Joyeuses Fêtes! / Happy Holidays

Image source: Web Design Hot
 http://www.webdesignhot.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/SantaClausVectorClipart.jpg

J'aimerais remercier ceux et celles qui continuent à lire mon blogue! Joyeux Noël/Joyeuse Hanoukka et bonne et heureuse année à tous et à toutes!

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I would like to thank all those who continue to read my blog! Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah and all the best in 2012!

Student Presentation to City Transit Commission: U-Pass

Photo by Mico Mazza - © The Fulcrum

For those who are interested, I'm posting a link to the presentations made by the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO), the Carleton University Students' Association (CUSA), the Carleton Graduate Students' Association (GSA) and the Graduate Students' Association of the University of Ottawa (GSAÉD) to the City of Ottawa Transit Commission public meeting that took place on Wednesday, November 16 2011.

Part 1 (Student submissions begins at 42:22)

A recent uOLeaks post suggested that during this meeting, the Transit Commission was informed that the SFUO provided a cheque to the City of Ottawa at the beginning of Fall 2011 and that it was returned due to NON-SUFFICIENT FUNDS. Skip to 1:17.38 of Part 1 to listen to this interesting exchange. After claiming that she was not aware of the NSF cheque referred to in Councillor Desroches' question, Elizabeth Kessler admits that "I think there was a late cheque." Councillor Desroches then goes on to ask the City Treasurer who confirms that a cheque was in fact returned due to NSF. This is extremely embarrassing and absolutely unacceptable. It is thus not surprising that City Councillors couldn't be bothered to work with the student unions on this or any other issue.

Such grave mistakes should not be expected from an incumbent V.P. finance who should know very well how to manage the SFUO's bank accounts.

Also, I have provided links below to various documents referenced during the submission and also other pertinent documents:

Letter from Alain Mercier to Student Representatives U-Pass Program

Re: U-Pass Program Information Update and Outline of Next Steps - Letter to Alain Mercier

CUSA-SFUO Lobby Document - Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of the U-Pass Program

Reality Check: An Examination of the Factual Errors, Specious Reasoning, And Omissions in SFUO-CUSAs U-Pass Lobby Document

Budget 2012 - City of Ottawa - Transit Commission Draft Operating and Capital Budget

Response to Inquiry CC-20-11 - Desroches - U-Pass Oct 3 2011

The Fulcrum has also published an article in regards to the U-Pass.

U-Pass: SFUO, CUSA, GSAÉD, GSA failing students

Image credit: Drives in Circles - http://drivesincircles.blogspot.com/2011/10/count-on-us.html

Wow, it's been over a month since my last post!? It's been busy as I'm sure all of you starving students can attest to! Anyways, I finally got my hands on a copy of this document, entitled Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of the U-Pass Program: An Analysis, (credit to people @ uOleaks.com) produced by the University of Ottawa Graduate Students' Association (GSAÉD), the Carleton University Graduate Students' Association (GSA), the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) and the Carlteton University Students' Association (CUSA) which was presented to Mayor Jim Watson and Transit Commission Chair Diane Deans at an October 7, 2011 meeting. Unfortunately, I only became aware this afternoon that representatives from all four student unions were appearing before the City of Ottawa's Transit Commission this morning (and no, not thanks to any communication from Paige Galette).

From the article in the last link which appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, it looks as though our student representatives were literally laughed at during the Transit Commission meeting:

Gloucester-South Nepean Councillor Steve Desroches asked why he should take the word of two graduate-student statisticians who did the student unions’ calculations over that of the city’s own treasurer. Cumberland Councillor Stephen Blais pointedly laughed at the idea that students in farther-flung suburbs might walk or bike to downtown campuses. Knoxdale-Merivale Councillor Keith Egli questioned the idea that a typical trip to Carleton from his ward could take 30 minutes longer than it used to when the whole voyage is only supposed to be 31 minutes according to OC Transpo’s online trip planner.

Sounds like it was a pretty pathetic performance by our student "leaders". Although, in principle, I support the idea of having a U-Pass that is affordable for students, I will never support a U-Pass which is FORCED upon students regardless of where you reside. Personally, I barely have to walk 5 minutes to get to campus. Yes, I do pay more for this convenience. However, I also am forced to pay nearly $300 extra for a U-Pass that I would otherwise not purchase in the first place. 

