By Jess Wind (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 12, 2014
The Student Union Society (SUS) held its regular board meeting in Mission on March 7. Items on the agenda included discussion about funding to the theatre students association (TSA), edits to the endowment fund policy and ratification of 2014 election results as well as an in-camera portion that did not allow media members to be present.
Funding for Directors’ Festival
With TSA members in attendance, the board addressed the tabled motion for the TSA’s original request for $7500 to fund the 19th annual Director’s Festival from the previous week’s meeting. Each year students plan and direct their own plays, and also invite theatre students from other schools to present their work on the UFV stage. The budget presented by the TSA included a staff salary for the duration of the festival, something rep-at-large Thomas Davies mentioned was a concern for the finance committee.
TSA treasurer Cheyenne Douglas-Ruttan provided the reasoning for the salary’s inclusion, explaining a staff member is present during the run of the festival to ensure the safety of everyone involved.
VP internal Greg Stickland spoke against the finance committee’s original recommendation of $1495, indicating that the decision to or not to fund the staff salary portion included in the budget should have fallen with the board, not the finance committee.
The finance committee came back to recommend $4000 for the TSA and president Shane Potter moved to amend it to $5000.
The decision was carried.
Elections ratified
Chief electoral officer Joe Johnson presented his report of the 2014 SUS general election. He explained that due to a technical error that allowed for a ballot being sent out twice, 30 votes were not included in the final count, bringing total votes to 315.
“It doesn’t change the end results on anybody,” Johnson said.
The final executive results are as follows:
• Current VP finance Ryan Petersen was voted in as president.
• Current rep-at-large Thomas Davies was voted in as VP internal.
• Dylan Thiessen was voted in as VP external, beating out current interim VP east Jarret Bainbridge.
The final representative results are as follows:
• Current VP internal Greg Stickland was voted in as college of arts rep.
• Ria Geluk was voted in as faculty of health science rep.
• Shayne Stanton was voted in as aboriginal rep.
• Jennifer Trithardt-Tufts was voted in as faculty of professional studies rep.
• Cameron Stephen was voted in as faculty of science rep.
Johnson continued to deliver his report, noting some issues that arose during the campaign and voting periods.
His final recommendations included campus media outlets running campaign meetings; the removal of campaign materials during voting period (including posters and social media feeds); and the development of a clear policy on social media during campaigns.
Look for further details of the report in the SUS March 7 meeting minutes.
The next SUS board meeting will be held on March 21 in Chilliwack.
Editor’s note: Joe Johnson is also The Cascade’s business manager.
