UVSS Wades into BC Teachers' Federation Dispute

Another year, another off-campus labour dispute which the UVic Students' Society Board thinks it should be involved in.

Directors-at-Large Lucia Orser and Ariel Tseng have introduced a motion to Monday's Board meeting to take a stance on the current BC teachers' strike. Orser is the incoming Director of External Relations and Tseng is the incoming Director of Finance and Operations.

The motion reads:

Whereas the UVSS is a member of a coalition of local education stakeholders (United for Public Education) of which the Greater Victoria Teachers' Association is also a member, and;

Whereas the Greater Victoria Teachers' Association as a the local of the British Columbia Teachers' Association is currently facing back-to-work legislation through Bill 22, therefore;

Be It Resolved That the Chairperson write a letter on behalf of the UVSS Board of Directors to the Greater Victoria Teachers' Association, thanking them for their contributions to further the cause of quality public education and expressing our solidarity with them during the government's imposition of back-to-work legislation;

Be It Further Resolved That the Chairperson write a letter to Minister George Abbott and Premier Christy Clark calling on the government to appoint a neutral arbitrator to resolve the dispute without the need for back-to-work legislation. 

Back in the summer, the Board passed a motion in solidarity with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers' job action; I was the only director to vote against it. There are still plenty of good reasons why the UVSS Board not have even considered that motion, or the current one regarding the BC Teachers' Federation.

Simply put, the purpose of a students' society is to advocate for its membership. In the recent University of Alberta Student Union election, former UASU vice-president external and veteran student leader, Aden Murphy cautioned against candidates who wanted the student union to "engage in activities it isn't legally allowed to do," adding that "hitching our wagon to the unions who are very partisan makes me extremely wary."

My biggest concern with this motion is that it will undermine the UVSS' attempts to lobby the BC government for reduced interest rates on student loans and a needs-based grants program.

Government officials will be less receptive to the students' society if they see it consistently aligning with organizations which have taken a militant stance against the government's actions.

Orser and Tseng argue that government should appoint a neutral arbitrator to the BCTF dispute without back-to-work legislation. In reality, the back-to-work legislation, Bill C-22, does include the appointment of a neutral arbitrator, who will have discretion over class size and composition but will not be able to increase salaries. The BCTF has been demanding 15% pay raises.

By supporting arbitration but opposing the framework set out in Bill C-22, Orser and Tseng are apparently supporting salary hikes. This is a dangerous position for the UVSS to take since it undermines our post-secondary funding goals, allowing the BC government to tell the UVSS (assuming they followed Orser and Tseng's advice), "We don't have the money to provide needs based grants or cut student loan interest rates–we spend it on increasing schoolteachers' salaries (which by the way you supported)." More likely, the government would ignore the UVSS' stance, but would take our lobbying efforts less seriously as a result.

In any case, BC teachers are earning from $46,000 to $81,000 per year in the Vancouver area–hardly poverty wages. Many other groups in this province are far more in need of any increased government funding.

The BCTF has also spoken out against plans which would see classroom size increased by more than the "normal" 30 students per class in exchange for a per-student bonus for teachers. Interestingly, back in 1906 teachers were agitating for classes of no more than 40 students.

Orser and Tseng claim that the UVSS should side with teachers' unions because we are part of an organization they are also part of–the United for Public Education coalition started by former UVSS Chairperson James Coccola. However, joining a coalition with teachers' associations to lobby on certain issues should not oblige the UVSS to get involved in labour disputes between those teachers' associations and an external party.

If the teachers' associations are demanding the UVSS' support as a condition of continued participation in the coalition (which is possible, given the near-tribal notion of "solidarity" exhibited by some labour unions), perhaps that is too high a price.

After all, there isn't any reciprocity here–the Greater Victoria Teachers' Association is not promising to take a stance on UVic's non-academic misconduct policy, its smoking policy or any other issue directly affecting the UVSS membership. Solidarity seems to be a one-way street.

The biggest argument against Orser and Tseng's motion is that it simply isn't necessary. The teachers' strike is not a UVic student issue; while some students may be affected, this is not due to their status as members of the UVic undergraduate population. In fact, the minority of students who are most affected–those with school-aged children of their own–will also benefit most from the back-to-work legislation.

Worse, it seems that certain UVSS executives did not even wait for the motion to be written before taking stances in support of the BCTF. Director of Student Affairs Jenn Bowie attended the BCTF rally at the legislature on March 6. When I pointed out that she was doing this within her working hours without a mandate from the Board, she said she was not there representing the UVSS and would make up the rest of her hours later that day.

David Foster: Unfortunately Jenn the UVSS Board has not given you or any other executive a mandate to take a position one way or the other on the strike, and there are a bunch of cheque reqs (including one from my course union) waiting in your box for you to sign, which is what I pay you for, not attending rallies.

Jenn Bowie: Check reqs get done on Wednesday. And I am taking this stand as a person, not as an exec. I will be back and work my remaining 5 hours this afternoon.

Despite this, Bowie included "attended rally for teachers" in her director report, which is supposed to reflect work she has done for the students' society. Orser also put "attended rally in support of BC teachers" in her Board report. I have heard, although I have no direct evidence, that the UVSS executive held a coffee day with campaigns funding to promote the rally on the morning of March 6. Since the Board had not taken a stance on the strike at that time, none of this activity was appropriate.

Given previous actions of the UVSS Board, I won't be surprised if Orser and Tseng's motion passes–but I will be disappointed that we can't expect more common sense, rather than knee-jerk political reactions, from our elected representatives.


Other motions on the agenda include an allocation of $2800 to upgrade alarm systems in the SUB, and a lease agreement with Steps Forward who have applied to use an upstairs office room in conjunction with Students for Literacy.


The UVSS Board meeting will be held on Monday, March 12 at 6pm in the Student Union Building Upper Lounge.

For the Record

In view of blatantly false statements by UVic Students' Society Chairperson Tara Paterson in today's Martlet article on my resignation from the Board of Directors, I am compelled to post the evidence refuting her claims.

Paterson would have you believe that I did not bring my concerns with how the Board has been allocating dedicated students fees established by referendum to any UVSS executives before launching my court petition against the Board. She is quoted as saying, "Mr Foster had not discussed the issued with any of the executives or made it known to us that he was preparing a lawsuit...he did this without discussing the matter with [the] UVSS."

This is simply not true. I did discuss the issue of fee allocation under the bylaws, which forms the basis of my court petition, extensively with a UVSS executive–Paterson herself. Since the conversation occurred via email I have a record of it. In fact, Tara's apparent inability to remember this discussion is all the more perplexing, since I even included a copy of the emails in the documents I filed with the petition! 

In the interest of setting the record straight, I have reproduced a full unedited copy of our email correspondence below. As you can see, the emails are date-stamped from September 10 to September 15, 2011–long before I began the legal process of petitioning the court. In fact, it was my dissatisfaction with the answers provided by Paterson which led me to believe that legal action was the only option for forcing the Board to comply with UVSS bylaws.

Another false statement is made by Paterson in the same Martlet article which also needs to be corrected. "We believe it is not acting within the best interest of the Society to use a position as a director to garner information to sue the Society, which could cost the Society tens of thousands of dollars of students' money," she stated.

In fact, I have never had the opportunity to do this, because whenever issues arose surrounding the fees in question, which are dedicated by referendum to Access UVic, the Board always discussed them in camera or closed sessions, from which, as a member of Access, I always recused myself. Paterson acknowledges this herself in the emails below. I can only consider her accusation to be defamatory, since it is entirely without factual basis.

In addition to the emil chain with the current UVSS Chairperson, I also had a number of discussion regarding the allocation of Access UVic fees with Paterson's predecessor, James Coccola. As with Paterson, I was never able to get a satisfactory explanation from Coccola on why the Board has not complied with its bylaws.

UVSS Slams Pro-Life Club, Again

BREAKING–Tonight's UVic Students' Society Board meeting was a bit confusing with many amendments, but it appears that the Board censured pro-life club Youth Protecting Youth twice, denied them the ability to book public space and denied them the ability to put up any more posters until the UVSS has passed a policy restricting the content of posters (ie. censorship.) This comes after YPY held a "choice chain" demonstration in the Quad which received numerous complaints by students who were offended by the images used. 

This is a very brief update on what happened at tonight's meeting. I have two exams this week so will probably not be able to write much more before the Martlet comes out with their coverage on Thursday.

Statement on My Resignation from the UVSS Board

As some students involved in the UVic Students' Society may be aware, I have submitted my resignation to the UVSS Board of Directors, to take effect at the beginning of the February 6 Board meeting.

This was not an easy decision for me.

