MASU Students’ Administrative Council
Meeting Minutes
February 10, 2021
Call to Order: 6:03pm
Land Acknowledgement
- Land acknowledgement was done by Councillor Minocha-McKenney this week.
Approval of the Agenda
BE IT RESOLVED (moved by Councillor Tobin, seconded by Councillor Penney) that the Wednesday, February 10thAgenda of the Students’ Administrative Council be approved.
- Amendment: Include Councillor Richardson’s report (moved by Councillor Richardson, seconded by Councillor Penney).
Approval of the Minutes
BE IT RESOLVED (moved by Councillor Minocha-McKenney, seconded by Councillor Tobin) that the Sunday, January 31st Minutes of the Students’ Administrative Council be Approved.
Presentations/Reports
- Navigate MtA – Julia Bedell and Councillor Bidder
o Julia Bedell and Councillor Bidder gave a quick overview of what the Navigate MtA group is/does.
o Navigate is a group on campus that promotes mental health and advocates for resources for students. For more information, see the recording of the SAC meeting (February 10th) or contact Julia Bedell.
- Councillor Richardson
o Councillor Richardson gave council an update on their work as CRO this semester.
o Update primarily consisted of the Winter Election period (i.e., which areas were successful, challenges that had arisen and where there is room for improvement).
o For more details, see the February 10th, 2021 council package.
Discussion
- Councillor Cormier (question 1): How much data do you have on the worrying trend of student athletes on the unsubscribed voters list?
o Councillor Richardson: I can look into specific numbers in the future. My information comes from looking at the unsubscribed voters list and noticing names that I knew were student athletes.
o Councillor Mittal: I have heard from a professor that many of the students (specifically student athletes) are disenfranchised with the MASU.
o Councillor Richardson: If it is at the executive’s wishes to undertake a review following my recommendation, I would be interested in taking part in that.
- Councillor Cormier (question 2): Why, when voting, did voters have to rank the candidates rather than have the option to only pick one candidate or to abstain?
o Councillor Richardson: That was an issue that arose during this election and was a mistake on my part. We are recommended to include as many options as we can in the bylaws and going forward, I will ensure that this happens.
Business Arising from the Minutes (no items)
New Business (no items)
Open Forum
- Mount Allison Student Employee Group – Councillor Minocha-McKenney
Discussion
- Councillor Minocha-McKenney: Is the Mount Allison Student Employee Group associated with the MASU and is this related to a similar group that was around some years ago?
o Councillor Tobin: This is a separate group from the past group however, it has a similar purpose. We are hoping to create a student employee union at MtA.
- Councillor Thorburn: Does this include student employees who were not listed on the post?
o Councillor Tobin: Not yet, but we are hoping to expand in the future.
- Focus Group – Councillor Burke
Discussion
- Councillor Burke: Later I am going to be emailing everyone to see if any students are interested in being a part of a focus group that the Provost is putting together regarding academic planning and the library 2025 plan. If you’re interested, keep an eye out!
- Councillor Minocha-McKenney: Is this the same focus group that is happening in March?
o Councillor Burke: This is a different focus group. The other one is more of a town hall for everyone’s thoughts.
- Pronouns – Councillor Walsh
Discussion
- Councillor Walsh: I was wondering how we could implement adding pronouns to the names in Teams as well as how we can make pronouns more accessible on campus and in classes.
o Councillor Burke: Thank you for bringing this to council, you make a great point. I spoke to the Provost at the start of the year about preferred names and including those in Teams because originally it was showing birth-given names. So, I can bring this up with him next time we speak to see about including this feature on Teams. Also, I think the next step would be including pronouns right here in council, ensuring all councillors put their pronouns in their Zoom names!
o Councillor Penney: Councillor Walsh, great point! I know Hannah Crouse has brought this up to me before and they made a little icon with their pronouns and made it their Teams picture. While it’s not a permanent solution, for the time being we could join together to create pronoun icons that could be released to the students to use as their Teams picture!
- Board of Regents Update – Councillor Blakney
o Councillor Blakney gave an update on recent BoR work.
