SRA Blog Your Voice. Your Assembly.

Note: This is my response to the Hamilton Spectator Article Concerning the Your City Survey and the subsequent comments: http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/518503–mac-s-learn-and-leave-generation

Hey all,

For introduction as the External Affairs Commissioner of the MSU I was the convener for the survey working with and overseeing six other committee members of various backgrounds.

I’ve lived in Hamilton for the past three years and unlike alot of students I suppose I’ve seen and come to feel at home in Hamilton because of my jobs all across the core even as far as Stoney Creek. While a visits to Toronto downtown subjects you to the aesthetic and cultural overload that Hamilton can’t match, as a city I believe it offers alot of things, from a recovering economy trying to prioritize a knowledge economy and service sector to affordable suburban housing, vibrant arts and culture scene and natural beauty via the waterfront and escarpment.

There is obviously alot of work to be done to revive the economy and provide the job opportunity to compete with GTA to retain the knowledge workers aka students, I believe it is a two way process and one can’t naturally assume students are going to leave Hamilton and leave it at that.

There were two purposes for this Survey, firstly to ascertain whether the perceptions of students not being the biggest fans of Hamilton are true and secondly to gauge what expectations they have out of the City and what areas do they think the city is lacking in. As a result for next year the MSU might be able to work with the city to facilitate the initiatives and strategies necessary to alleviate the perceptive shortfall

That being said there are a few more interesting points I need to bring up, for starters only 24% of the survey respondents were Hamilton Residents (living outside the McMaster Bubble) so the rest can be safely assumed to be the outside residents to Hamilton. Furthermore 54% of students were unlikely to recommend Hamilton as a City to anyone considering it for School or Permanent Residence but that number goes down to 30% when coupled with whether they would recommend McMaster as a school. So the notion that people often choose McMaster before Hamilton is very plausible.

Similarly in another question With >50% of students stating that they would look elsewhere for jobs (yes, but it wouldn’t be my first choice and no, I’d much rather look somewhere else), it is evident that something is deterring graduating students and recent graduates from remaining in Hamilton. I personally think a lot of it comes down to the promotional efforts by the city and employers, there rarely are job fairs or advertisement initiatives held at McMaster or attempts to utilize our online social networks to inform students about the jobs that are available. Similarly, expansion of government subsidized summer jobs might also help bring students out into the city and acclimatize them with the job market as opposed to everyone leaving back to their hometowns in the summer. Only 13% of the students felt that Hamilton was doing a good job of promoting, whereas 30% said the same for McMaster University(they have their career services department). One thing that Hamilton scored low on was Aesthetics, however on the flip side people The City of Hamilton should focus on promoting the parks, trails and waterfalls as those seem to be the most desirable locations to visit in the city in another question. For example all of the waterfalls are inaccessible by bus.

In summary I think from looking at the survey results in detail, I feel that there is still strong hope for the city to retain these students; a mixture of economic incentive(promotion of existing jobs and creation of new by the city) with better promotion of the natural beauty(waterfalls, waterfront, escarpment, maybe subsidized shuttle tours) and arts and culture(which they are already attempting through the free entrance of McMaster students to Hamilton Museums, but a lot more can be done, perhaps shuttles to art crawl). The McMaster Students Union is definitely committed to helping out in any way we can and this survey was an important step by us, however a bit of the onus is on the city to reach out. People have commented that the economy is recovering and expanding from the industrial sector but a service economy relies heavily on Knowledge Workers and I don’t see what disincentive the City might have to not work with McMaster and MSU to convince the students. While I personally am considering Hamilton, there was a time in life where my ideal dream was to jump down the 403 and work at Bay Street and I don’t think one can blame me or any other students like me.

