All at the university are welcome to attend the Student Union Society (SUS) public meetings, which are held once a month. SUS makes decisions that impact the learning environment and campus culture for both students and faculty.
On Oct. 29, 2024 the Student Union Society (SUS) held an in-person Public Board Meeting in room S3103. The meeting consisted of changes to policies regarding funding for clubs and associations, as well as reports from Jayden Hovey, SUS president, Harmanjot Singh, vice-president internal, Roxy Granikovas, vice-president external, and Bilal Faisal Faheem, vice-president students.
Some policy changes which will affect the clubs and associations at UFV were discussed at the meeting. Firstly, “Resident Student Organization” (RSO) will be amended to “Clubs & Associations” (C&A) on the Fund Request Policy and Procedures documents. SUS has increased the C&A funding from $500 to $750 per event, contingent on the C&A not exceeding maximum yearly funding, which has also been amended. First-year C&A’s are allotted $1000 in funding for the academic year. Upon re-registering for a second year and going through an annual general meeting (AGM), C&A’s will be allotted an increase of $500 for a total of $1500 in funding for the academic year.
Timelines for funding requests have also been reduced. C&A’s will now be able to submit a funding request within 10 business days of their event through the Rubric app (formerly QPay). This is an improvement from the previously required 15 business days.
Another stipulation was added to guideline 3.2 in the Fund Request Policy, stating that reimbursements of purchases made before the C&A event was approved may be declined.
Changes to C&A’s Fund Request Procedure includes the removal of the option to receive C&A funding via cheque. E-transfer will be the primary form of fund transfer.
The President’s Report covered SUS’s “Get Out The Vote” campaign which brought advanced voting to UFV. Hovey is also working on a zero textbook cost (ZTC) initiative, that encourages faculty to use openly sourced educational material to reduce textbook fees for students. Further, President Joanne MacLean is retiring this coming June, and SUS is contributing to the President Search Committee. SUS is also in conversation with the UFV Library to potentially add additional seating and study space. Lastly, SUS has reached out to BMO and RBC to hold financial literacy workshops for students, and are continuing the conversation with BC Transit regarding the U-Pass.
The main takeaway of the Vice President Internal’s Report was the plan to update the flags in the S building atrium to better reflect the diversity of UFV’s international student body.
Furthermore, the Vice President External’s Report covered the new learning management system (LMS) UFV will be transitioning to in winter 2025. UFV will be phasing out the use of Blackboard, and implement the LMS tool Brightspace, which is reported to have a comprehensive mobile app. Regarding the ZTC initiative, Granikovas also mentioned that SUS is advocating for UFV professors to present their course syllabi for the semester upfront (accessible at the time of registration) to help students fully understand the course’s workload in hopes of mitigating withdrawal fees.
The Vice President Students Report consisted of an overview of successful start of semester events, like the Abbotsford Canucks Rush Night. At that time, Faisal Faheem reported that the SUS Diwali event had garnered enthusiasm evident in the growing waitlist, which exceeded the 400 person capacity of Evered Hall.
Student representatives brought forth some concerns heard from the student body, which included a lack of sitting space, a lack of access to study spaces on campus such as pods, and concerns over the 10 per cent course withdrawal fee.
The next public meeting will be held on Thursday, Nov. 28 at 5 p.m. in room S3103.