Discussion
- Councillor Mittal: I was wondering in terms of accessibility for international students who aren’t able to come to campus (for those who needed new visas) is there any way for me or other international students to be involved (getting regular updates as well as giving input) in what is happening behind the scenes with the BoR?
o Councillor Blakney: First of all, I’m happy you have arrived safely in Canada! I only sit on so many BoR committees but I do try to stay relatively informed on everything but, in terms of direction, I can get in contact with our VPs (e.g., acting VP Anne Comfort) to see what we can do about coordination.
o Councillor Ferguson: Thanks for what you said, Councillor Mittal. We (the MASU) can look into things such as subsidies for students who had to miss the airport shuttle service we offered.
- Councillor Blakney: I just wanted to make a note that many students that have inquired about all of the technology that is being developed for online learning and are wondering if once covid is “over,” will there be a process of online-only classes that will still be offered. The President said that that was a good question and they will look into it but there is no concrete answer yet.
o Councillor Burke: This is something I brought up in the Provost council the other day and the response was that we will continue to have hybrid-courses in the next semester for sure however, there is no set-in-stone plans for the years to come.
o Councillor Nolan: The brief history is it they decided to cut the payment method for correspondence courses in 2018 and then those courses tapered off. The MASU has been advocating for allocated resources toward correspondence courses in the past few years and it is something that we are continuing to do this year and we put it in a budget advocacy document.
- Relay For Life – Councillor Penney
o We are putting together a MASU team for Relay for Life so message me if you are interested! It is happening March 14th!
- Mental Health Resources for International Students – Councillor Mittal
o The email went out for the mental health resources available for international students.
o There are 8 free sessions available through BreeLove.
o Councillor Mittal also brings up the point that they have been hearing from plenty of international students about how they have been feeling lonely given the circumstance and there has been some trouble finding friends, etc.
o Councillor Mittal is doing a review of the “Fresh Start” program.
Discussion
- Councillor Walsh: I would like to echo the comments about students having difficulties making connections. I have been hearing about this issue from members of the queer community as well.
o Councillor Burke: I know Councillor Mittal is in my philosophy class where they made a discord chat and I was wondering if maybe there could be a discord made for these communities to meet and connect on with that platform.
o Councillor MacLean: I run first year caucus and so far we have only had one meeting, however, during that meeting we discussed having representatives from both the international community as well as the queer community on caucus for future meetings.
- Councillor Humphrey
o Councillor Humphrey suggests putting forth an event for international students to come together, meet, share experiences, etc.
o Further suggests making this sort of event a monthly occurrence.
o Suggests virtual meet and greet while we can’t meet in-person at the moment.
- Resources for the queer community on campus - Councillor Walsh
Discussion:
- Councillor Mittal mentioned Navigate MtA, crossroads for women, Maggie Brewer, etc. and encouraged Councillor Walsh to reach out to Maggie Brewer to learn more.
- Councillor Walsh: How can we make these resources more public?
o Councillor Burke: I think we can all collaborate (councillors, MASU exec and relevant student groups such as Navigate MtA) to develop a plan to ensure these resources are known!
o Councillor Mittal: In my experience, physical posters on campus have been very helpful.
o Councillor Ferguson: Totally agree about posters being a great way to spread knowledge, we used this tactic with students returning to campus in September.
Reminders
- Councillor Bidder: If anyone would like to subscribe to the Navigate MtA monthly newsletter email navigate@mta.ca!
- Councillor Thorburn: An event is happening tomorrow at 5:30pm for Black History month!
- Councillor Minocha-McKenney: Don’t forget to nominate yourselves for executive positions in residence for next year!
- Councillor Tobin: Mount Allison Student Employee Group is working to unionize so If you currently hold a student employee job listed on our posts, contact us!
- Councillor Burke: Apply for MASU jobs!
In Camera (no items)
Adjournment: 7:03pm
- Motion to Adjourn the Students’ Administrative Council (moved by Councillor Penney, seconded by Councillor Nolan) until Sunday, February 28th, 2021.