And to make things more interesting, Charlie Taylor prepared this document that purportedly points to many problems with the document produced by the student unions. What is quite amazing here is the fact that Mr. Taylor is a former provincial Green Party candidate. However, he reportedly is very much against the U-Pass program. As a former City of Ottawa mayoral candidate in the last municipal elections, Taylor staged a protest against "an unethical $290/year tax on walkers and cyclists." He was also interviewed by the Public Transit in Ottawa blog back in July 2010.

The Transit Commission voted in favour of increasing the price of the U-Pass to $180/semester or $360/academic year. All 4 student unions have committed to holding a referendum on the future of the U-Pass in the spring. If students cannot opt out of this expensive venture, then it should not continue.

UPDATE

Boy, somebody looks pretty pissed!

Request to observe CFS AGM denied yet again

Image source: http://www.charlatan.ca/content/cfs-o-grades-ontario-parties-0; Graphic by Adriel Yu

During the most recent provincial elections, the Canadian Federation of Students - Ontario (CFS-O) evaluated all four of the political parties' platforms and gave each a mark according to their pledges pertaining to post-secondary education funding. Albeit having been called out by the Ontario Liberal Party's campaign chair, Greg Sorbara in this letter, the CFS's response from Sandy Hudson fell far short of what students should expect from an organization that is supposed to defend their best interests. It would seem that the CFS based their "grades" on statements rather than basing them on any hard numbers provided by the parties. Did the CFS-O fail to provide non-partisan information to students when it comes to each political party's post-secondary education policies?

All this to say that, once again, I must give a failing grade to the CFS. I feel it important to denounce the CFS when it comes  its policy on who can and who cannot attend its bi-yearly general assemblies. The CFS is holding its annual general meeting in Gatineau, Québec from 22 to 25 November 2011. Interested in attending? Interested in giving your input on how the organization plans to spend your hard-earned money? Interested in seeing what kind of debate actually occurs and the positions that your SFUO delegation takes during these debates? Well, I answered yes to all three of these questions. The SFUO BOA selects one "student-at-large" who then joins the SFUO delegation at the AGM. But, we shall see if someone like me, who voices opinions opposite to those who sit around the board table, will in fact stand a chance against whoever the SFUO executive has already hand-picked as their delegate of choice (N.B. Although this is pure speculation, it should be noted that our current VP Social, Marie-Claude Noël (who had never, ever attended a BOA meeting in her life) was accompanied by the current SFUO president, Amalia Savva during the BOA meeting last fall at which the "student-at-large" was to be selected. Marie-Claude had submitted her name to be the "student-at-large" and was chosen as they needed someone who wouldn't voice their opinion too loud (or at all). She was chosen by the BOA of course which in theory should be considered to be a fair process. Anyways, we shall see this Sunday if the Pro-CFS camp decided to hand-pick somebody or not. Anyways, back to the point of this post. If you didn't want to submit your name to the SFUO BOA for consideration but simply wanted to attend to learn more about the CFS and see how its decision-making process works, well, apparently, you're quite out of luck. On Wednesday, October 5 2011, I sent an email to the brass of the Canadian Federation of Students regarding the organization's upcoming Annual General Assembly to be held in Gatineau, Québec from November 22 to 25 2011:

To: CFS Chair chair@cfs-fcee.ca; CFS Deputy Chair dchair@cfs-fcee.ca; CFS Treasurer treasurer@cfs-fcee.ca; CFS Web web@cfs-fcee.ca 

CC: Amalia Savva president@sfuo.ca; Elizabeth Kessler vp.university@sfuo.ca; Paige Galette vp.communications@sfuo.ca; Amy Hammett vp.student@sfuo.ca; Marie-Claude Noël vp.social@sfuo.ca; Sarah Jayne King vp.finance@sfuo.ca

Date: Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 11:13

Subject: Request to observe the upcoming CFS AGM

Hello,

I am writing to you today in order to request that I be provided with an observer's pass for the upcoming CFS AGM that is taking place from 22 to 25 November 2011 in Gatineau, Quebec. This would give me the opportunity to learn more about and to better understand the CFS. It would also allow me to witness, in person, the democratic decision-making process of the organization in action. 