Sincerely,

Huzaifa Saeed

MSU External Affairs Commissioner ’10-12

Hello 2011/2012 SRA and MSU members! As you may know, the SRA will be electing members to the Executive Board and Committees on Sunday April 17th. Each committee will have one commissioner, four SRA members, and two MSU members elected to it. Having run for one of these committees last year, I found it incredibly useful to have a brief breakdown of what these committees do. The following is a description provided last year of all the SRA standing committees, compiled by Matthew Tenenbaum, former SRA-Health Sci. Ive updated the descriptions and some of the projects each committee has been working on for relevance sake. If you’re looking for more of a technical and precise description of the committees, I advise you to look at Bylaw 3/B - Standing Committees of the SRA. I hope you find this useful to decide which committee you may be best suited for!

Standing Committees of the SRA

Bylaws & Procedures Committee
Outgoing Commissioner: Jessie Bauman

Committee Duties & Functions
The Bylaws and Procedures Committee’s major duties are to manage the bylaws of the MSU and provide recommendations on internal MSU governance. B&PC is important to MSU members because it ensures that the MSU government is following the procedures set forth to best serve the interests of students.

2010-2011 Year Projects:

- Worked with the Elections committee to improve elections bylaws

- Worked with the SRA and its committees to improve Assembly Procedures and SRA bylaws

- Drafted the changes to the MSU constitution (opening up VP Admin elections etc.)

- Review of the Student Academic Council Bylaw.

Ideally suited for…
People who are interested in legislation, systems, nuances of meaning, governance structure, and having a good time.

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External Affairs Committee
Outgoing Commissioner: Huzaifa Saeed

Committee Duties & Functions
The External Affairs Committee oversees MSU relations with any bodies that are not located on McMaster’s campus.  Our major work comes through our partnerships with OUSA (Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance) and CASA (Canadian Alliance of Student Associations).  The External Affairs committee reviews their policy statements/lobbying agenda and makes recommendations to the VP-Education.  Advocacy is handled by only two committees (External and University Affairs) yet is essential to the betterment of quality of education at McMaster. For example a large majority of funding for the education of McMaster students comes from the Federal Government via the Provincial government, as such our efforts can often have direct potential impact on the experience and investment into McMaster students in the near future.

2010-2011 Year Projects:

-Completed a full CASA Indepth Review & Final Recommendation( http://goo.gl/xjXxU & http://goo.gl/cjD0n )

-Worked on improved community relations with the 2011 Your City Survey

-Elections promotions research through the MSU Elections Survey Strategy Project

-Policy & Research Work for OUSA & CASA by the “Think Tank”

-Regular discussion on issues like Differentiation, Access Copy Right and so on.

Ideally suited for…
MSU members who have a knowledge of government or more importantly would like to build upon their research, survey methodology, project management & policy skills while also learning in greater detail about the Post Secondary Education(PSE) Politics as well as the work the MSU Conducts to improve student life at OUSA, CASA and Municipal Level. People from a diversity of political/ideological backgrounds as well as skill sets are welcome. Prior knowledge of PSE is definitely not mandatory. The committee usually operates as a team, however there is significant room for pursuing individual projects and ideas under the guidance of the commissioner.

—————

Finance Committee
Outgoing Commissioner: Ali Wadood

Committee Duties & Functions
The MSU Standing Committee on Finance deals with the following procedures as part of Bylaw 3B Standing Committees of the SRA:
- Advise the VP Finance on matters pertaining to the budget or audited statements.
- Advise any financial stakeholders on financial issues (i.e. FIT, business manager etc.)
- Clubs audit
- Review and approve criteria for clubs allocation
- Wage reviews
- Be a ‘spokes-committee’ on ethical practices of the MSU
- Publicize the annual budget

2010-2011 Projects:

-Approving CAPEX requests forms

-Worked towards choosing the New Auditor

-Tracked the upcoming budgeting report

-The committee analyzed the mutual fund investments that the MSU currently have.

-The Finance committee conducted a wage review in February/March.

Ideally suited for…People with experience in human resources, budgeting, and clubs funding. Familiarity with MSU Financial Bylaws and Operating Policies are an asset.

