AMS Council: January 6, 2010

New year, renewed enthusiasm. Highlights:

• January is Sexual Assault Awareness Month
• Cheap rooms at Whistler Lodge during the Olympics
• 6 referenda for sure, with possibly more on the way

Student Financial Assistance & Awards Presentation; Tuition Proposal and Consultation schedule
There was a miscommunication and this presentation was cancelled. Will be occurring at the next council meeting on January 20.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month
Elena Kusaka (former Arts Councilor) and Jeremy McElroy (current Arts Councilor) gave a presentation on Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the reasoning behind it and the events and activities planned. The AMS declares January 2010 as the first annual Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Blake’s Broadcast
Blake was on vacation and has nothing to report.

Tim’s Talk
Reorganizing his office; Jan 18 is last date to withdraw from U-Pass, please refer any U-Pass questions to him; Consultations about UBC line happening on Jan 15.

Crystal’s Chat
Still working out some issues with UBC about the SUB; Mahoney’s, Shoppers and RBC have an exclusivity clause and they’ll have to figure out how to work around that; have agreement in principle about SUB financing; all SUB agreements should be ready in March; dealing with furniture allocations; had some problems with administration of SUB fee exemption; new furniture for the lobby arrived!

Johannes’s Jargon
Began writing transition report; finalizing international engagement report; began joint review (with UBC) of congregation and convocation; formulated terms of reference for joint UNA-Greek committee to get them to talk regularly; finished and distributed governance report to University and External Relations committee – next steps to develop formal stance for the AMS to take; TLEF review began; Careeer Services review process is starting; The Outpost has 500 free tickets to varsity games available to students on a weekly basis – go pick some up!

Tom’s Tirade
Business operations are behind budget, potentially up to 6 figures; online registration system should be up and running next week; AMS received $27,000 TLEF grant a few years ago that was never claimed – we should claim it.

Pavani’s Prose
In December, safety office was constituted as AMS service, will be ressurrecting safety days; attended half day workshop at SFU; stategic planning meeting for LEAP; student involvement showcase happening next week at brock hall; minischool registration starts next week.

Constituencies
Arts Week and Science Week are both coming up. The Board of Governors has passed Place and Promise, the new UBC strategic plan to replace TREK 2010. BoG also allocated $3.4M for childcare expansion and received a presentation on the South Campus Academic Plan.

Minutes 1

Executive Oversight and Business Operations Committees minutes passed.

Executive Laptop
The current executive laptop is hopelessly obselete, having a floppy drive and no USB slots. $400 will be used to buy a little netbook. Passed unanimously.

Committee Appointments
Student-at-large appointments

Education Committee: Alex L., Vivek M., Tagh S,
University and External Relations Committee: Joshua R., Mitch W., Alice L.
Legislative Procedures Committee: Colin S., Mike K., Jenny L.
Business and Facilities Committee: Patrick C., Helge R., Oliver B.
Student Life Committee: Michelle F., Karen L., Cindy L.

Video Surveillance Policy
The AMS has a new video surveillance policy to govern the use of the dozen or so cameras around the SUB.

Workstudy/Worklearn
Workstudy is a UBC-run program that helps subsidize employment of UBC students. Over the past little while some positions within the AMS have opted into it to get their students a little more money. There are a few problems that have arisen. One of the first problems has to do with classification: the way the work study classifies positions may be different from the way the AMS classifies positions. This can lead to two people in the same AMS position being classified differently by UBC and being paid different amounts. There may also be people in that position not being part of workstudy and being paid yet a different amount. Basically it was causing a lot of pay inequity.
The second problem is one of budgets. Workstudy subsidizes up to $9/hr of salary, but UBC sets the pay and AMS pays the difference. Since some students on workstudy earn up to $21/hr, UBC pays $9, and the AMS must pay $12 when they otherwise may have paid less. In the end it costs the AMS more money.

Tom and Johannes said that while the program has benefits in terms of putting more money in the hands of students, the problems outweigh the benefits.

Blake brought up the fact that it might be possible to ask Workstudy to bend the rules where they are causing the AMS problems. Andrew Carne also pointed out that a policy is probably unnecessary; if the program is no good, then just don’t use it. The motion was overwhelmingly defeated, with the understanding that someone within the AMS should discuss their issues with Workstudy to see if they can be resolved.

Minutes 2
Financial Commission minutes passed.

Whistler Lodge Motion
The housing market at Whistler has fallen off a cliff. A room at the five-star Chateau Whistler in the week before the Olympics can be had for $175/night. A bunk at the Whistler Lodge for $199 sure sounds like a great deal! New policy:

If, by January 8th, 2010, there are beds that remain unfilled at the Whistler Lodge for February 2010, the following measures be taken:

• Any UBC student who purchased, for their own use, a ticket at the public rate, be refunded the difference between the public rate and the $30 student rate.
• Remaining beds be offered to UBC students at $30 per night on a first-come, first-served basis.

Further, the following measures be allowed at the discretion of business operations management:

• Following January 13th, 2010, remaining beds be offered to UBC students at $30 per night or to the public at a rate of $40-80 per night on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Any member of the public who purchased a ticket at the original public rate ($149-$199) be refunded the difference between that price and the new public rate.

CiTR Board
Kyle Warwick was elected to the CiTR board.

Referenda

The AMS was asked to put six referendum questions on the ballot for January elections. This is a summary of the questions (exact wording more lengthy and technical).

1) Do you support the removal of Blake Frederick from the office of President?

2) Do you support the removal of Tim Chu from the office of VP External Affairs?

3) Do you support the AMS establishing a $5.00 refundable Engagement Levy to help improve student engagement by encouraging voter turnout and funding engagement related projects?

4) Do you support amending the AMS Code of Procedures to allow candidates in the AMS elections to campaign as a part of a slate (political party)?

5) Do you support indexing the fees of the AMS to the Canadian Core Consumer Price Index?

6) Do you support the amendment of the AMS Bylaws as presented, for the purposes of enabling Student Council to remove an individual from a position as an officer of Council, and other amendments as outlined?

Council voted to put questions 1-3 and 5-6 on the ballot. Council voted against putting question 4 on the ballot, but Matthew Naylor pledged to get the 1000 signatures to put it on the ballot.

With each referendum question, council spent $700 as each of the members of the elections committee gets a certain amount of extra pay for each referendum that is run.

In addition, a petition with 1000 signatures was submitted to the AMS to hold a referendum for a new student fee $1 for part-time students and $2 for full time students, per term, to an organization in support of students with disabilities. Funding was also granted to a “Yes” campaign for this referendum.

So, six referenda for sure, with at least two more likely on the way (Slates and Tuition Policy). We will have much more in depth coverage of all the referenda during the campaign period.