Could you please forward me the AGM's itinerary and any other relevant documentation so I can have the chance to familiarize myself with the motions that are to be presented by various member locals.  

Finally, I kindly ask that you acknowledge this message upon receipt. 

I look forward to hearing back from you in the very near future. 

Thank you very much!

Cheers,

Brandon Clim
L'École d'études politiques
L'Université d'Ottawa 

Yesterday, Wednesday, October 12 2011, I received the following response from Toby Whitfield, the CFS's National Treasurer:

From: Toby Whitfield t.whitfield@cfs-fcee.ca

To: climbrandon@gmail.com

CC: Amalia Savva president@sfuo.ca

Date: Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 18:14

Subject: Re: Request to observe the upcoming CFS AGM 

Hi Brandon,

Thank you for your email. 

In the past, observer status has been granted on a case by case basis to student organisations that, at the time, do not represent members of the Federation. At general meetings, students are represented by a delegation from their local students' union, as the logistics of holding a general membership meeting would be unmanageable and inequitable. Member locals are responsible for selecting delegates to attend national      general meetings.  

I have copied Amalia Savva on this email. Amalia is the president of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa and will be able to advise you on the process to follow to express your interest in attending the meeting. 

Regards,  

Toby

--
Toby Whitfield
National Treasurer
Canadian Federation of Students     

p: 613.232.7394
c: 613.868.9266
f: 613.232.0276 

So, albeit being a bit further ahead than last time, the answer provided above by Mr. Whitfield is troublesome to say the least and, if we are to consider this national student organization as a democratic one, absolutely unacceptable. It once again demonstrates the fact that, unless you are "selected" to be a part of your student association's delegation, the rest of the "membership" is not allowed to observe, let alone participate in the decision-making process of so-called democratic organization. On numerous occasions, I have argued that the CFS should make documents such as its annual general meeting's itinerary and all motions being proposed easily accessible on its website for all to consult. In response, I have been told numerous times that I can access such documents by visiting the SFUO office and requesting them. Sure, but I don't want to have to go to the SFUO office every couple of months in order to view these documents. I should be able to access them online, in the comfort of my house, at any time. Therefore, in a subsequent email, I again requested that Toby forward me the AGM's itinerary and other relevant documents since these are not available anywhere on the CFS website. This is problematic as students are not able to consult the motions that are to be presented by various member locals and are therefore unaware about what policies are being debated and inevitably passed during the AGM.

I have also argued that the CFS should welcome any and all media (local, regional, national, student) who wish to cover the proceedings (and let's be honest in saying that there is nothing glamorous about it). However, instead, the CFS allows two student journalists (one English-speaking and one French-speaking journalist) who write for student newspapers that are members of the Canadian University Press (CUP). If the task of covering such a large-scaled conference wasn't already difficult enough for two journalists, it gets better. In the past, before these journalists have been allowed to enter the conference room, they have been forced to sign a document which imposes a variety of terms and conditions that they must observe throughout the time that they are present: speaking to any of the delegates was prohibited until the conclusion the closing plenary, publishing articles about the AGM was prohibited until the conclusion of the closing plenary, the times during which the journalists could be present was extremely limited (they could not be present during the regional caucuses or the Budget sub-committee for example), etc. Now, this is not to say that the CFS is attempting to hide something from its membership. However, it certainly doesn't look very good and inevitably people begin to become suspicious (and justly so) and ask questions. 

 

In closing, I wanted to remind everyone that this Sunday, October 16 2011, the SFUO BOA is meeting at 1:00 pm in Tabaret Hall (uOttawa Senate Chambers) Room 083. It is during this meeting that the motion to eliminate the Student Arbitration Committee (SAC) will proceed to second reading and will likely pass with one or two board members voting against. I encourage you to read the absolutely ridiculous raison-d'être given by Sarah Jayne King (SJK) in regards to the motion (which she presented at the last BOA meeting).

 

Notable SJK quotes from the article

 

"The Student Arbitration Committee is something over the past three years we haven’t seen properly filled" 

"SAC is an undemocratic body that is not actually accountable to the SFUO in any legal sense and can literally overturn the elections or a referendum process with two people" 

I hope to be able to write a piece before Sunday's BOA meeting in order to demonstrate how such pathetic arguments put forward in defence of this motion will inevitably harm the legitimacy of an already badly beaten SFUO.