—————

Operations Committee
Outgoing Commissioner: Fionn Smyth

Committee Duties & Functions
The SRA Standing Committee on Operations deals with the long term infrastructural concerns of the MSU. We also handle policy statements, which outline the MSU’s position on a wide variety of matters including Transit, Social Purchasing and Boycotts, Registration Technology and many other things. Also, the Operations Committee does the initial research into new technologies for the MSU (such as e-voting). This committee is very, very important to the MSU and the greater student population because we look after the long term considerations of the MSU. Without long term planning now, tomorrow won’t be nearly so organized! Our handling of policy statements is also critical in that these statements become the voice of the MSU and indirectly that of the student body.

2010-2011 Year Projects:
-Review of Operating Policies. The committee worked on reviewing all the MSU operating policies for consistency, clarity, and functionality within the organization.

-Online Voting - The committee spent a good portion of its time working on the implementation of the research on Online voting that Huzaifa Saeed (External Affairs Commissioner 10-11) and Jon Schieding (Chief Returning Officer 08-10) completed over the past years. This will certainly be an issue which will come up in the upcoming year.

-Proposal for the Ad-Hoc Committee on Board and Speaker Oversight

Ideally suited for…
Big, macro-scale thinkers with lots and lots of patience and an ability to do in-depth and thorough research and consultations.

—————

Services Committee
Outgoing Commissioner: David Campbell

Committee Duties & Functions
Services deals with, well, all of the services of the MSU! It’s a fun committee designed to improve the services through their operating policies, along with other suggestions for their improvement.

2010-2011 Year Projects:
- Approved necessary updates to Operating Policies and Job Descriptions (such as Campus Advocacy Coordinator), creating and reviewing new Jobs Descriptions, working on new Operating Policies (such as the Farmstand OP)

- Crafting an MSU Services Survey that which analysed SCHEC, QSCC and MacGreen.

Ideally suited for…
People who have some interest in the services of the MSU, and getting to know their part-time managers. This committee is great because you can look at the MSU Services in any capacity and still have the freedom to implement new ideas all the time.

—————

University Affairs Committee
Outgoing Commissioner: Matthew Dillon-Leitch

Committee Duties & Functions
The University Affairs Committee is essentially tasked with:
- Gathering Student Opinion on life at McMaster
- Policymaking in regards to University
- Advising the Vice President (Education)
- Strategically planning intra-university lobbying strategies

2010-2011 Year Projects:

- Investigation into courseware printing at MSU Underground

- Program Closure and Labour Dispute strategy development

- Access Copyright and differentiation research

- Replacement of the MUSS email system

Ideally suited for…
People with initiative and vision, more than any other committee. Since the committee’s mandate is so wide-open, and there are no year-to-year responsibilities, you really need people around the table with concrete ideas, work-ethic, and self-motivation. The self-motivation part is the most key.

So this past weekend myself, several other McMaster Students and the MSU’s very own President Mary Koziol and our VP Admin John McIntyre attended the 6th Annual Summit on Universities Fighting World Hunger at the University of Guelph. This conference was nothing short of inspiring and spanned the weekend from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon. Universities Fighting World Hunger began at Auburn University in Alabama and has since been held in various states throughout the US. This year was the first time that UFWH took place on Canadian soil and is the beginning of a truly international mission to end world hunger.

On our first day we were given the amazing opportunity to see Michaelle Jean speak to open the conference’s President’s Dialogue (an unscripted opening discussion about hunger) and then were treated to the unparalleled privilege of seeing Michaelle Jean honoured with an honorary Degree from University of Guelph as she had missed that mornings convocation. This inspiring event was followed by the President’s Dinner which featured only local foods, wine and beers for the evening. Not only was the food amazing and the menu completely locally focused but after we had finished our meal all of the leftovers were either brought to a local shelter or composted entirely. Niagara wines were paired with our meal and every bottle consumed donated proceeds to fighting world hunger. This first day was an inspiring start to a weekend packed with quality discussion and thought provoking speakers.

