Correction appended February 10, 2014
The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council met on January 23 for the second council meeting of the Winter semester. After a presentation by the Accountability Committee, the Council prepared three upcoming motions in anticipation of the Winter General Assembly. Justin Fletcher, president of the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS), made a surprise appearance to speak against a motion regarding the People, Processes and Partnerships Plan (PPP).
Leacock restructuring
AUS President Justin Fletcher dropped in on the meeting to voice his discontent about a motion that denounced the PPP project, which has been the subject of debate for its proposed reorganization of academic and administrative staff.
A similar motion was rejected at AUS Council in late November after council members disagreed about opposing the restructured. “This is a motion that is very specific to the Faculty of Arts and I believe that AUS is the most representative body to discuss such an issue, so I do not really believe that this really is SSMU’s place to take a stance on an issue that is specific to the Faculty of Arts,” said Fletcher.
SSMU President Katie Larson agreed with Fletcher. “SSMU coming in and making a decision contrary to a faculty is very inappropriate.”
The motion was rejected.
SSMU supports attempt to create family-friendly campus
A motion to give a letter of recommendation to an application submitted by the Senate Subcommittee on Women to the Sustainability Projects Fund passed. The application, if approved, would use $88,000 of SPF funding – half of which are student fees, which are then matched by the administration – to create the position of Family Resources Coordinator.
The Subcommittee representative present at Council, Sara Delisle, told Council that the position would hopefully “create a more inclusive and diverse campus by providing resources that will exist for international families or single parents.”
Delisle claimed the application fell under the social sustainability portion of the SPF; however, Arts Representative Ben Reedijk wasn’t comfortable with the concept. “At this point I could justify almost anything in terms of sustainability and then apply it to the sustainability fund.”
VP University Affairs Joey Shea disagreed, and said, “SSMU adheres to the three pillars concept of sustainability which includes Environmental, Social, and Financial.”
The motion to support the application passed.
Accountability at SSMU
A representative from the Accountability Committee, a sub-committee of SSMU’s Legislative Council, gave a presentation regarding how executives and councillors will be reviewed in areas including performance, attendance, and functionality.
A prototype of a formal complaint system was also introduced. “We have developed a system of proper and formal procedure of registering a complaint against any of the processes or persons involved in SSMU. It will be highly confidential, we all have signed confidentiality agreements,” said a representative of the committee during the presentation.
In an earlier version of this article, The Daily wrote that a similar motion had been considered at AUS in December; in fact, the motion was considered in November. In addition, The Daily incorrectly referred to the PPP. The Daily regrets the errors.