 

What are your thoughts about the SAC? Do you believe it should be eliminated and replaced by a Constitutional committee made up of 5 board members? Or, do you believe that the SAC plays an important role as an impartial body, which is made up of students-at-large, that oversees the decisions of the BOA and, for example, can rule on appeals which inevitably surface during SFUO elections?

SAC's Interim Chief Arbitrator Calls Out BOA

Gashoka urges BOA to reconsider motion that would scrap the SAC, concentrate powers

I have just received an anonymous tip in my inbox: it appears to be an email sent out by Hazel Gashoka, the Interim Chief Arbitrator of the Student Arbitration Committee (SAC), addressed to Dave Molenhuis, the SFUO Board of administration's Chair, and forwarded to the all members of the BOA and student media:

Dave Molenhuis, Chair of the Board of Administration of the Student

Federation of the University of Ottawa

Student Federation of the University of Ottawa

85 University Private, Room 07

Ottawa, Ontario K1N8Z4

Hazel Gashoka

78 Templeton

Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6X3

September19, 2011

Dear Chair,

It has come to my attention that there is a motion before the Board of Administration to dissolve the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO)’s Student Arbitration Committee (S.A.C).

Please consider that, within the SFUO, should the Board of Administrators dissolve the S.A.C., it would be analogous to the Parliament of Canada abolishing the Supreme Court by majority vote.

As per By-Law No. 8.2 of the SFUO Constitution, the S.A.C. is the “judicial authority of the Federation”, and according to By-Laws No. 8.2.1 to 8.2.3, it has the power to “interpret the By-laws, the policies, and resolutions of the Federation; decide upon the constitutionality of any action taken under the Constitution [...]; impose sanctions on any member of the Federation..."

The S.A.C. is of fundamental importance to the integrity of the Federation and one of its most vital and well-known mandates is to handle allegations of election rules violations in the election of SFUO Executives and other student representatives to the Federation.

Independence of the S.A.C. Arbitrators is essential to enable an effective role within the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa, as highlighted by an understanding of the provisions of the SFUO Constitution, and I believe that, in the current context, I have done everything possible to ensure the independence of Arbitrators and of the Committee. There have been serious concerns with respect to the manner in which political figures within student government have tried to exercise influence on previous elections and, therefore, I am firmly opposed to the dissolution of the S.A.C.

Given that the by-laws have not been changed, I will continue my role as Interim Chief Arbitrator. According to By-Law No. 8.3.4, “the President of the Federation, the Chairperson of the Board of Administration and the Chief Arbitrator of the Student Arbitration Committee shall recommend arbitrators to the Board of Administration which shall ratify them as vacancy occurs”. At this time, all the positions – except for Chief Arbitrator – are vacant. As such, I will schedule interviews with the 40 applicants and I trust that you and the President of the Federation will be present during these interviews. Such is the law until the By-laws are changed. I would urge you to stop violating the by-laws and to actively ensure that the By-laws are respected. For actions to be taken implying that the By-laws will be changed is irresponsible, disruptive, and disregards our rules.

Sincerely,

Hazel Gashoka

Interim Chief Arbitrator

Student Arbitration Committee

cc: Members of the BOA, SFUO executives, Student Media

The motion which Hazel referenced in her email can be found in English and in French.
More to come... Stay tuned!

La rentrée 2011-2012 - le uPass, le « frankais », etc.

La campagne « Arrêtons la FCÉÉ » commence!

Bienvenue à mon blogue qui s'intitule « J'ai quelque chose à dire! ». Pour ceux et celles qui reviennent me lire, rebienvenue! Pour ceux et celle qui visitent mon blogue pour la première fois, je vous souhaite la bienvenue! N'oubliez pas que vous pouvez aussi suivre uoLeaks, un autre blogue qui est une excellente source d'information. Il y a moins que 2 semaines que l'année universitaire 2011-2012 est commencée, mais le cirque qui est la politique étudiante à l'Université d'Ottawa est déjà en train de brasser.  Après les élections de la Fédération étudiante de l'Université d'Ottawa (FÉUO) en février 2009 et la perception de corruption au sein du processus électoral, j'ai décidé de que c'était le temps de communiquer, de façon publique, mes frustrations concernant la politique étudiante et plus spécifiquement l'existence (ou la perception du moins) d'une culture d'exclusivisme à la FÉUO. En tout cas, me voici, maintenant en septembre 2011, encore en train de dénoncer les décisions, les actions, les discours, la gérance, etc. de non seulement la FÉUO mais aussi de la Fédération canadienne des étudiantes et des étudiants (FCÉÉ) (la FÉUO est devenue membre de cette organisation nationale/provinciale en 2008). Mais bon, l'introduction est finie...