As a minority voice on the Board on most issues, I have struggled to provide an alternative to the dominant ideologies of radicalism and enforced political correctness. I have also tried to hold the Board accountable on bylaw, policy and financial issues. I have achieved some success in policy reform and in pushing the UVSS to take a more active role in lobbying the university. Unfortunately, my latest disagreement with my fellow Board members resulted in an attempted action against me which would have had serious long-term repercussions for my future employment.

Last week I applied to the Supreme Court of BC to intervene in the UVSS since I have evidence that the Board has broken UVSS bylaws regarding referenda and student fees collected on behalf of other organizations. This is a very serious problem–the bylaws of the society are created by the membership, and cannot be changed, suspended or overruled by the Board. One of my duties as a director is to ensure the Board is following the bylaws and in this case they aren't. After trying to resolve the issue with both former Chairperson James Coccola and current Chairperson Tara Paterson, which led nowhere, my only option was to appeal to the court system–a measure which is specifically permitted and outlined in section 85 of the Societies Act of BC. However, I was informed that the Board's reaction to this would be to pass a motion of censure against me, which I did not have the votes to defeat.

As many of my friends are aware (and certainly most directors) I am planning to attend law school after I receive my bachelor's degree from UVic, and would like to become a lawyer. When applying for jobs in the field of law, one aspect which they check, if you have served on the board of a non-profit organization, is whether you were censured by your board. This counts as a strike against you in getting hired.

While I am willing to put up with a great deal of frustration, unpleasantness, long hours and late nights working in the office in order to adequately represent the students who elected me, and who believe in the ideas I ran on, I am not willing to sacrifice my career plans to in order to continue on the UVSS Board. Though it is incredibly frustrating to me to have to end my term three months early, I do not believe any reasonable person would act any differently, or give up their career path for the sake of student politics.

Despite the my term being cut short by my effectively being forced to resign, I have accomplished more than many other directors this year. I will continue to be an active member of several UVSS committees and university committees and will continue to represent students on the University of Victoria Senate. I will also continue to scrutinize the actions of the UVSS Board and challenge the small group of radicals who dominate student politics at UVic.

UVSS Board July 11 Meeting Agenda

Here is the agenda for the UVic Student Society Board meeting on July 11. The most notable motions are the allocation of over $40,000 to expand ZAP!, the copy centre in the Student Union Building, adding three more self serve computers and a new black and white printer. $60,000 will also be proposed for a new point-of-sale system in the SUB to replace the old and dysfunctional Squirrel system. A maximum of $11,000 is also requested for basic upgrades the old Student Transition Centre office in the SUB basement to make it usable for UVic Pride to move into.

Under directors' reports, Finance and Operations Director Dylan Sherlock reports that he has arranged for a free BC Hydro energy audit of the SUB through UVic Facilities Management. He's also made some progress on my idea for a digital display of bus times in the SUB, either on a new screen or as a popup on the existing digital screens. Meanwhile, Student Affairs Director Jenn Bowie had a run-in with the wizarding world when the UVic Quidditch Club asked her to write a letter to the International Quidditch Association affirming their status as a legitimate Quidditch team.

Two motions that were missed from the agenda by mistake, but will be moved at the meeting are to elect a Director-at-Large to the Donations and Grants committee and to ratify External Relations Director Jaraad Marani as Food Bank Director on the recommendation of the Executive Committee.

AGENDA

University of Victoria Students' Society Board Meeting
Monday July 7, 2011–SUB Upper Lounge 6:00 pm

ATTENDANCE

1. CALL TO ORDER

2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF TERRITORIES

3. ADOPTION OF AGENDA & ADOPTION OF MINUTES

a) Adoption of Agenda

i) Agenda of 2011/07/11

b) Adoption of Minutes

i) 2010/10/04 BoD
ii) 2011/06/28 Exec
iii) 2011/07/05 Exec

4. ANNOUNCEMENTS (10 minutes)

5. REPORTS

a) Committee Reports

i) Advocacy Council
ii) Campaigns Committee
iii) Clubs Council
iv) Course Union Council
v) Electoral Committee
vi) Events Committee
vii) Finance Committee
viii) Marketing and Communications Committee
ix) Operations, Sustainability and Services Committee
x) Policy Development Committee
xi) University Relations Committee

b) Advocacy Group Reports

i) Pride
ii) Native Student Union
iii) Society for Students with a Disability
iv) Students of Colour Collective
v) Women's Centre

6. QUESTION PERIOD (15 mins)

7. PRESENTATIONS (10 minutes)

a. Naomi Roome, re: Shinerama

Motion 2011/07/11: 01–Bowie/
BIRT the UVSS supports this years Shinerama event; and

BIFRT the Director of Events include the event on the September Events Calendar insert; and

BIFRT the UVSS BoD advertises this event on their website; and

BIFRT the Shinerama Club be allowed to post posters for this event on UVSS Board Bulletin Boards for the period of August 31 until the Event ends.

8. MAIN MOTIONS

a. PRIORITY BUSINESS

Motion 2011/07/11: 02–Paterson/
BIRT nominations be open to elect one undergraduate student to the Campus Planning Committee.

Motion 2011/07/11: 03–Paterson/
BIRT nominations be open to elect one undergraduate student to the Residence Advisory Board.

Motion 2011/07/11: 04–Paterson/
BIRT nominations be open to elect one undergraduate student to the Residency Dining Feedback Committee.

Motion 2011/07/11: 05–Paterson/
BIRT nominations be open to elect one undergraduate student to the Retail feedback committee.

Motion 2011/07/11: 06–Paterson/
BIRT nominations be open to elect one undergraduate student to the Student and Campus Health Advisory Committee.

Motion 2011/07/11: 07–Paterson/
BIRT nominations be open to elect one undergraduate student to the Recreational Advisory Committee.

Motion 2011/07/11: 08–Foster/
Whereas I will be attending the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations’ Policy and Strategy Conference at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario from July 24 to 29, 2011 and I have already paid in advance the costs of this conference; and

Whereas I am attending this conference to gather information and skills which will help me to be a more effective director; and

Whereas I will not be able to attend the July 25, 2011 Board meeting as a result;

BIRT Director-at-Large David Foster be granted leave of absence from the July 25, 2011 UVSS Board of Directors meeting.

b) OLD BUSINESS

Motion 2011/05/09: 08–Paterson/Sutherland
BIRT nominations be opened to fill the following vacancies on Advocacy Council:

• One member as recommended by the Native Student Union

Motion 2011/06/13: 03–Paterson/Sutherland
BIRT nominations be opened to elect one undergraduate student to the Senate Committee on Continuing Studies.

c) NEW BUSINESS

Motion 2011/07/11: 09–Sherlock/ (5 minutes)
BIRT up to $42,000 be allocated from the Capital Fund for the purchase of new computers and associated millwork, a laminator and fastback binding equipment for Zap Copy; and
BIFRT up to $2000 be allocated from the Capital Fund for the lease of a new Black and White Full Serve Copier for Zap Copy.

Motion 2011/07/11: 10–Sherlock/ (5 minutes)
BIRT up to $60,000 be allocated from the Capital Fund for the purchase of a new Point of Sale system for the business operations of the Student Union Building.

Motion 2011/07/11: 11–Sherlock/ (5 minutes)
BIRT that 100% of electrical, flooring and ductwork costs associated with Pride’s renovation of SUB B010, plus an additional $3000, up to a maximum of $11000 total, be paid through the Dr Ewing Memorial Fund.

Motion 2011/07/11: 12–Sherlock/ (5 minutes)
BIRT up to $2500 be allocated from the Dr Ewing Memorial Fund for the renovation of the Director at Large and Director of Finance offices that took place in Spring 2011.

d) OTHER BUSINESS

8. IN CAMERA

a) Legal (60 minutes)

9. NOTICE OF MOTION

10. MEETING TIMES

The next meeting scheduled by the Board of Directors is:
Monday July 25, 2011 in the SUB Upper Lounge.

11. ADJOURNMENT

12. APPENDIX

a) Director Reports

Allison Rhodes

• Attended the policy development committee meeting.
• Attended the campaigns committee meeting.
• Attended the marketing and communications committee meeting.
• Met with the TAPS tenant advocates and discussed their involvement in our housing campaign. They are willing to host a set of workshops at UVic each term and help educate students on tenant rights.
• Volunteered at the food bank.
• Sorted through and organized the clubs and course union folders, which now contain information from 2007-present.
• Archived all clubs and course union information from prior to 2007.

