By Katherine Gibson (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: October 30, 2013
This past Friday, the Student Union Society (SUS) held another scheduled board meeting at UFV’s Abbotsford campus.
Governance committee electoral policy motion tabled again
Changes to the electoral policy, proposed by VP internal Greg Stickland and the governance committee, were tabled by the board at their last meeting two weeks ago.
Stickland explained the governance committee has since worked to address the policy issues the board brought up.
“I received some feedback after last meeting, and even more between board meetings to the policy,” he explains. “All the things were accommodated for.”
However, during the board’s discussion, representative-at-large Jay Mitchell expressed concern regarding the policy’s by-election definition. Challenging the policy’s inability to fully address every possible by-election situation, Mitchell explained his worries to the board.
“[Sections] 7.1 and 7.2 speak to one instance of how a by-election may be operated, but I believe there should be something covering a by-election regardless of that and not just in the event of a tie,” he notes.
Due to the nature of the change being proposed, Stickland recommended that the board table the motion another time until their next meeting. The motion was subsequently tabled.
BCSA, CISSA, and PSA ask for “Casino Royale” event funding
Biology and Chemistry Student Association (BCSA) president Jennifer Martel presented a funding request for their annual “Casino Royale” event taking place on campus November 29.
Despite being organized primarily by science-based student organizations BCSA, Computer Information Systems Student Association (CISSA), and Physics Student Association (PSA), Martel was adamant that this event is geared for all UFV students.
“It’s not really a science-specific event – everyone’s welcome,” she explained.
With a casino theme, the intention of the event is to bring students together for a night of prizes, raffles, finger food, drinks, and fake gambling with professional card dealers.
The success of last year’s event has led Martel to ask for SUS funding in order to help subsidize the event’s cost and, potentially, make the event free for students.
“There were definitely … at least 150 people who attended and that was with very little time for planning or advertising. We did want to make it a free event,” she adds. “So students don’t have to feel left out just because they can’t necessarily afford a ticket. “
When questioned by the board as to why the associations did not just pool their own funding to support the event, Martel’s explanation was simple: the event requires too much money.
“Our own entire year’s funding between the three associations wouldn’t cover [it],” she says. “We just feel like it really … can’t come from our own funding. Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to do any other events this year.”
Martel’s proposal was heard by the board and will be sent through the finance committee before returning to the board for approval.
CISSA requests funding for “Child’s Play” charity event
CISSA representative Graham St. Eloi also requested funding for a campus event that welcomes all students.
The event, dubbed Child’s Play, will take place in U-House on November 15 and involves students playing video games in order to raise money for charity.
“This event is a 24-hour video gaming event on campus, where students can come and play video games, play tournaments, play card games and board games, or any other form of entertainment that gamers enjoy,” St. Eloi explains.
On behalf of CISSA he asked for $725 in SUS funding to help cover a Play Station 4 grand prize, in addition to other smaller prize incentives.
The Child’s Play charity, run through Penny Arcade, is an organization that works to bring toys, video games, and books to children’s hospitals around the world.
Representative-at-large Jay Mitchell also spoke in support of the event.
“It’s not even just that Child’s Play supports with video games, toys, and books,” Mitchell notes. “One hospital, I believe it was in Egypt, asked … if [they could] use [the funding] to paint [their] hospital because they had no paint on the walls, so it’s actually pretty significant what they can do.”
This funding request has also been sent to the finance committee and will return to board in the future for approval.
Approval of new petty cash policy
Other business of the meeting involved the approval of the finance committee’s new petty cash policy.
Stickland explains the policy was previously tabled due to the board’s desire to further review the procedure.
“The reason why this was tabled is because the board wanted to view it for an extra two weeks,” Stickland notes. “[The policy] speaks to the process – if you need petty cash for events or for the front office, how it is maintained, signed out and brought back, and tracked.”
With the exception of one amendment made to the policy regarding AfterMath’s cash float, this policy was passed unanimously by the board.