Un survol de la Semaine 101 et la politique étudiante

Source: Galerie de photo de l'AÉÉPID

La Semaine 101 s'est débutée du mauvais pied avec la démission du vice-président aux activités sociales (anglophone) de l'Association étudiante des études politiques, internationales et de développement (AÉÉPID), Jack Witwer. Pour en lire davantage, suivez les liens ci-dessous :

Le v.-p. aux affaires sociales anglophone de l'AÉÉPID forcé de démissionner
ID, please

L'AÉÉPID tourne la page sur la Semaine 101

La distribution du laissez-passez (uPass)

La distribution massive du laissez-passez (uPass) s'est fait dans le « couch lounge » du Centre Universitaire entre le 22 août et le 16 septembre 2011. Personnellement, je suis allé faire prendre ma photo avant l'arrivée de la grande vague de nouveaux étudiants. De plus, j'ai été très chanceux, car je n'ai pas eu à attendre en ligne lorsque je suis allé ramasser ma passe. Par contre, pour une grande partie de la population étudiante de l'Université d'Ottawa, la fille d'attente fut extrêmement longue. Certains étudiants se plaignaient qu'ils ont attendu pendant 5 heures avant de finalement recevoir leur carte.  Pour en lire davantage à ce sujet, suivez les liens ci-dessous :

U-Pass distribution disaster

All Aboard?

Certains ont aussi exprimé leurs frustrations via les médias sociaux :

La langue française : une langue de deuxième classe pour la FÉUO?

La Rotonde, le journal francophone indépendant de l'Université d'Ottawa, a couvert cette histoire de façon rigoureuse :

Un article, La situation prise en main dès cette semaine, traite du site web de la FÉUO et la négligence de certains aspects de la version française. L'article cite le professeur Timothy Lethbrigde (un expert en génie logiciel et en informatique) qui dit que cela « démontre un manque de compétence à gérer le site. » Professeur Lethbridge croit que « plusieurs problèmes auraient pu être facilement évités avec un peu d’efforts supplémentaires. » Et voilà. La planification du site web de la FÉUO aurait pu être faite durant l'été. Peut-être que cette planification a eu lieu. Par contre, c'est légitime de mettre en question la qualité de cette planification, si la FÉUO avait un plan du tout.

Les membres de l'exécutif de la FÉUO se sont excusés publiquement envers la population étudiante francophone : Mlle Paige Gallette s'est excusée au nom de l'exécutif entier lors de la réunion du Conseil d'administration de la FÉUO qui a eu lieu le dimanche 18 septembre 2011. Oui, elle s'adressait aux sections non traduites du site web mentionnées dans l'article cité ci-haut. Par contre, elle s'adressait aussi à la qualité abominable du français dans le Magazine des Camapgnes 2011; Les journalistes de La Rotonde se sont penchés sur cette question (à la une) dans la toute première édition de l'année universitaire 2011-12. Ce fut aussi le sujet de l'éditorial au sein de cette même édition : Lettre ouverte à la FÉUO. L'exécutif de la FÉUO était bien au courant du manquement flagrant en ce qui concerne le français écrit au sein de ce magazine commis par les traducteurs/correcteurs étudiants, employés à temps partiel par la fédération étudiante.