Dylan Sherlock

Finance Committee

• Approved capital motions for Zap and POS displays
• Approved revised motion for Pride from Dr. Ewing Fund

Operations Sustainability and Services

• Failed to meet quorum again, discussed bus schedule web application w/David

Operations Portfolio

• Met with Campus Planning, Capital Planning and Facilities Management to discuss long-term SUB energy efficiency
• Secured BC Hydro Energy Audit (sometime this year)(free!)
• Met with Dan McKinnon (UVic Sustainability Coordinator) to discuss Revolving Green Loan Fund terms of reference and how we can use it to pay for energy efficient retrofits to the SUB
• With Chairperson, met with SUB tenants to discuss leases
• Ordered 100 "Turn Me Off" stickers through Facilities Management to place on light switches in SUB (free!)
• Set up meeting with Facilities Management about SUB waste audit and UVic Waste Assessment
• Set up arrangements with UVic Online and BC Transit for costing development of a bus schedule web application

Finance Portfolio

• Met with GSS, UVic Tuition to discuss Fall 2011 opt-outs
• Fee Reduction Appeals meeting
• Liaised with Studentcare re: fee changes and water bottle advertising, worked on finalizing water bottle deal

Other

• Attended Campaigns, Events committees
• Worked with Jim Dunsdon, and the university community relations department (hurrah, media relations professionals and lawyers!) to develop a comprehensive proposal for how municipalities in Greater Victoria can hold special on-campus poll stations
• Met with Jim Dunsdon and the Webvote and UVic Online Directors to discuss Online Elections
• Delivered modified "Ride Me All Night Long" posters to Downtown Victoria Business Association to go up in bars and late-night businesses downtown
• Maltwood Art Gallery put UVSS on a waiting list to receive free loans from one of the best art collections in Western Canada!
• Helped Jaraad sell SUB deal book ad space
• Wrote invitation letter to new coalition partners for United for Public Education and sent copies to high school student groups and community associations
• Researched Post Secondary Education academic studies on outcomes and issues, and also researched responsible investing at other universities

Tara Paterson

• Chaired Policy Development x3
• Attended meeting with Jaraad, AVP and the Women's Center re: sexualized violence campaign
• Wrote a draft letter re: sexualized violence
• Shopped for food bank
• Attended Exec Committee
• Met with Carole James re: post-secondary education
• Attended SUB Management meeting
• met with Kat of UVSP and Office of Sustainability re: bottled water
• Met with Rita Fromholt re: bottled water
• Researched bottled water and emailed other student unions
• Met with Together Against Poverty Society re: affordable housing
• Attended Finance committee
• Met with reps from the Martlet, CFUV and Pride: re lease agreements
• Researched lease agreements and triple-net
• Attended Marketing and Communications Committee
• Attended Campaigns committee
• Prepped electoral policy
• emailed the GSS re: foodbank and set up meeting with GSS Chairperson
• Attended Events Committee
• Prepped Access research
• Attended UPE meeting
• Met with legal counsel re: Access
• Liaised with CFS legal counsel
• Wrote fees letter to the University
• Wrote letter re: alternative format textbooks

David Foster

Committees and Meetings

June 27 – Policy Development Committee: Electoral Policy
June 28 – UVic Board of Governors Meeting
The Board of Governors approved creation of a new athletics facility without raising student fees. Revenue from selling the Dunsmuir Lodge will be used if necessary.
June 30 – Finance Committee
We discussed and approved motions on UVic Pride room renovations and ZAP! Capital purchases.
July 4 – Campaigns Committee
Campaign updates were presented for "Fund Education Now," "What the Funding" and a sexualized violence campaign. Update on phasing out bottled water in SUB vending machines: Dasani will likely be replaced with Vitamin Water, Coke or juice.
July 5 – Policy Development Committee: Electoral Policy
July 6 – Events Committee
– Met with Director of Finance and Operations re: digital transit displays in SUB
July 7 – Policy Development Committee: Electoral Policy

Other Activities

• Let students into the Food Bank and donated some food
• Worked on new clubs discipline and issues policies
• Investigated digital transit display at University of Alberta
• Reimbursed the UVSS for meals at May/June Board meetings

Jenn Bowie

Clubs

• Held a Clubs Council Meeting
• Discussed a Clubs Room Booking infraction with Carmen and Al. Emailed club regarding this conversation
• Had a meeting with the aforementioned club.
• Met with Shinerama Club re: September events and presenting to the UVSS Board
• Signed Cheque Requisitions
• Discussed Clubs Policy changes with a clubs representative: will hold a Policy Working Group
• Worked on Clubs Manual
• Composed a letter to the International Quidditch Association re: Quidditch Club
• Searched for an Owl in Mystic Vale and at PetMart to deliver letter
• Researched other methods of Wizardly mail
• Realized MS Word has an Email Wizard Template, opted for that option
• Planned Clubs Days Table Set-up

Course

• Contacted PDU's regarding updating their forms
• Sent an email reminder re: Course Union Council
• Worked on Course Union Manual

Advocacy Council

• Sent out an Email reminder for letters for board reps, second Summer meeting
• Ordered signs for Advocacy Board

Committees

• Librarian Search Committee; Jonathan Bengston of UTSM was hired, will begin in January
• Policy Development x3
• Communications
• Campaigns
• Events
• Finance
• Executive x2

Other

• Discussed Bus tickets for D@Ls w/o Bus Passes for Board Meeting: idea approved
• Purchased Bus Tickets
• Cheque Signing
• Grafix orders for different events/things in the fall

UVSS Increases Dental Premiums, Coverage

At the June 27 UVic Student Society Board of Directors meeting, the Board voted seven to five in favour of increasing the student health and dental plan up to to maximum yearly premium of $288 in order to provide more dental coverage.  The plan fee had previously been approved by the UVic Board of Governors at $265.40, down from $272.72 last year and $285 the previous near.  The $23 added to the dental premium will cover an increase to maximum claim for dental surgery from $750 to $850 (the amount was actually $1000 prior to spring 2010.) The administration fee has been reduced from $30 to $20 and the Board is slated to continue cutting it to $10 next year.


I covered some of the issues around increasing dental coverage under the UVSS' current contract with StudentCare in a previous post. I was initially unsure on how to vote on the motion to raise dental coverage and premiums–an extra $100 in dental coverage seems very reasonable, but paying $23 extra for it doesn't seem like a very good return on investment. However, Finance Director Kelsey Hannan, who negotiated the three-year contract, convinced me that this proposal was not in students' best interest. During the meeting Hannan and Dylan Sherlock, the current Director of Finance and Operations who proposed the dental coverage increase, also disagreed on whether the increase would have any long term benefits for the UVSS.

"Looking at our claims data data this last year and in previous years...we have a tremendous amount of people using our plan, more than the average student union, and we have a lot of factors on campus, the dental clinic probably being the top one," said Sherlock. "We are a facing a lot of things both within the data, and anecdotally, from students–they are having to pay more than before due the change in coverage that happened last year...What we're putting on the table right now [is] an option of increasing the annual maximum by $100, which seems like a small amount but it's actually quite substantial...It also has the purpose of stabilizing the claims we are receiving. While this is a very band-aid short term solution, what we're hoping this will accomplish is giving students a little more confidence in the plan in the future, and then...starting in February we will be doing a complete 360 degree review of our health plan coverage, how the plan is structured from the bottom up. This to my knowlege has not been done in the past decade, and we'll be going through and looking at what is the coverage people are actually using,  what is the price that would be attached to that coverage in the plan, what students really need."

Hannan responded that he was concerned the majority of the $23 premium would go to adjusting StudentCare's prices to reflect the increase in dental claims over the past year.

"Because we signed a three-year contract, we have a two-year price guarantee with StudentCare, so as a result of that, no matter what claims happen, no matter what students take out of the plan, in terms of the company losing money, they are bound by that contract to pay us the cheap price," Hannan explained.  "Claims are 110% of what the premium is...The insurance company is long money on the plan right now...One of the problems with touching coverage in the plan when you have a price guarantee is that you lose the price guarantee, which means the plan then gets re-calaculated based on what the actual claims are. And so, because claims are higher than the plan cost is, any discussion of changing coverage then opens the contract, [which] will suddenly automatically increase the price of the plan for the coming year nio matter what the changes in coverage are, because the insurance company's not going to let the coverage change in the contract without getting its money back...There's a $23 price increase to get an extra $100 of coverage, but it costs $29 to get an extra $250 of coverage, which seems kind of odd, to think that it would be so cheap to get an extra $150, but not $100...The actual benefit of the coverage you're providing to students with that $100 is probably around $5 per student, maybe $10 per student, but it's not $23 per student, a lot of that is just the insurance company paying its money back so it won't lose money in the second year."