Our second day began early with a breakfast of fruit and coffee and tea coupled with some more thought provoking speeches. We were first presented with the upcoming Food and Agribusiness MBA stream with a focus on World Hunger to be launched at U of G no later than May 2012. This program would have a truly international function in partnering with universities in India to provide a 2 year MBA program that would take place in a combination of online learning, courses at the U of G campus and time spent abroad in India working on real projects to help end hunger world wide. This is a truly excellent opportunity for those looking to integrate social justice into their futures and educations. Our second speaker Ajoy Bista a policy analyst for Natural Resources Canada came to us to speak about his experiences with how food access is addressed in Nepal, which was an eye opening view of how food is used, grown and purchased. After our breakfast of speakers we moved into our keynote address from Joey Adler, the CEO of Diesel Canada and the founder of ONEXONE. Her speech was truly inspiring with a focus on hope and optimism in leadership and ending hunger not just abroad but particularly in our own back yard. This was followed by one of the greenest coffee breaks that I have ever seen at a conference (which is saying something given that I have worked at McMaster Conference Services for two consecutive summers) and then by Panel discussions on everything from how to take campus initiatives global to how you can inspire others to change. Our lunch was the launch of Campbell’s Canada’s newest food product “Nourish” which is a complete meal in a can. This product was designed to help in emergency aid situations as well as food banks. It has a 2 year self life, no water needed, can be consumed cold or hot, uses ‘Naked Oats’ which are the most nutritionally viable grain with seven times the iron or rice, can be customized to cultural food/dietary needs and is completely not for profit for the company. Our VP Admin, John McIntyre, is working to get a donation to Mac BreadBin to help address the issue of student hunger on campus. This lunch was followed by more panel discussions addressing things from the role of Colleges and Universities in the fight against hunger (this panel was graced by our very own President Dr. Patrick Dean) to the media’s role to how corporate social responsibility plays a role in ending hunger and poverty world wide. We then had one of the most organized feedback sessions I have ever attended where we offered feedback on what we liked and disliked about the conference so far including suggestions for the future. This session was moderated by Dr. Alistair Summerlee, U of G President barefoot and all. We ended our day with a dinner of local foods and wines with a focus on food that was innovated at the U of G this was also coupled with the knowledge that U of G uses solely halal chicken in all their dishes which allowed for great diversity in menu options for those with dietary restrictions.

Our third and final day began with breakfast followed by a keynote address from the World Food Program which enlightened us all to the good that this organization does and how we can get involved. This was followed by the most inspiring part of the weekend for me and many others, the Pledge session. In this session every delegate was asked to make a personal pledge to do what they can to end world hunger and help meet the Millennium Development Goals. Those who were comfortable sharing were welcomed to state their pledge(s) aloud to the group. All pledges will be posted online so that we may be held accountable to our own promises. The pledges ranged from buying free trade where possible, to promises from the Mayor of Guelph to reduce the cost of public transit to working with international partners to end world hunger. This was a truly touching and inspiring moment. Our MSU President and VP Admin also pledged publicly to help by working with the MSU and the University to make more sustainable choices such as Plastic Bottle Free zones like the MSU Office Launched today!

Overall this conference was truly inspiring and I hope that I get to realize one of my personal pledge goals of assisting McMaster University in joining Universities Fighting World Hunger and maybe even one day hosting the summit here on our campus because I believe we all have the tools to help end hunger and we should all make the effort however small it may seem because it is that effort that builds into a movement of real change.

Hey Social Sciences!

So given that we are nearing the end of our term… our caucus has begun to start thinking about the year in review and what we have been able to accomplish from the goals we set up for ourselves in September.

In March, we will be posting our transition reports that outline our progress and what we feel the next incoming Social Sciences Caucus should be focusing on as some initiatives to carry on from this past year.

As a refresher… below is the caucus yearplan.