Les membres de l'exécutif de la FÉUO se sont aussi excusés dans une lettre aux étudiants dont vous pouvez voir un extrait ci-dessous :

Source: La Rotonde - volume 74 - no. 4 - p. 4

 Rendre hommage à une « M'Rochstar»

Photo credit: Andrej Sakic - www.casaproductions.com

Finalement, j'aimerais souligner les efforts d'Amanda Marochko, une amie, une ancienne collègue; nous avions tous les deux siégé sur l'exécutif de l'Association étudiante des études politiques, internationales et de développement (AÉÉPID). Elle s'est dévouée inconditionnellement à une cause extrêmement importante durant son séjour ici, à l'Université d'Ottawa : l'amélioration de la vie étudiante. La population étudiante a perdu une jeune femme exceptionnelle! Par contre, elle ne pouvait guère nous quitter sans faire un peu de trouble! Une manifestation contre la Fédération canadienne des étudiantes et des étudiants?

Thanks for all your hard work and dedication, Amanda! You're one hell of a trooper! The uOttawa students, whether they knew you or not, will miss you! Good luck at Algonquin! :)

N'oubliez pas de visionner ce video clip!

Bon début de cours à tous et à toutes! Vous avez une opinion? Laissez un commentaire ci-dessous pour continuer le débat! N'oubliez pas de me suivre sur Twitter (@climbrandon) et de vous abonner au RSS Feed et/ou visitez mon blogue sur une base régulière afin de vous garder à jour au sujet de la politique étudiante sur notre campus!

If you thought Federico was bad...

Well, well, well... The SFUO's website seems to have gotten a half-assed face lift. I guess they have to make it seem like SOMEBODY is doing something this summer, right? Alright, alright! I admit that I'm being quite critical. I can only hope that 90% of the links that appear on the website might actually be functional in the next week or so. Do I expect that to be the case? If we go by how fast the last year's budget was posted to the SFUO website, it may be by the next SFUO elections, in February 2012 (and sadly, I'm being OPTIMISTIC).

Anyways, that's not the point of my post as I think uOleaks has poked enough fun at the site for one day! For those who may not recognize the fella in the above picture, let me introduce you to the former Canadian Federation of Students National Chairperson, Mr. Dave Molenhuis. Before being "elected" as National Chairperson, Mr. Molenhuis held the position of National Treasurer. He gave an interesting statement about where the money we pay in membership dues is spent to The Ontarion.You may remember an interview, conducted by Antoine Trépanier, that appeared in the 6 December 2010 edition of La Rotonde. He also travelled the country (on the student's dime) to help campaign in favour of the organization which he led when referendums on continued membership in the CFS were taking place. To say the least, it has been a rocky year for Mr. Molenhuis. He also seems to have had a rocky past in student politics at the University of Western Ontario.

You may also remember the bitter battle that ensued the October 2010 referendum on continued membership at the University of Regina between the University of Regina Students' Union (URSU) and the Canadian Federation of Students. In this "friendly" letter, Mr. Molenhuis unilaterally released the referendum results. In the period between November 2010 and March 2011, accusations had flown left and right coming from both the URSU executive and the CFS's student-funded legal counsel. The URSU executive released this statement shortly after the release of the referendum results.

Why have I highlighted the controversy surrounding Mr. Molenhuis while he held the position of CFS National Chairperson? Recently, Ms. Roxanne Dubois took over the helms of the CFS, replacing the 28 year old Mr. Molenhuis.

Oddly enough, as I wrote at the end of July, Federico Carvajal resigned as Chair of the SFUO Board of Administration during the 17 July 2011 meeting. As you can see in the images below, his position was quickly advertised online (but not on the SFUO website).

Do you see where this going? Well, after taking a few minutes to browse through the new SFUO website, I looked up the BOA. If you scroll down to the last email address in the list of board members, you'll see that beside "BOA Chair", Dave Molenhuis' name appears. I encourage everyone who reads this post to contact the new BOA Chair, Mr. Dave Molenhuis by emailing him at boa@sfuo.ca. And if you do, please comment below and let readers know if he bothers replying to your email. You see, during Mr. Molenhuis' tenure as CFS National Chairperson, I sent him a few emails. Sadly, Mr. Molenhuis never seen fit to even acknowledge my emails... Not once. So send him a message and see if his BlackBerry has been fixed yet.

"Help me with the SFUO finances!?"

Looks like SJK is looking for a financial director to assist her with the SFUO's finances. As you can see, this position was posted to the Charity Village website on Friday, July 22 2011. However, at the end of the add, interested candidates are asked to "send a resume and cover letter prior to July 13 at 5 PM via email to Sarah Jayne King, Vice-President of Finance at hr@sfuo.ca." Oh, SFUO...