Hannan even suggested that the UVSS could charge $10 per student on the health plan, and use the resulting pool of money to cover $100 extra in dental surgery, providing the same service for less than half the cost.  "I would stress that increasing the coverage like this and letting the insurance company make money, would not be a good option," he said. I"f the UVSS deems that dental coverage is a problem one way of dealing with that....you can increase the premium by $10 per student, times nine thousand students [on the plan]...they could just go to the UVSS, show a receipt and and get a cheque for $100."

Sherlock rejoined that "a couple things Kelsey said were not not quite true." "What we're voting on today is an additional health plan product which is separate from the premium guarantee," he asserted. "Voting on this doesn't alter the terms of the premium guarantee, it just puts this new amount in place for dental coverage...They are pricing it though on the inflated claims, not on the agreement we had before...so it is being based on the actual claims but it's not subsidizing what their losses are elsewhere...and frankly this is a very expensive item...We have one of the most dental-using campuses in Canada...We thought about removing travel coverage but we found a lot of students were getting value out of that."

I said I was opposed to the motion because we'd be increasing dental premiums by 24% but only increasing coverage by 13%, meaning students would pay twice as much more in premiums percentage wise than they'd get in increased coverage.

"We're not saying it's $23 in a way that we have any control over," pointed out Director of Student Affairs Jenn Bowie.  "We don't control our health plan providers, and if we keep getting complaints from students saying their dental coverage isn't enough we should be doing what we can...If I'm getting expensive dental work done and I'm paying an extra $23, I'd be happier than paying $100 out of my pocket."

Events Director Remy Hall questioned how many students were actually dissatisfied with the current plan.  "Until we do any sort of survey or studies I worry that it's just a few loud students rather than a whole bunch of students who are upset with the dental plan, " he said. "I'm not saying that is the case, I just haven't seen any facts or figures."

On the other hand, Director-at-Large Ariel Tseng contended that the amount of benefit to students who did need the extra coverage make the premium increase worthwhile. "Maybe we will be collectively as students giving the insurance company more money than we get back...but the way that I see it is that $100 per person is going to make a huge difference for those people in comparison to the $23," Tseng argued. "The thing about our health care is it's not 100% already, it's 70% dental [coverage]. You're paying $300 out of pocket if you use up your dental coverage already."

Chairperson Tara Paterson said the dental coverage increase would have a more important effect, that of stabilizing claims.  "This will put us is a much greater bargaining position going into our next contract because we have stabilized claims going in rather than having exceed it for two years," she said.  However, Hannan also contested this point.

"The whole point of insurance is that you get the security of consistency, and it's a gamble," he said.  "When they price the plan every year, they just look at what the claims are...OK, there's $2 million that was paid out to students last year, divide that by the approximate number, 9000 students, and that's how the plan comes...and then if it goes up from that....if $6 million in claims comes in that year, we don't have to pay for it, the insurance company just lost $4 million. And then what would happen, each year you got your claims bumped, the next year the calculation would simply reflect the increased cost of the plan....so what essentially happened this new benefit year....claims were 110%, they lost that amount...and they're going to lose that amount next year if the price guarantee stays, because they can't recalculate the cost. So that would only happen in the third year. So essentially all stabilizing claims means, it just means you're assisting the insurance company to not lose money, that's it. And we don't have to because we have a contract with them. So essentially if we increase the price for the next upcoming benefit year, that will stabilize the claims in the sense that claims will be lower than what we pay, but we didn't have to do that."

Hannan also stated that under the contract StudentCare wouldn't be able to raise prices in future years to cover deficits in previous years. "There will be a price increase in the third year," he said. "But what it means in year one, where they're currently losing money in a claims deficit, if we keep the price guarantee they lose money again on the second year. In the contract they're not allowed to reflect coverage deficits in years one and two. So going into the third year they're actually only allowed to calculate it based on the actual costs that it will cost them....by changing the coverage, the reason that it's going up $23 is that you're letting them recover money that they're going to lose next year...We're talking about a hundred million dollar insurance company here that's losing about $200,000 right now, and the $23 increase is at least $215,000 to the insurance company...I just think it would be very misguided to let the insurance company benefit when they don't have to."

"This is not a subsidy of a health care company, we are paying for an item priced on the actuarial rate of what that item is going to be," Sherlock insisted. "In this case $23 for $100 more. That's what we've been guaranteed by the company Kelsey set us up with, and at this point we have to trust them that they've gotten us a deal that is in line with the contract everyone agreed to. And I'm just going to take it in good faith on their part that we are entering into an addition to that agreement that is in line with the contact we signed last year. That's the guarantee I got from them...This is the single most expensive item in the health plan...I urge you to put aside these things which I assure you are not true, this is totally separate from the premium guarantee we had before...There's no ability for us to be our own insurance company, though it's a very fun idea."

Hall said he didn't think the premium and coverage increase was a good deal and pointed out the contradictions between Hannan's and Sherlock's information. "Personally I don't believe the $23 is worth $100, especially since we don't have any statistics on who wants that or who doesn't," he said. "When you look at it, it's a $77 benefit...What would sway me one way or the other on this is whether or not putting into this may actually help us come to our new negotiation. On the one hand we have our old Director of Finance, who has basically said that StudentCare lied to us when they told us it would help us, and other hand we have StudentCare, who is our provider, who's saying that it could potentially help us. So I don't know where to go with that."

The vote on increasing the health and dental plan to $288 to provide an additional $100 in dental coverage was as shown below. Notably, all members of the Fuse slate, who had run on increasing dental coverage, voted for the motion with the exception of Emily Rogers, who joined Renew slate members and independent Hall in opposing it. Since four Fuse directors and one Renew director are on leave of absence, the vote may have been less clearly split along slate lines if all Board members had been present.

In favour:
Jenn Bowie
Jaraad Marani
Josef Methot (Society for Students with a Disability)
Lucia Orser
Dylan Sherlock
Ariel Tseng
Lincoln Welsh (UVic Pride)

Opposed:
David Foster
Remy Hall
Allison Rhodes
Emily Rogers
Gabrielle Sutherland

UVSS supports disabled students' issues with e-texts

The Board unanimously passed a motion to write a letter supporting the rights of disabled students at UVic to receive alternate format texts in a timely manner.  The letter will be used by law student Miles Motture in his human rights complaint against the university and textbook publishers.  Motture said he gets his materials in e-text form from the UVic Resource Centre for Students with a Disability, but "the accommodations are not working out."

"You have to get a receipt from the bookstore and send it to the RCSD who sends it to publishers," he explained.  "tTis being in an era where ebooks are outselling reg books worldwide." UVic states that students who request e-texts can expect a delay of six to eight weeks. In Motture's experience, the record last semester was seven weeks, and he's used to one of his books book being four or more weeks late. "The frustrating part is the publisher already has the book in electronic format, that's how they're made," he said. "Everybody knows the semester is only 4 months long, everybody knows the delay will be a disadvantage to some students with disabilities and it's already happened."

Asked what outcome he hoped for from his human rights complaint, Motture said he was hoping for compensation as well as possible changes in procedure.  "Human rights law does not require a party to prove intent, so anyone who has the effect of discrimination can be penalized." he said.  "We're looking for fines, w're looking for possible financial compensation for students who have been wronged by the process. There is a possibility of the tribunal asking for some kind of performance from the publishers...That's a long shot in Canadian law..It's the bad publicity that can effect the change here."

Votes from June 13 Board meeting

Since I never got around to covering the items on the June 13 Board meeting agenda besides the motion to join the BC Coalition of Student Societies, here is how the votes went:

Motion to write letter to Canada Post in support of Canadian Union of Postal Workers in their strike against Canada Post

In favour:
Jaraad Marani
Josef Methot (Society for Students with a Disability)
Lucia Orser
Dylan Sherlock
Ariel Tseng
Lincoln Welsh (UVic Pride)

Opposed:
David Foster

Abstained:
Jenn Bowie
Remy Hall
Allison Rhodes
Gabrielle Sutherland


Motion to write a letter to the Ministry of Advanced Education and StudentAid BC supporting student unions' right to choose student representatives on the StudentAid BC Appeal Committee

Passed without opposition.


Motion to ask UVic to pull or reassign Economics 383 taught by Professor van Kooten

Passed without opposition.  Rob McDonald, who had registered in the course, then dropped it, said he had tried to approach the chair of the Economics department and the Dean of Social Sciences with is concerns but had been rebuffed. Van Kooten had been using his class to promote his views denying man-made climate change, his own, un-peer reviewed book as the sole textbook. "I  met the professor in his office hours and expressed my concerns at which point he called me a dreamer and kicked me out of his office," said McDonald. "I talked to the chair of the Econ department and he told me he had no concern with these things being taught, and I said these things are blatantly false that are being taught in this class. And his response to that was, there are things that are false being taught in other classes too. I talked to the Dean of Social Sciences dept and he didn't want to talk to me, he only wanted me to talk to the Econ chair." The UVSS' letter was sent to UVic's President, Vice-President Academic, Senate Committee on Academic Standards and Senate Committee on Curriculum.


