By Vanessa Broadbent (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: October 15, 2014
Last March, SUS’s presentation of its 2014-15 budget included a brief listing of its permanent staff (non-student) positions, one of which was newly created: services director. SUS president Ryan Petersen says the role needed to be added to handle a large number of student union responsibilities.
“After the redevelopment of the SUS board, we got to the point where we realized there were too many positions and too many random portfolios that overlap … some areas that are left blank. We [needed] to look at the society and figure out [what we are] trying to accomplish with this,” he says.
Petersen says that at one point in SUS history the union only handled the health and dental program, but as the university expanded and AfterMath, the shuttle bus service, and the U-Pass program were added, it became necessary to create a position that managed all of these services.
“We couldn’t give that to one vice president because that would drive them insane, so a services position came about,” he says.
Graduating student Shane Potter, SUS president from 2012-14, was hired for the new position, where he is handling some of the services he saw created during his two terms.
“He provides reports and lets us know what’s happening with [our services]. More often than not, he’s just doing a good job making sure that everything is running smoothly,” Petersen says.
Potter’s position is one of three permanent staff positions at SUS, which together are allotted $139,096.64. Twenty-three per cent of SUS’s 2014-15 budget is spent on full-time staff.
While Potter is now occupying a position that was created while he was the president of SUS, Petersen does not view this as a problem.
“He was not part of the process that actually made the position. That was governance and the vice president internal [Greg Stickland],” he says.
As Petersen sees it, there’s a strong argument for keeping Potter in SUS operations.
“I was on the committee that reviewed the position and made the final decision,” Petersen says. “He was the strongest candidate that fit the background of understanding how the society functions, and his experience with the society and working for it [was also considered],” he says.
Potter declined to be interviewed for this article.
Aaron Levy, station manager at CIVL Radio, which is also a non-profit organization on campus with an elected student board, was originally contacted by Potter to act as a reference, but ultimately did not provide one.
“I was completely happy and ready to give Shane a reference when he was applying for the position,” he says. “He has been a great partner and supporter of the work we do on campus, but I did state at the time that I thought a conflict of interest should be declared.”