Job Posting Source: http://www.workopolis.com/EN/job/13282008?uc=E4

Carvajal resigns as SFUO BOA Chair

Other than the ill-advised "affiliation" motion that passed at first reading on Sunday, 17 July 2011 SFUO BOA meeting, the audience (of 5) was surprised by what the Chair, Federico Carvajal announced at the beginning of the meeting: he announced his resignation as Chair of the BOA and that would most likely be the last BOA meeting that he would chair.

He has presided over some less than stellar BOA meetings in the past. To be sure, we needn't look far: the 15 October 2010 BOA meeting when he called Protection to have students in the audience removed (which never ended up happening). Another example took place on 6 March 2011 which was the meeting at which time the Board heard appeals arising from the SFUO elections (i.e.: disqualification of Tristan Dénommée).

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS CONTAINS COURSE LANGUAGE - VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

Federico became the SFUO BOA chair at some point between the 2 March 2008 and the 1 June 2008 board meetings. Amy Morris, Carvajal's predecessor, had only been the SFUO BOA's chair since 1 January 2008 and only chaired 4 board meetings.

Federico has deep roots within the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) which made his chairing the board during discussions involving issues such as the SFUO bulk t-shirt orders very controversial. (the report recommended Just Shirts, a company strongly supported by the CFS) 

1) First "final" report authored by Martin Schoots-McAlpine, Jesse Root and Iain Brannigan: http://www.scribd.com/doc/48751480/Final-Report-of-the-Ad-hoc-Ethical-Purchasing-Policy-Committee-Submitted-to-the-SFUO-Board-of-Administration

2) The final "final" report: http://www.scribd.com/doc/48751480/Final-Report-of-the-Ad-hoc-Ethical-Purchasing-Policy-Committee-Submitted-to-the-SFUO-Board-of-Administration

Carvajal was the CFS-Ontario Chairperson of the Ontario Graduate Caucus; While Carvajal was the external commissioner of the Graduate Students' Association (GSAÉD), he was a member of the "Yes" Committee during the CFS referendum that took place on the U of O campus in November 2008. As recent as 26 April 2011, Carvajal was at Trent University speaking with the Trent Graduate Students' Association (GSA) to promote the CFS administered health plan with Green shield.

Here is an image of the job posting for the new Chair of the SFUO Board of Administration which appeared on the Charity Village website:

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SJK's SFUO Budget Presentation

For those who are interested (and I'm sure there are many who are), I recorded large portions of Sarah Jayne King's 2011-2012 SFUO budget presentation which took place during the 17 July 2011 SFUO BOA meeting.

Liveblogging: SFUO BOA meeting - Sunday 17 July 2011

Late Night Mischief: SFUO.ca hacked

This image appeared as the splash screen of the SFUO website on Thursday, 14 July 2011 just after 12:00 am. I wonder how long it will take before someone actually notices...

Réunion du Conseil d'administration 2011-2012

Après avoir envoyé un courriel à notre merveilleux exécutif de la FÉUO par rapport aux dates futures des réunions du Conseil d'administration de la FÉUO, j'ai reçu une réponse de la part d'Elizabeth Kessler:

Les dates pour le reste de l’année sont :

Le 17 juillet – 13h

Le 14 août – 13h

Le 18 septembre – 13h

Le 16 octobre – 13h

Le 13 novembre – 13h

Le 4 décembre – 13h

Le 15 janvier = 13h

Le 26 février – 13h

Le 18 mars – 13h

Le 1 avril – 13h

Et maintenant, vous le savez!

---------

I recently sent an email to the marvelous SFUO executive regarding upcoming SFUO Board of Administration meeting dates and received a reply from Elizabeth Kessler (which came the very next day; I was pleasantly impressed). She provided me with the following dates:

17 July - 1:00 pm

14 August - 1:00 pm

18 September - 1:00 pm

16 October - 1:00 pm

13 November - 1:00 pm

4 December - 1:00 pm

15 January - 1:00 pm

26 February - 1:00 pm

18 March - 1:00 pm

1 April - 1:00 pm

And now you know!