Motion to write a letter to the BC Environmental Assessment Office opposing the proposed Raven Coal Mine on Vancouver Island

Passed without opposition, but I successfully referred a clause adding to UVSS issues policy that "the society opposes coal mining on Vancouver Island" tot he Policy Development committee to be discussed within a broader revision of issues policies.

UVic Approves Athletics Facility Without Student Fees

The University of Victoria Board of Governors approved a proposal for a new athletics facility at their June 28 meeting, even though a proposed $110 per year student fee to fund the project was defeated in a March  referendum.  UVic put forward the plan for a new athletics centre in January 2009, with a projected cost of $59 million of which $24.5 was to be covered by student fees.

A previous vote had been held in October 2009 which supported the facilities and the fee increase. However, the provincial government disallowed the fee increase citing the legislated cap on tuition, which includes mandatory non-instructional fees like athletics. UVic Athletics Director Clint Hamilton said the university would push ahead with the athletic building even without the fee increase. Instead, they tried to redo the vote this year as a UVSS referendum rather than a university referendum, spinning the fee increase as a student levy which is not subject to the provincial tuition limit. 


While the athletics department urged students to support the hefty fee hike in order to allow for improved facilities, last week's BoG motion shows the referendum was just a cash grab. The athletics centre is still budgeted at $59 million–in fact, a Rugby Centre for Excellence costing an additional $10 million is included in the proposal–but no new student fees will be implemented.

UVic President David Turpin suggested that in fact maintaining the status quo would cost more in the long run. The university would need to spend $27 million renovating the existing facilities if new ones aren't built. By contrast, the new building would cost more but $39 million is projected in revenue from other sources–use fees, fundraising and corporate sponsorship–which wouldn't be available for the current facilities. This leaves UVic's own contribution at $20 million rather than $27 million, in addition to $16 million in core funding which would remain unchanged whether the university decided to build new facilities or renovate the existing ones.

Turpin also said UVic's student life environment is very important and we currently have the poorest athletic facilities in Western Canada. He said the university is promoting itself as a destination university hopes to provide athletics facilities, performing arts centres and cafes sprinkled around campus, creating opportunities for students to come together informally.

If the aggressive fundraising target of $15.5 million for the athletics centre and $10 million for the rugby centre isn't met, UVic still has other options to raise the money. For instance, the BoG report suggests using revenue from the sale of the Dunsmuir Lodge, a building the university owns in North Saanich which has been closed since 2009.

Another positive aspect of the new facilities is that they will replace the Ian Stewart Complex, which would be renovated and potentially turned into additional residence housing.

Student BoG representative Kelsey Hannan said his biggest concern was that revenue from user fees wouldn't meet expectations and he encouraged the university to look for other funding sources. Hannan and fellow student rep James Coccola voted in favour of the proposal along with all government-appointed BoG members.

The three dissenting votes came from the faculty and staff members who all opposed the motion. Staff member Chris Petter said he would have preferred that contingency funding was built into the motion. Faculty member Barbara Whittington said she was concerned about using this much capital funding for one project, since other important capital projects might have to be let go. She also had a problem with the user fees since they would make the facilities inaccessible for some students. Faculty member Eric Sager joined Petter and Whittington in their opposition.

After UVic repeatedly pressured students for a whopping athletic fee hike of over $100 in order to provide new athletics buildings, which the athletics department argued were desperately needed, it appears the money was never really needed. The moral of this story appears to be that students should be very skeptical when asked to pay for new projects–the university may have other sources of funding they aren't letting us know about.

UVSS Board June 27 Meeting Agenda

Here is the agenda for the June 27 meeting of the UVic Student Society Board of Directors. There are a number of noteworthy items including:

• The UVSS 2010/11 budget, which is being presented to the Board before September for the first time in three years.  The budget must also be adopted by the membership at the October UVSS Annual General Meeting.  The budget forecasts a $170,000 operating surplus, the first operating surplus in three years. However, the UVSS stil has an accumulated debt of over $375,000. The operating surplus will contribute to paying off the debt.
• A proposal to increase dental coverage in the UVSS health plan from a maximum claim of $750 to $850, resulting in a $23 premium increase.  I discussed this in a previous post. The motion was approved by Finance committee but only three members, myself, Finance and Operations Director Dylan Sherlock and Chairperson Tara Paterson were present. I am still uncertain how to vote on this. On the one hand, the increase in coverage seems reasonable especially since we used to have a $1000 maximum. On the other hand, StudentCare, our plan administrator, said we could get an extra $250 in coverage for a $29 increase in premiums (which would have violated the Health and Dental Plan referendum cap of $288.) It is hard to understand why $150 in coverage is only worth $6 in premiums but $100 in coverage is worth $23 in premiums, unless there is a hidden charge or fee, or a hidden rate increase. The UVSS is supposed to have a two year rate guarantee from StudentCare.
• A new set of financial policies written by myself, Sherlock and Events Director Remy Hall to ensure accountable spending of the dedicated fees created by referendum last year. We also updated the policies on the Building and Capital Fund and Food Bank Fund and created a committee spending policy which will prevent committees from exceeding their budgets without approval of the Board of Directors. This has often been a problem in the past–for instance, last year the Political Action Committee spent over $8,000 rather than the $2,500 budgeted for it.
• A Donations and Grants policy written by Sherlock in consultation with Hall and External Relations Director Jaraad Marani and with some edits by myself. This will also increase financial accountability, so instead of the Board simply donating to whatever cause they prefer, an application system will instituted with a committee of three directors to decide whether the donation will substantially benefit UVic students.
• A motion to support a human rights complaint by disabled UVic law student Miles Motture regarding inadequacy of alternate format textbook delivery.
• A motion from UVic Pride for the UVSS to pay some costs of upgrading their new office. Pride originally planned to move into a space formerly occupied by the UVSS Grafix Service but later decided on a larger room in the basement instead.
• A motion asking the UVic Graduate Student Society to contribute to the cost of running the UVSS Food Bank. The Food Bank is funded entirely by the UVSS, but grad students use it significantly, so we are asking them to fund their share.
• An amendment to Clubs Discipline policy creating a category of "minor complaints." Currently clubs complaints are brought to a closed committee which conducts a lengthy investigation. This new policy would provide another process in which a complaint only asking for notification of the club could be made. However, the Director of Student Affairs would have to bring the complaint to the Board in order to get approval for a letter of notification. I believe this policy is unnecessary and will waste a great deal of the Board's time.  In effect, it's a discipline process that goes nowhere, and doesn't fix the fundamental problems with our current Clubs Discipline policy. Also, while the motion states that the proposed policy change was "passed unanimously" at Clubs Council there were only 10 club representatives present, and the UVSS has over 100 clubs, so that doesn't necessarily indicate widespread support.

Read the entire agenda below.

AGENDA

University of Victoria Students' Society Board Meeting
Monday June 27, 2011–SUB Upper Lounge 6:00 pm

ATTENDANCE

1. CALL TO ORDER

2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF TERRITORIES

3. ADOPTION OF AGENDA & ADOPTION OF MINUTES

a) Adoption of Agenda

i) Agenda of 2011/06/13

b) Adoption of Minutes

i) Minutes of 2011/06/06 BoD
ii) Minutes of 2011/06/07 Exec Committee
iii) Minutes of 2011/06/14 Exec Committee

4. ANNOUNCEMENTS (10 minutes)

5. REPORTS

a) Committee Reports

i) Advocacy Council
ii) Campaigns Committee
iii) Clubs Council
iv) Course Union Council
v) Electoral Committee
vi) Events Committee
vii) Finance Committee
viii) Marketing and Communications Committee
ix) Operations, Sustainability and Services Committee
x) Policy Development Committee
xi) University Relations Committee

b) Advocacy Group Reports

i) Pride
ii) Native Student's Union
iii) Society for Students with a Disability
iv) Students of Colour Collective
v) Women's Centre

6. QUESTION PERIOD (15 minutes)

7. PRESENTATIONS (10 minutes)

a) Miles Motture re: Petition to the BC Human Rights Tribunal

8. MAIN MOTIONS

a) PRIORITY BUSINESS

Motion 2011/06/27: 01–Methot/ (25 minutes)
Whereas UVSS member Miles Motture has a human rights petition before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal concerning the policies surrounding, delivery of, and availability of e-textbooks and alternate texts for disabled students on campus; and

Whereas the University of Victoria, the Faculty of Law, and the Resource Centre for Students with a Disability are named in this suit in addition to a range of textbook publishers who have specifically and noticeably fallen short in their performance; and

Whereas UVSS Issues Policy Part 4: Accessibility states:

The Society is committed to universal access to post-secondary education.

