9. Discussion Items
a) CASA-
Some background information was shared for new councillors.
There has been much discussion and many meetings where the cost/benefit of CASA for
the GSA was discussed, and whether the GSA should continue to be a member or exit the
organization. The cost includes membership based on enrollment (about $16,000
annually) plus the expense of sending one delegate to the four nation-wide conferences,
which last about one week each. (approximately $8,000.) and more if there is a second
delegate attending any of the conferences, such as the lobby conference in Ottawa.
The deadline to make a decision without penalty (that is paying for another year’s
membership) is March 1, 2018. There was a general feeling that there is little value in
CASA as one of two autonomous graduate school members. The general sentiment is
that federal lobbying for graduate students is not effective through CASA due to high
undergraduate student numbers. There is no guarantee to address graduate student issues.
It may be more effective to lobby to government directly.
If the intent is to focus internally then take a few years to evaluate advocacy goals, and
consider opportunities and other ways to lobby the government.
Generally, Council would be comfortable to make the decision in February Council and
asks for some information to be provided in time for the February meeting.
Board and Council need to have agreement (Yes vote) in order to exit CASA.
b) Cannabis on Campus
July 1, 2018 cannabis will be legalized in Canada and UW will begin having discussions
about how this will be dealt with on this on campus. In order to be effective in
representing the graduate student view, the President seeks feedback from Councillors
and their constituents.
10. Update from the GSA Board
Board Chair shares some good work done by the Board.
Board agendas, minutes and documents are on line and distributed the agenda for the next
Board meeting,
Board, in applying due diligence by seeking expert opinion, hired a consultant to evaluate
GSA Council Meeting January 10, 2018 Page 6 of 9
the Graduate House and look at creative strategies for the future,
There may be a change in time and or date to accommodate director schedules for this
term,
GSA financial investments were reviewed and moved to a new investment vehicle. The
GSA may count on some new investment earnings,
Board is ratifying the GSEF/GSA agreement,
Board will be voting to leave CASA and to effect this a decision must be agreed with
Council - both vote YES to leave,
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) may take place in early April. There will be an
annual report prepared for the AGM is where the accomplishments are heard.
Recruitment: The GSA is looking for directors, and interested graduate students should
ask questions of what being a director entails. The Board is working to expand
recruitment efforts, to ensure that grads in every faculty are aware.
Sharing documents: Operations Issues List (OIL), Board Workplan identifies
monthly/termly goal setting and tasks, OIL covers high priorities for the year.
Q&A:
-the Graduate House consultation was accounted for in the budget through the
Association operations fund.
-Councillors may be silent observers at the Board meetings, however if there is time at a
meeting, there could be an open forum to hear from Councillors.
-What is the GSA going to do with the information obtained from the Grad House
consultation? The information will be shared with staff and engage senior staff in
reviewing the findings and charting the course forward. The consultant’s investigation
will include a 360 degree assessment of the operations and this will be shared with staff.
11. Motions
Motion to ratify the University of Waterloo Committee Appointments.
BIRT the GSA-UW Council ratify the appointments of Naima Samuel to the
Student Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) and the Social Media Committee,
and of Rose Vogt to the Course Evaluation Committee. (Van Bommel/ Freure)
Carried Tadayon, Reid, DaSilva abstain.
Motion to approve the Terms of Reference for the Reform Working Group.
BIRT the GSA-UW Council approves the Terms of Reference for the Reform
working Group. (Van Bommel/Freure) Carried.
Motion to appoint members of Council to the Council Reform Working Group.
BIRT the GSA-UW Council appoints the following six (6) members of Council to
the Council Reform Working Group:
AHS: Julia Goyal
ARTS: Russ Freure
ENG: Kissan Mistry
GSA Council Meeting January 10, 2018 Page 7 of 9
ENV: Clay Desilva
MATH: Chris Van Bommel
SCI: Jennifer Reid
(Freure/Van Bommel). Carried. Abstained: Reid, Tadayon, Kearney, Chen , and Salman.
Meeting is extended for 15 minutes by consensus.
12. Members’ Discussion
Reform:
A number of issues surfaced since the November Council meeting and the Board, with Council
are working very hard to have more collaboration and work together. Board is clear that
Council’s wishes will be expressed first and then Board will make final decisions based on them.
