Last Wednesday, the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) General Council (GC) voted to approve the amended Winter 2015 budget, and pass a motion supporting the ECOLE project.
Approval of budget
The GC voted almost unanimously to approve the budget presented at the previous meeting by VP Finance Eileen Bui. The budget had been revised following the recent passing of two fees in an online referendum: an increase in the base fee, and the introduction of a student space improvement fee.
The majority of the SUS funds are to be distributed to departmental associations, while the income from the fee increase will be set aside in a separate fund for later use.
Notably, the budget set aside funds for a laptop lending program for students. The program will allow students to borrow laptops from SUS should theirs break. “The laptops will be available for students to use around the end of midterms and exams, because that’s usually when laptops tend to break,” said VP Internal Shaun Lampen. Three units have been purchased for the initial implementation of the program, with the option to purchase more if necessary.
Support for ECOLE project
The second motion, put forth by Representative to the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Zacheriah Houston, was in support of ECOLE, a living and community space focused on sustainability on campus. The motion would grant ECOLE room-booking privileges with SUS, similar to other independent student organizations under SSMU.
“ECOLE […] is a great new student space. We have programming, we have skill-sharing workshops, we have film screenings. […] All in all, about 100 to 200 people walk through the space every week and it’s a really exciting project to be a part of.”
“ECOLE already gives us room-booking privileges and they book rooms with some of the student societies on campus, so I just wanted to formalize that process,” said Houston.
The motion also included a clause recognizing the importance of ECOLE, and asked that ECOLE be promoted regularly through the SUS listserv. SSMU Council will vote on a similar motion at its next meeting.
VP External Emily Boytinck, who is also a facilitator at ECOLE, spoke in favour of the motion. “ECOLE […] is a great new student space. We have programming, we have skill-sharing workshops, we have film screenings. […] All in all, about 100 to 200 people walk through the space every week and it’s a really exciting project to be a part of.”
Boytinck did not put forth the motion, nor did she vote on it, to avoid a conflict of interest.
After a very brief debate, the motion passed unanimously.