Whereas UVSS Issues Policy Part 3: Anti-Racism, Mandate #8 states:

Lobbying the University Administration, Senate, and Board of Governors to develop policy and procedures to effectively deal with racism that incorporates the following:
a) Ongoing review and evaluation of university curriculum, programs, policies, legislation, services, and methods of service delivery with a view to removing inequities and biases.
b) Ensure that fairness and equity in operations and systems for everyone including appropriate class assignments, non-selective registration, equitable and respectful treatment of students, and equitable employment practices…

Whereas students requiring e-textbooks or alternate format texts are being unfairly discriminated against by the unreasonably long delay in delivery, frequently 6-8 weeks or more, which has extended into Fall and Winter terms, and the ineffectiveness and deficiency of University policy in this regard; and

Whereas this is an undue hardship on disabled students and limits the accessibility of university courses and programs;

BIRT the UVSS officially recognizes the frequent and notable delays in the delivery of e-texts and alternate form texts to students connected policies and practices of the University and publishing firms and condemns this as unfair and an undue hardship on those disabled students requiring the service.

BIFRT the UVSS draft a letter in support of Miles Motture's petition before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal in regards to the rights of all disabled students requiring e-textbooks and alternate form texts at the University of Victoria.

Motion 2011/06/27: 012–Paterson/ (10 minutes)
BIRT Board of Directors Policy, Part 4.A.2: Society Meetings be added, as recommended by Policy Development:

2. Individuals are limited to two speaking rights for the following:
a) Main motions
b) Supplemental motions
c) Procedural motions

The extension of speaking rights may be passed by a majority vote of the Board.

BIFRT the policy is renumbered accordingly.

Motion 2011/06/27: 03–Sherlock/Paterson (25 minutes)

Whereas Dental claims made by UVic students have put great pressure on the plan premium in past years, causing the board to reduce the annual dental maximum to $750, and;

Whereas many students are paying more out of pocket for dental services than ever before, and the claims are still structured in an unsustainable manner, therefore;

BIRT the Board of Directors approve a new Health and Dental Plan fee of $144 for Health and $144 for Dental, or $96 respectively for students who do not register for the Fall term, but register in the Spring, and increase the annual dental maximum to $850.

Motion 2011/06/27: 04–Paterson/ (10 minutes)
BIRT nominations be open to elect two students who self-identify with having a disability to the Advisory Committee on Academic Accommodation and Access for Students with Disabilities.

Motion 2011/06/27: 05–Paterson/ (10 minutes)
BIRT nominations be open to elect one undergraduate student to the Advisory Committee on UVic's Revolving Sustainability Loan Fund.

Motion 2011/06/27: 06–Paterson/ (10 minutes)
BIRT nominations be opened to elect one undergraduate student to the UVic Sustainability Advisory Committee.

b) OLD BUSINESS

Motion 2011/05/09: 08–Paterson/Sutherland
BIRT nominations be opened to fill the following vacancies on Advocacy Council:

One (1) Member as recommended by the Native Students' Union

Motion 2011/06/13: 03–Paterson/Sutherland
BIRT nominations be opened to elect one undergraduate student to the Senate Committee on Continuing Studies.

b. NEW BUSINESS

Motion 2011/06/27: 07 – Sherlock/ (15 minutes)
BIRT under Operational Policy, the following section be added as Part 5 and subsequent sections be renumbered as recommended by Finance Committee:

Part 5: Donations and Grants

1. Donations and Grants are defined as monies disbursed from the UVSS General Operating Fund to an organization that does not receive monies from other UVSS funds.

2. Donations and Grants shall be used solely for the benefit of organizations that actively include UVic students in their governance or operations, or for the benefit of organizations which positively impact the lives of UVic students on campus and in the Greater Victoria community.

3. The allocation for Donation and Grants shall be considered set after the Board of Directors has approved the annual budget.

4. The Donation and Grants Committee shall be responsible for the disbursement of grants not exceeding the allocated amount.

5. A minimum of $800 shall be allocated to SPOKES bicycle bursary each year, provided they have made a report of their past year’s activity to the Board of Directors. The Donations and Grants committee can allocate additional funds to SPOKES only if all other funding requests have been satisfied.

6. A Donation or Grant may only be disbursed for an invoice or cheque request with full documentation, and in line with the UVSS accounting standards.

BIFRT under "Terms of Reference" of the UVSS policy, the following section be added:

Donations and Grants

1. Type
a) Standing, closed committee of the UVSS Board of Directors with closed membership

2. Purpose
a) Fairly distribute grants and donations to external (non-UVSS) organizations as per Operational Policy Part 5

3. Duties
a) Determine the maximum amount and number of grants based on the budgeted allocation
b) Review and disburse funding requests
c) Make a report to the Board of Directors at the last board meeting of each academic term

4. Membership
a) Director of External Relations–ex officio and chair of the committee
b) Director of Finance and Operations–ex officio and second chair of the committee
c) One Director-at-Large as elected by the Board of Directors

5. Quorum
a) Shall be the chair and at least two (2) other voting members of the committee

6. Meetings
a) Shall meet at least once a month at a date set by the chair of the committee or upon the call of the board

7. Term of Office
a) Shall be from the date of appointment until the end of the current board year (ie April 30th)

Motion 2011/06/27: 08–Sherlock/Foster (15 minutes)
Whereas the financial policies of the Students' Society are in many instances inconsistent and incomplete, and require being brought in line with good accounting and budgetary practice, therefore:

BIRT Operational Policy Part 2, 4. be struck; and

BIFRT Operational Policy Part 7, Food Bank be struck; and

BIFRT The Terms of Reference of the Events Committee be amended to add as Part 2 b. the following: "Be responsible for administering and allocating grants from the Events Fund," and;

BIFRT The Terms of Reference of the Executive Committee Part 3b be struck and replaced with the following: "Approve expenditures of under $1500 from the Building and Capital Fund," and;

BIFRT Operational Policy Part 3 be struck and replaced with the following:

PART 3: DEDICATED FUNDS

1. TERMS

Dedicated Funds must be:

a) Levied by referendum of the Society membership.
b) Designated for a specific purpose.
c) Administered separately from other funds.

2. EVENTS FUND

a) The Events Fund shall consist of all student fees dedicated and collected for the sole purpose of funding UVSS events.

b) The Events Committee shall be responsible for administering and allocating grants from the Events Fund.

c) In a given fiscal year the sum of grants issued from the Events Fund shall not exceed the amount in the fund.

d) The Director of Events shall present a report of all expenditures from the Events Fund and the state of the fund to the Finance Committee at the end of each academic term.

e) If net revenue is generated on an event, Events Committee shall have the prerogative to allocate that revenue into the Events Fund or into the general operations fund or donate it to the Food Bank.

3. ELECTIONS FUND

a) The Elections Fund shall consist of all student fees dedicated and collected for the sole purpose of funding UVSS elections.

b) All monies collected in the Elections Fund shall be represented as a revenue line in the Elections budget.

c) Any monies remaining in the fund at the end of the fiscal year shall be placed in a roll-over account and applied to the following year's Elections Fund.

d. Chief Electoral Officer shall present a summary of all expenditures from the Elections Fund incurred by both the Electoral Committee and the Elections Office in their Electoral Report to the Board of Directors at the of each election

4. FOOD BANK FUND

a) The Food Bank Fund shall consist of all student fees dedicated and collected for the sole purpose of funding the UVSS Food Bank, supplemented by donations, fundraising and grants when available.

b) The UVSS Board of Directors shall appoint an Executive Director as Food Bank Director upon the recommendation of the Executive Committee.

c) The Food Bank Director shall be responsible for administering and allocating grants from the Food Bank Fund.

d) In a given fiscal year the sum of grants issued from the Food Bank Fund shall not exceed the amount in the fund.

e) The Food Bank Director shall present a report of all expenditures from the Food Bank Fund and the state of the fund to the Finance Committee at the end of each academic term.

5. BUILDING & CAPITAL FUND

a) TERMS

The Building and Capital Fund shall consist of all student fees collected for the sole purpose of funding renovations and improvements to the Student Union Building.