Board’s authority comes from policy one, the OCA, and other legal documents. Bylaw changes
would go through an approval process at a general meeting if needed. There are no proposals to
change bylaws at this time.
Councillors are acknowledged for spending time on these proposals and asking questions. This
is very important.
To be noted for the minutes, the Vice President and Board Chair have abstained from all voting
on Council.
A concern raised about the Studentcare Health and Dental Plan Survey and that information was
gathered about graduate students. How will this information be used and/or shared?
The GSA and Studentcare are seeking student opinion in order to improve service. Studentcare
already has student information in order to deliver health and dental benefits. The survey results
will be shared with the GSA in order to inform decisions about the service and gaps in coerage.
Policy 33-Ethical Behaviour Review Committee has posted a survey that should be completed by
March 5, 2018.
Councillors request some information and discussion about unionizing TAs for the next meeting.
The topic should be brought to CEC for March meeting.
13. Notice of Motion:
Potential changes to Policy 7- Council, to
-allow general members to speak at Council.
-identify directors to be non-voting Council members. (or similar)
14. Adjourned at 6:20 pm.
LD: rv
GSA Council Meeting January 10, 2018 Page 8 of 9
Meeting Attendance record: (1 = present, 0 = absent, R = regrets sent, blank = no representative appointed.)
GSA-UW Council Attendance List
Total active members of Council 31
Quorum= 10 19 0 0 0
Potential Reformed Voting Structure
Winter 2017 -- Meeting dates = 10 15 21 11
Board/Officers
Jan Feb Mar Apr
Chair of Council Lindsey Daniels 1 1
FAC. DEPARTMENT
AHS AHS Dean/Social Work*
Kinesiology Daniel Martel 1 1
Rec & Leisure Naima Samuel 1 1
SPHHS Julia Goyal 1 1
ARTS Accounting and Finance Allan Wang 1 0
Anthropology
Classical Studies
Stratford Digital Exp. Innovation*
Economics
English Lang& Lit Jason Lajoie 1 0
Fine Arts
French Studies Sushma Dusowoth 1 1
German&Slavic
Global Governance Clay Dasilva 1 1
History Russ Freure 1 1
Peace & Conflict MPACS
Philosophy Chris Wass 1 1
Political Science MacKenzie Smith 1 0
Psychology Emily Cyr 1 1
Wat. Public Service, Master*
Religious Studies
Sociology&Legal Studies
Camb Architecture* Tanvi Kundiliwal (Nov/17) 1 0
ENG Chemical Archisman Ray 1 0
Civil & Env Jessica Achebe 1 R
Electrical & Computer Takin Tadayon 1 1
Management Sciences Alison Jennings 1 1
MBET
Mech & Mechatronics
Kissan Mistry
1 1
Systems Design Mei Lin Chen 1 1
ENV Geography and Env. Mgmt Vicky Vanthof 1 0
School of Planning Christopher Bell 1 R
SEED
SERS Aravind Kundurpi 1 0
MATH Math Dean
Applied Mathematics Josh Thompson 1 R
Combinatorics & Opt Chris van Bommel 1 1
GSA Council Meeting January 10, 2018 Page 9 of 9
Computer Science Camilo Andres Munos 1 0
Pure Mathematics John Michael Sawatzky 1 1
Stats & Actuarial Sci Danqiao Guo 1 1
SCI Biology Emilie Spasov 1 1
Chemistry
Earth & Env Sciences Maria Digaletos 1 0
Physics and Astronomy Jennifer Reid 1 1
Optometry Dania Abuleil 1 1
Kit. School of Pharmacy*
THEO Catholic Thought
AHS AHS Dean/Social Work*
Non- At-Large (IQC) Daniel Grimmer 1
Voting General Manager, S/T Rose Vogt 1
Gov. Support Staff JJ Mathews
Officers President Robert Bruce R
Vice President Max Salman 1
Board Chair Norman Kearney 1
Director Matthew Morison R
Director Richard O'Brien
Director Serxho Selmani
Director Ramy Tannous 1
Director Beth Timmers R
Director Evan Andrews
Director Sondra Eger
Director Allison Sachs R
Director Amanda Joynt
Director Julie Cook