SRA Social Sciences Caucus YEARplan10

MISSION an overview

We will seek to establish ourselves as a caucus that truly represents the issues and the vast diversity of the faculty that is Social Sciences. Our main focus includes direct interaction with students through an array of mediums that include, but will not be limited to, personalized email accounts, blog & vlog updates, monthly focus group forums, and a general assembly. We also aspire to scribe a document, which will essentially ratify the working relationship between the SRA Social Sciences Caucus and the McMaster Social Sciences Society.

OBJECTIVES step by step

Objective 1: Branding the SRA Social Sciences Caucus

Description: Through a variety of means, the SRA Social Sciences Caucus would like to essentially brand an image that will allow students to quickly recognize who they are and what they represent.

Benefits: The benefits to this are that students will be more apt to approach you if they understand that you represent a cause that they care about. In addition, a sense of uniform among the caucus will provide unity for the team as well as fostering a business casual environment.

Difficulties: The difficulties that present themselves are cost, design and the potential of renewing these shirts every year.

Long-term: Every year it could be an optional thing that one SRA member could design the shirts and everyone pays in. Total cost would be under $15-

How: T-shirts (polo design), buttons, pamplets

Partners: Underground, OPIRG, VP Finance, VP Education

Objective 2: Social Sciences Open Forum(s)
Description: To continue to engage with students on a face-to-face level, every month we will be holding a Social Sciences Open Forum where students can mingle with representatives from the SRA Social Sciences Caucus as well as members from the MSSS to discuss issues pertinent to Social Sciences students and where they see the vision of the two heading for the future.

Benefits: The benefit of having these monthly Open Forums is a chance to discuss with students what is relevant to them and potentially rectify how to solve these issues. As well, it is also essential for both of these groups to provide forums of outreach so students can understand whom their student leaders are and what we’re doing to represent them on multiple levels within the University. I would like to involve the MSSS, SRA Social Sciences Caucus, VP Education of the MSU, Social Sciences Student Senator and the Undergraduate Council Social Sciences Student Representative.

Difficulties: The difficulties ascribed to this are time to plan, means of advertising and getting all these individuals together to plan something as extensive as this.

Long-term: I think these could be extremely successful and should they prove to be, we wish to keep them long-term by establishing it within our Caucus mandate as well as within the ratification document soon to be created between the MSSS and SRA Social Sciences Caucus.

How: The Open Forums will be in the 3rd weeks of the month, giving the SRA Social Sciences Caucus 2 weeks to fully plan from the beginning of the month. This includes room bookings, projector rentals, creation of the agenda, contacting individuals to attend as well as advertising to students.

Partners: This will require collaboration between the MSSS, SRA Social Sciences Caucus, Social Sciences Student Senator, UGC Social Sciences Representative, and the VP Education of the MSU. We can also work with MUSC/Secretariat for room bookings, AVTEC for tech rentals and the VP Finance for funding.

Objective 3: Blog/V-log Updates
Description: The SRA Social Sciences Caucus has implemented a schedule in which every member of the Caucus will be responsible for updating the SRA Blog on a weekly rotating basis.

Benefits: The benefits are that it offers a holistic view of every single SRA Social Sciences Caucus member’s personalities and create a connection between the constituents as well as delivers important information to students.

Difficulties: Everyone gets bogged down with school so essentially the effort and time that goes into planning and executing a weekly blog is difficult.
Long-term: This is definitely something that should continue in the long-term and can branch out in different directions in terms of a 60s news update on everything Social Sciences in collaboration with the MSSS.

How: Using the MSU website, we each have our own logins and we update the blog that way.

Partners: MSU Website and Pauline Taggart should we have any issues.

Objective 4: MSSS & SRA Soc Sci Ratification Document
Description Wish to create a document that binds the MSSS and the SRA Social Sciences Caucus by means of communication, interaction and collaboration on group efforts for the Social Sciences faculty.

Benefits:
The benefit of this is that even though for the last couple of years, there has been great collaboration between the MSSS and the SRA Caucus due to friendships already being in the mix, the reality of the situation is that this hasn’t been so in the past and it might not be so in the future. These are two groups working together on the same goals for the betterment of the faculty, and therefore it should be set in stone how these two work together to maximize their efforts.