The Building and Capital Fund is further divided into two separate funds:

i) The Capital Fund, which shall consist of 50% of the Building and Capital Fund.

ii) The Dr Ewing Memorial Fund, which shall consist of 50% of the Building and Capital Fund.

iii) The Board of Directors shall approve all expenditures from the Building and Capital Fund over $1500.

iv) The Executive Committee shall approve all expenditures from the Building and Capital Fund under $1500.

v) The Director of Finance and Operations shall present a report on the status of the Building and Capital Fund at the end of each academic term.

vi) For the purpose of funding a large capital project, the Board of Directors may, by a two-thirds vote, place Building and Capital funds in a multi-year investment account and may remove them from that account by a majority vote. All returns on investment shall accrue to the Building and Capital Fund.

b) CAPITAL FUND

i) The Capital Fund shall only be used for revenue-generating improvements to Student Union Building businesses and services.

c) DR EWING MEMORIAL FUND

i) The Dr Ewing Memorial Fund shall only be used to meet expenses incurred in the major renovation or expansion of the Student Union Building or in non-revenue generating improvements to the Student Union Building, except as provided by this policy.

ii) By a two-thirds vote of the Board of Directors, the fund may be used to finance operational debt.

BIFRT Operational Policy be amended to add the following as Part 6, with subsequent parts renumbered accordingly:

PART 2: COMMITTEE SPENDING

1. The following committees may have budgets assigned by the Board of Directors from the general operations fund and passed with the UVSS Budget:
a) Campaigns Committee
b) Electoral Committee
c) Marketing and Communications Committee
d) Donations and Grants Committee

2. a) Spending by the aforementioned committees will be limited to their yearly budgeted amounts, and funds required beyond those amounts will require approval of the Board of Directors, except as provided by this policy.
b) During the election period, the Electoral Committee may allocate up to $5000 in excess of the amount within the Elections budget as per Part 6.1 to the Elections Office without approval of the Board of Directors, if:
i) the Elections Office requests the allocation as necessary to conduct a fair and democratic election, and
ii) there is no opportunity for the Board of Directors to approve the allocation in a timely manner.

[Note: I think this should actually be Part 4, not Part 2 or Part 6. This is a numbering glitch I will correct at the Board meeting.]

Motion 2011/06/27: 09–Sherlock/ (20 minutes)
BIRT the UVSS 2010-2011 draft budget be recommended for adoption at the October 13, 2010 UVSS Annual General Meeting.

Motion 2011/06/27: 10–Paterson/ (15 minutes)
Whereas CFUV has had an ongoing show and podcast dedicated to UVSS politics and news, and;

Whereas this show will need a minimum of three directors to host the show; and

Whereas training is best done in the summer months in preparation for a show ready for the Fall semester; therefore

BIRT the UVSS Board of Directors nominate 3 directors to sit on the UVSS spoken word show at CFUV.

Motion 2011/06/27: 11–Paterson/ (10 minutes)
BIRT the following section is added after BoD Policy Part 4.B.1.l, as recommended by Policy Development:

m) The Board may decide by a majority vote to have all written notes made by directors and staff returned to the Chair at the conclusion of an in camera session and subsequently destroyed.

Motion 2011/06/27: 12–Bowie/ (15 minutes)
Whereas Clubs and Course Unions have governance over their policy; and

Whereas both Clubs and Course Union Councils unanimously passed the following policy; therefore

BIRT Part G of Clubs Policy is amended as follows, as recommended by Clubs Council:

PART G: COMPLAINTS

1. DEFINITIONS

a) Complainant shall refer to any single member of the UVSS or group of members of the UVSS who submit a single complaint.
b) Incident shall refer to an action taken by a UVSS Club that incited complaints.

2. COMPLAINTS PROCESS

A. GENERAL
>
The process for reviewing and adjudicating complaints against a UVSS club shall proceed as follows:


1. Complainant(s) who wish to file a complaint against a UVSS club may present their complaint to the Director of Student Affairs.
2. If a complainant wants to file a complaint against a club, but does not seek a consequence other than notifying that club of the complaint, they may file a Minor Complaint
3. If a complainant wants to file a complaint against a Club, and does seek a consequence beyond notifying that Club, they may file a Major Complaint
4. If a minor complaint and a major complaint are filed by different complainants with regards to the same incident, the different type of complaints (ie. Minor and Major) cannot be used as supporting documentation in each individual case.
5. A complainant may not file both a minor complaint and a major complaint against a UVSS club for the same incident.

B. MINOR COMPLAINT PROCESS

1. If a minor complaint is filed, the Director of Student Affairs shall compose a letter of notification addressed to the offending club which outlines:
a) That a minor complaint has been filed against them
b) Which action of the club caused the complaint to be filed
c) If applicable, the number of minor complaints received with regards to the offending action

2. The director of Student Affairs shall present the letter of notification at an In camera session of the
next UVSS Board meeting, to be approved by the Board of Directors.

3. Once the Board has approved the letter of notification, the Director of Student Affairs must take
the following actions:
a) Notify the Club that a complaint was filed against them and give them the letter of notification.
b) Make a copy of the letter and put it in the file of that club.
c) Report to the Board that the letter of notification has been received
d) Notify the complainant that the club received the letter of notification
e) Notify the club that they may send a response to the notification letter to the Board and that this response may be put on file if they so choose

C. MAJOR COMPLAINTS PROCESS

In the Event of a Major Complaint ,the Director of Student Affairs shall call a meeting of the strike a Complaints Committee–an ad hoc, closed committee of the UVSS Board with closed membership.

BIFRT Part G of Course Union Policy is amended as follows, as recommended by Course Union Council:

PART G: COMPLAINTS

1. DEFINITIONS
a) Complainant shall refer to any single member of the UVSS or group of members of the UVSS who submit a single complaint.
b) Incident shall refer to an action taken by a UVSS Course union that incited complaints.

2. COMPLAINTS PROCESS

A. GENERAL

The process for reviewing and adjudicating complaints against a UVSS course union shall proceed as follows:

1. Complainants who wish to file a complaint against a UVSS course union may present their complaint to the Director of Student Affairs.
2. If a complainant wants to file a complaint against a course union, but does not seek a consequence other than notifying that course union of the complaint, they may file a Minor Complaint
3. If a complainant wants to file a complaint against a Course union, and does seek a consequence beyond notifying that Course union, they may file a Major Complaint
4. If a minor complaint and a major complaint are filed by different complainants with regards to the same incident, the different type of complaints (ie. Minor and Major) cannot be used as supporting documentation in each individual case.
5. A complainant may not file both a minor complaint and a major complaint against a UVSS course union for the same incident.

B. MINOR COMPLAINT PROCESS

1. If a minor complaint is filed, the Director of Student Affairs shall compose a letter of notification addressed to the offending course union which outlines:
a) That a minor complaint has been filed against them
b) Which action of the course union caused the complaint to be filed
c) If applicable, the number of minor complaints received with regards to the offending action

2. The director of Student Affairs shall present the letter of notification at an In camera session of the next UVSS Board meeting, to be approved by the Board of Directors.

3. Once the Board has approved the letter of notification, the Director of Student Affairs must take the following actions:
a) Notify the Course union that a complaint was filed against them and give them the letter of notification.
b) Make a copy of the letter and put it in the file of that course union.
c) Report to the Board that the letter of notification has been received
d) Notify the complainant that the course union received the letter of notification
e) Notify the course union that they may send a response to the notification letter to the Board and that this response may be put on file if they so choose

C. MAJOR COMPLAINT PROCESS


In the Event of a Major Complaint, the Director of Student Affairs shall call a meeting of the strike a Complaints Committee–an ad hoc, closed committee of the UVSS Board with closed membership.

BIFRT Terms of Reference "Complaints Committee" is amended as follows:

3. Duties
a) Review major complaints, including all major complaints related to the same incident and/or infraction, and make recommendations to the UVSS BoD within 30 days of submission. Recommendations may include, but are not limited to, judgment on complaints or proposed mediation between the complainant(s) and respondent(s).

Motion 2011/06/27: 13–Paterson/ (15 minutes)
BIRT the UVSS draft a letter to the GSS asking them contribute funding to the Food Bank based on their usage as recommended by Executive Committee.

Motion 2011/06/27: 14–Foster/ (10 minutes)
Whereas the UVSS budget should be presented to the Board of Directors for approval before September;

Whereas in the previous three years this did not happen;

Whereas a policy requiring the Director of Finance and Operations to present the budget to the Board before the end of August would impress upon future Directors of Finance and Operations the importance of doing so;

BIRT Operational Policy Part 2, Divisional Spending be amended to insert the following as section 4, with subsequent sections renumbered accordingly:

4. The Director of Finance and Operations shall present the draft UVSS budget to the Board of Directors for approval on or before the last regularly scheduled Board meeting in August.