Difficulties:
Finding the time to get individuals from both parties together to create a document that is satisfactory in all terms but also realistic for the future.

Long-term:
We wish to finalize this and have it become part of our by-laws through the MSU as well as part of the constitution of the MSSS.

How:
We will create a Steering Committee with members of both the MSSS and the SRA Caucus that will meet several times throughout the year and essentially vote in this document in the General Assembly towards the end of the year. We will also contact the By-Laws Commissioner to figure out how to make this part of the Soc Sci mandate by way of by-laws.

Partners: MSSS, SRA Caucus, VP Education, By-laws Commissioner, Social Sciences General Assembly

Objective 5: Social Sciences General Assembly
Description: The SRA Social Sciences Caucus and the MSSS will be collaborating their efforts to create a Social Sciences General Assembly to happen in 2nd term of the school year.

Benefits:
The benefits of this is that the combination of both groups working together will get much more of a student basis in attendance and a sharing of associated costs.

Difficulties:
Time, Cost and figuring out what the SRA Caucus is responsible for and the MSSS

Long-term: This is something that should happen every year. This year in particular, the MSSS has decided to axe their first general meeting of the year but in the future, should there be a return to two general meetings, the collaboration of both parties would be essential to its success.

How:
Booking tech equipment from AVTEC, Booking out Gilmore Hall from University Secretariat, Collaboration between the Caucus Leader and the VP Administration to compile the agenda, advertising

Partners: Avtec, University Secretariat, SRA Caucus, MSSS, MSU BOD, MSSS Clubs, Underground

GOALS to strive for:

I feel that all of the aforementioned goals are extremely realistic but at the same time, are things that have either not ever been done or have not been done as efficiently as they could have been.

This is a building year of the SRA Social Sciences Caucus and I truly think that should we establish all of this, Social Sciences students will feel well represented throughout the school.

MASTER SUMMARY
calendar and checklist

Summer (preparation)
- SRA Training (June)
- SRA Retreat (July)
- Work on individual year plans and submit to (Vice-President) Administration
- Collaborate on caucus year plan and submit to (Vice-President) Administration
- Create emails
- Create Facebook page

September
- Meet with MSSS
- Develop caucus year plan
- Contact faculty administration for meeting with Dean Yates
- Book MUSC rooms for monthly forums

October
- Meet with Dean Yates
- Creation of branding tools (shirts, buttons, etc)
- Submit profiles to the faculty administration for updating of website
- Finish caucus year plan
- Post blogs to MSU website (minimum 1 post from each member for the month)
- Monthly forum MUSC (214) Oct 28th

November
- Book monthly forum room in MUSC
- Meet with Dean Yates
- Post blogs to MSU website (minimum 4 entries on rotating cycle)
- Creation of Steering Committee between Social Sciences Caucus and MSSS members for ratification document (2 meetings)
- Table in the student centre
- Monthly forum MUSC (?) Nov 25th

December
- Post blogs to MSU website (minimum 2 entries on rotating cycle)

January
- Meet with Dean Yates
- Book monthly forum room in MUSC (1st week back)
- Table in student centre
- Monthly forum (week of Jan 17th-21st)
- Steering Committee Meeting (2 meetings)
- Start promotion for General Assembly (Jan 31st to Mar 4th)
- Blogs on MSU website (minimum 4)

February
- Blogs on MSU website (minimum 3)
- Ratification document approved by both SRA Social Sciences Caucus and the MSSS
- Start prepping for turnover (reports, etc)

March
- Meet with Dean Yates
- Turnover reports due
- Turnover dinner with incoming and outgoing Social Sciences caucus members
- General Assembly as partnered between MSSS and Social Sciences Caucus (End of March)

April
- Elect caucus leader
- Designate schedule for blog updates
- Go over turnover reports and meet with incumbents if helpful to discuss the year in review (will also already have been done in the turnover dinner)
- Elect BOD (outgoing and incoming should both be in attendance)

Weekly
- Blog updates
- Caucus meeting (biweekly)
- Attending office hours (mandatory)

COLLABORATION between MSU Services

Our ratification document will require some partnering and this may require the help of various MSU groups.

FINAL COMMENTS leave nothing out

Thank you!

————————

Sincerely,

Amber Dubois
SRA Social Sciences Caucus Leader
10-11

Hey everyone!

So Thursday, Feb 10th is EXTREMELY important for future Social Sciences students because we will be electing our new President for the McMaster Social Sciences Society.

As current President, I’ve worked extensively with all 3 of the current candidates running to become the new face of the MSSS and I believe they all have something different to bring to the table.

This year your candidates are:

(1) Culver, Chantelle -
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149581391766677

(2) Jun, Francis
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=144783908916760

(3) Korolyk, Justin
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162730197108921

Please be sure to check out each of the candidate’s platforms and vote for who you feel would be the best individual to continue to lead Social Sciences!

Come out on Thursday, February 10th, 2011 in KTH Lobby and vote for next year’s MSSS President!

Note: You must be a full-time undergraduate registered within the faculty of Social Sciences in order to vote.

Sincerely,

Amber Dubois
MSSS President // SRA Caucus Leader

Hey Everyone!
The SRA Social Sciences Caucus is going to be hosting their 4th and final Open Forum of the academic year.
These forums have been extremely successful thus far in terms of generating feedback from Social Sciences students, providing new initiatives for student leaders within Social Sciences to pursue and allowing new means for Social Sciences students to get involved!
At this Open Forum we will be continuing to engage in dialogue regarding issues that are continuing to grind your gears and look for both short term and long term strategies to combat these. We will also be formulating potential motions to bring forth to the Social Sciences General Assembly which will be happening on March 23rd in CIBC Hall.
We encourage you all to come out, even if this is your first Open Forum!
Oh! And did I forget to mention… lots of yummy free food!?
So to sum up:

What: Social Sciences Open Forum IV
Where: MSU Boardroom, MSU Office, MUSC 201
When: Thursday, Feb 17th; 5:30pm-7:00pm

Thanks and hope to see you there!!!

Sincerely,
Amber Dubois
SRA Social Sciences Caucus Leader 10-11

Note: Since this meeting is after regular business hours, we will have someone at the door to let people in between 5:15 and 5:35 as the office will be locked. If you are only able to come after this time, please call this number (905 977 7580) once you are at the door to have someone come to let you in.

- Innis Hours

The MSU is currently working with the DeGroote Commerce Society (DCS) still negotiating with the university on reopening Innis library on weekends, the DeGroote MBA Students’ Assocaition is also applying pressure to the university on resolving the issue. Although negotiations are in progress no conclusive results have been achieved thus far.

- Commerce Lounge

The DCS is currently working on the second phase of the Commerce Lounge update. If you are not sure where the Commerce Lounge is it’s the room next to the Gould Trading Floor in the DeGroote building. The second phase potentially will include sponsors, electronic information screens,

- DCS Townhall

This year’s Town Hall meeting was hosted on January 31, where students had the opportunity to ask questions directly to the leaders of the business school. In attendance were be Dean Paul Bates, Nick Bontis, Jennifer McCleary, Lori Hill, and Benoit Chapdelaine. Read the media release for the event at

http://www.degrootecommerce.ca/storage/Press%20Release%20-%20Townhall%202011.pdf

- Mystery Bus Trip

If you are of legal drinking age, look for ticket sales of the third annual DCS Mystery Bus Trip in early March, where two coach bus full of Commerce students head to undisclosed location for a night of networking, friendship and genuine fun!

- 5 Days for the Homeless Campaign

Also in March, five of your fellow Commies will be sleeping outside of the student center in an campaign to raise awareness for homeless issues in Hamilton. During the five days various exciting fundraising events will be hosted by the Five Days Team in and around MUSC. Check your emails and visit www.degrootecommerce.ca to keep posted.