Motion 2011/06/27: 15–Welsh/ (15 minutes)
Whereas UVic Pride is dedicated to creating safe spaces for all students on campus, of which there is a significant lack; and

Whereas it is widely acknowledged that the current space that UVic Pride occupies is too small, and;

Whereas part 15.1 of the Issues Policy states that "The Society supports the designation of a constituency group office (of medium or greater size) for a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Centre in the new Student Union Building;" and

Whereas the UVSS has a long tradition of supporting UVic Pride and often works on issues of mutual interest; and

Whereas the room that UVic Pride will be moving into lacks many basic requirements such as adequate sprinklers or an air return; and

Whereas there are many deficiencies in accessibility to the space such as very small doors to washrooms which UVic Pride plans to rectify; and

Whereas there is significant wear to the floors of the room from a previous tenant and the floors now need to be replaced; and

Whereas the UVSS originally informed UVic Pride that renovations would cost $10,500 but because of factors far outside of Pride’s control the total number has now almost tripled; and

Whereas by being unexpectedly burdened by the renovation costs, services for the next academic year may be hindered; and

Whereas the Dr Ewing Memorial Fund exists for the purpose of non-capital generating building upgrades; therefore

BIRT the UVSS use the Dr Ewing Memorial Fund to pay for electrical, mechanical, and flooring upgrades to room B010 needed to conform to building codes and wear and tear from previous tenants, and half the costs of making the washrooms accessible; and

BIFRT UVic Pride pays for the changes that it has requested including construction of an office space, painting and demolition and construction of walls requested by UVic Pride, and half the costs of making the washrooms accessible.

Motion 2011/06/27: 16–Sherlock/ (10 minutes)
BIRT as recommend by Finance committee, up to $2800 be allocated from the Dr. Ewing Memorial Fund for new tables and chairs for the Resource Centre.

d) OTHER BUSINESS

8. IN CAMERA

a) Legal

9. NOTICE OF MOTION

10. MEETING TIMES

The next meeting scheduled by the Board of Directors is:
Monday July 11, 2011 in the SUB Upper Lounge.

11. ADJOURNMENT

12. APPENDIX

a) Director Reports

Jenn Bowie

Committees

• Clubs Council
• Course Union Council
• Communications
• Campaigns
• Events
• Finance
• Executive Committee x2
• Librarian Search Committee x8
• Senate Committee on Libraries x3

Portfolio Things

• Set up meeting in Vancouver with their Student Affairs people, to meet with them
• Responded to emails
• Tidied up Clubs and Course Union List Serves
• Met with Various Clubs/Course Unions
• Worked on a Strategy for the Manual

Other

• Billeted someone from the Ethical Investing Conference
• Created a flow chart of Priority Tasking
• Created a timeline for Projects up until September

David Foster 

Committees & Meetings

June 13

• Communications committee
• Clubs Council re: Complaints policy
• Campaigns committee
• Board meeting

June 14
Policy Development committee
June 15
Meeting with UVic AVP Student Affairs Jim Dunsdon re: Accommodation Procedures for students with disabilities
June 16
Finance committee

• Discussed increasing Health & Dental plan coverage and premiums
• Approved Resource Centre tables/chairs

June 22
Events committee

• Discussed terms of reference, September events, Felicita's rejuvenation

Finance committee Dedicated Fee Policy working group

• Revised and finalized dedicated funds and committee spending policies

June 23
Policy Development committee

• Attempted to attend–meeting self destructed due to unpopularity

Finance committee

• Reviewed and approved UVSS 2011/12 Budget with small amendments
• Reviewed and approved increase in UVSS Dental Plan coverage and premiums
• Reviewed and approved Dedicated Funds, Committee Spending and Donations & Grants policies

Other Activities

• Worked on Electoral Policy revisions
• Co-wrote and edited Dedicated Funds, Committee Spending and Donations & Grants policies
• Researched health plans at other student unions
• Researched issues policies at other student unions
• Was interviewed on CFUV about being a UVSS director
• Let students into the Food Bank

Jaraad Marani

Attended PD
Attended Finance
Held marketing committee
Met with integrity BC about Funding Campaign
Met with Terry from Res Life
Contacted Out of The Blue about pens and mugs
Did budget for Campaigns and Marketing and Communications committee
Met with AVP and Women's Centre about new campaign about sexualized violence x2
Meeting with Dean Fortin
Finalizing SUB water bottle order

Tara Paterson

• chaired Board meeting
• met with Allison re: affordable housing lobbying/campaign
• attended Campaigns committee
• met with Mayor Dean Fortin re: polling stations on campus, LRT, affordable housing, transit
• chaired Exec committee x2
• wrote and emailed letter to Canada Post re: CUPW
• wrote and emailed letter to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency re: Raven Coal Mine
• wrote and sent letter to David Turpin etc re: Dr Van Kooten and climate economics
• chaired Policy Development
• liaised with legal counsel re: Access
• liaised with legal counsel re: CFS
• health plan with Dylan
• met with Jim Dunsdon
• attended Solidarity Lunch with GSS and union presidents
• attended Finance committee
• arranged a Sub Occupancy Committee meeting
• met with AVP, Women's Center and External re: sexualized violence campaign
• attended CURI symposium
• worked on electoral policy with Ben
• unloaded donations into the Food Bank
• attended Events committee
• attended demonstration re: new Point of Sale System for the SUB
• did research re: local food and purchasing policies
• researched bottled water
• arranged recycling with UVSP
• arranged meeting with the Office of Sustainability re: bottled water
• arranged additional PD meeting for Monday
• restocked Food Bank

Emily Rogers

While on my leave of absence, I did my best to stay up to date and active in regards to my UVSS role. I did this by reading the entire "red binder" of UVSS policies and operating principles, in addition to reading the agendas and minutes of meetings I missed (where applicable). Since I was traveling within Canada for part of my leave, I took the opportunity to visit as many student societies as I could with the intention of gathering ideas and insight into best practices. When possible, I informally introduced myself to the directors, and spoke to them directly about their experiences. I visited Dalhousie, Concordia, McGill and the University of PEI, and had some really inspiring conversations. I'm glad to be home and put some of these ideas to good use!

Allison Rhodes

• Attended a Campaigns committee meeting.
• Attended an Events committee meeting.
• Attended a Policy Development committee meeting, however we did not reach quorum.
• Organized a meeting with the Executive Director and the two Tenant Advocates at TAPS (at 9:30am on Thursday June 30, for those directors who are interested in attending). I have discussed, with the Executive Director, our interest in working with TAPS during our student-housing campaign (as they encounter several cases wherein students have had their tenants' rights violated).
• Volunteered at the food bank.
• Familiarized myself with the policy and structure of UVic finances.
• Reviewed several financial reports. I am working with Dylan to determine how certain of UVic's investments could potentially help with the funding of off-campus, student-designated housing.
• Finished sorting and categorizing sets of photos from the archives.

Dylan Sherlock

• Completed draft of 2011/2012 UVSS Board Operations and Consolidated Budget
• Worked with Dir External Relations and Research and Communications Coordinator to develop detailed Marketing and Communications and Campaigns committee budgets
• Worked with Studentcare staff to finalize proposal for Health Plan Coverage Changes
• Finance Committee: met twice, reviewed and approved 2011/2012 Society Budget, Health Plan Coverage Changes and financial policy motions
• Made changes to Budget as per Finance Committee instructions, submitted budget to accounting pending board approval
• Financial Policy Working Group: met twice, drafted dedicated funds policy and committee budget policy
• Wrote Donations and Grants Operational Policy and Committee TOR in consultation with the Dir External Relations and the Financial Policy Working Group. Special thanks to D@L David Foster and Dir Events for sticking it out till the policy was complete.
• Operations, Sustainability and Services committee: failed to reach quorum. Email me if you want to join this committee!
• Attended Campaigns committee
• Followed up with UVic Student Awards and Financial Aid re: emergency student aid programs
• Met with Mayor Dean Fortin (w/other execs). Discussed transit, housing issues.
• Met with UVic VP Student Affairs Jim Dunsdon. Made arrangements for developing a new system for secure online voting for the next UVSS election. Also began work on joint UVic-UVSS project for on-campus polling stations in local and provincial elections.
• Drafted letter in consultation with UVic to municipal councils and Chief Electoral Officers for local elections
• Contacted other Student Societies re: on-campus polling stations for provincial election
• Kept up to date with General Manager on banking costs, investments, One-Card, and other issues
• Worked with Dir External Relations on Water Bottle advertising proposal
• Attended Coalition of Universities for Responsible Investing. Gained some great ideas about how the UVic Endowment could be better invested. Currently begun developing two proposals around energy efficiency revolving funds and real estate interest trusts. Special thanks to D@L Alison Rhodes for helping with research into University endowment status.
• Assisted Dir External Relations on SUB coupon book project, w/help from staff.

Gabrielle Sutherland

• took people down to the food bank
• attended Clubs Council