- Commerce Courseware @ Underground

A project is underway to have custom coursewares printed at Underground rather than Titles for the purpose of cost reduction, it was however explained by Dr. Bontis at the DCS Townhall that most Commerce coursewares cannot be currently printed at Underground due to copyright authorization issues. I will post another update if this issue is resolved.

- International Internship Positions for 3IN0

The SRA is currently working with CBCD to connect the business schools third year internship program with overseas intern opportunities in order to address the need for internship from international students at McMaster who do not have a valid work permit to work at domestic internships.

That is all for now, if you have any questions or comments feel free to email sracommerce@msu.mcmaster.ca

Sincerely,

Leo Huang

SRA Commerce

HEY MSU!!

It’s that time of the year again.  This Wednesday February 2 and Thursday February 3 you will have the chance to practice your voting skills in Presidential elections and 5 referendums.  These are the referendums coming forward this year:

“Are you in favour of renewing the University Transit Pass with a mandatory fee of 145% of one adult monthly pass for the next three year period?”

–>This referendum comes up every three years, when the contract needs to be renewed.  You can either vote yes, in which case the bus pass will continue to be charged to your student fees, or no, in which case there will no longer be a bus pass next year (note that if this referendum does not carry through, the MSU will not negotiate a new contract - rather the bus pass will simply not exist next year).

“Are you in favour of the proposed amendments to the MSU Constitution?”

–>This referendum refers to some proposed changes to the MSU Constitution, originally brought forward to the SRA by the Bylaws and Procedures Committee.  The changes include some long overdue updates (including the addition of the VP Education position, and removing the clause stating the MSU can not make purchases from South Africa due to apartheid!).  The proposed updates can be viewed on the MSU website.

“Do you support the continuation of the MSU Dental Plan?”

–>In this referendum, you will have three choices: two different levels of payment for the Dental Plan, or cancelling the plan altogether.

“Do you support the continuation of the MSU Health Plan?”

–>Here you will have similar options to the Dental Plan.

“Are you in favour of implementing a mandatory fee of 35c per student to support the overseas volunteer work of McMaster students through Engineers Without Borders?”

–>This referendum pretty well explains itself.

More information on all these referendums, as well as links to Presidential candidate websites and election updates, can be found on the MSU website here: https://www.msumcmaster.ca/servicesandbusiness/elections/generalInfo/Elections.htm

With voting online this year, it is easier than ever to vote!! So make sure you get on your computer this February 2nd or 3rd and make your voice heard.

Sincerely,

David Campbell

SRA Arts & Science

Hey Everyone!

Over the next little bit I will be uploading a series of documents that are pertinent to Social Sciences.

Look forward to viewing a viral video, meeting minutes, commentary on SRA meetings, as well as major updates from the McMaster Social Sciences Society.

This year has certainly been a busy one within the faculty of Social Sciences and we want to make sure that you are updated on all that has been going on and what is still to come.

For now, I leave you with a video to act as a long overdue introduction of sorts.

Hope you enjoy the video and talk to you soon!

Sincerely,

Amber Dubois
SRA Social Sciences Caucus Leader
2010-2011

Are you interested in getting involed in the MSU? The SRA Standing Committee on Bylaws & Procedures has on (1) open seat on its committee.

The Bylaws & Procedures Committee is tasked with updating, changing, and making recommendations on the governing documents of the MSU. The Committee has already recommended amendments to the MSU Constitution, and has passed a number of bylaw changes at the Assembly level. Ongoing and upcoming projects this year include the creation of a Style Guide for MSU documents, as well as monitoring the changes that were made to a number of bylaws over the past year.

What kind of people would be well suited:

-Attention to detail, consistence, style, nuances of meaning

-People who can see the big picture while maintaining attention to detail

-People who enjoy abstract discussions on governance, legislative principles, etc.

Meetings are Mondays at 11:30am in the small MSU Boardroom. You MUST be able to make this meeting time.

For more information, please contact the Commissioner, Jessie Bauman, at srabylaws@msu.mcmaster.ca