MASU Students’ Administrative Council
Meeting Minutes
June 3rd, 2020
1. Call to order: 6:02
2. Land Acknowledgement
3. Approval of the agenda
BE IT RESOLVED (moved by Councillor Penney, seconded by Councillor Burke) that the June 3rd, 2020 Students’ Administrative Council Agenda be approved.
· Agenda clearly passes.
4. Approval of the minutes
5. BE IT RESOLVED (moved by Councillor Tobin, seconded by Councillor Penney) that the minutes from April 29th, 2020 meeting of the Students’ Administrative Council be approved.
· Minutes clearly pass
6. Reports
President
· A phased, rotational plan has begun to allow the certain staff and the executive to return to the office part-time.
· Met with aviation students regarding an announcement from the university regarding their graduation. Despite the students believing they would be able to graduate on time, the announcement indicated that would no longer be the case. After meeting with these students and the university, alongside Councillor Burke, it was determined that a miscommunication ad taken place and the majority of students would be graduating. Any further issues are being handled by the flight college.
· Met with Kim Meade regarding plans for the Fall; the plan seems to be to have all students in residence isolate in their rooms for 14 days. This is a health/mental health concern and we need to look into other alternatives to advocate for.
· Has been in contact with other executives from universities in New Brunswick and it seems that the MASU is unique in that we do not rely on the campus bar to fund our budget- this is an advantage worth noting for future years.
· Engaging in a new communications strategy alongside Councillor Davy; engaging more actively online, hosting Live Q&A’s, etc.
· Looking into the possibility of creating a kayak Co-op. It is logistically complicated, particularly the insurance aspect, and more discussion is needed with the town before we proceed.
· Kangaroo food ap has reached out. Similar to Uber Eats and they currently operate at Acadia successfully. Hoping to be able to help them launch in the Fall especially with the increased reliance on remote food service.
· The MASU Exec will also be meeting with members of the Black Students’ Union on Monday regarding ways the MASU can support their action and advocacy.
· Also in contact with the Student Life Office regarding their decision to only open residence for single rooms and at the price of a single room.
· Also working with Councillor Thorburn to looking into re-opening the bike co-op and how this would work with the office closed.
· We can expect a decline in incoming students this year, especially given that the majority of first year courses are correspondence course this year. We are also looking into a staggered arrival for students, likely separated by province.
· VP External
· Working with the Tantramar Covid-19 Taskforce and sitting on four action groups created by the taskforce.
· Attended NBSA and CASA Foundations conferences and was elected to the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee.
· Community FoodSmart has been really successful, and due to the volume they are transitioning back to a pick-up method rather than delivery.
· Looking into re-opening the Bike Co-op and an alternate method of hosting the co-op while the office is closed.
· Also put together a report based on the Students Needs Assessment released in May. Approximately 65 responses were received and the report will be used by the taskforce.
· VPFO
· Put together an operational plan containing the details of a phased plan for the MASU to return to the office.
· The tech plan initially put into place by former VPFO Kevin Wong was never actually fulfilled so we have decided to put it on hold for now given the additional financial insecurity of the year.
· Will be continuing to update the Operating Procedures for the MASU and also Clubs and Societies.
· VPAA
· Also met with the aviation students alongside Councillor Ferguson
· Met with University Senate where the conferring of degrees took place.
· Met with Jeff Ollerhead regarding the Academic Advocacy document she has been working on.
· Met with Anne Comfort regarding Nimbus tutoring.
· The majority of her recent work and future work is related to this advocacy document, including meeting with many members of the administration and faculty.
· VPSL
· The ASCARS took place over the weekend. Big thank you to Councillor Rawling and former Councillor McConnell for organizing this event.
· Working on a phased plan alongside the Student Life Coordinator to navigate residence life and residence life training in the Fall.
· Joined the Mental Health Action group for the TCTF. Provided the group with an extensive list of recommendations and resources.
· Met with her staff.
· Continuing to sit on the BoR committee for experiential learning.
· Updating the Student Life Handbook.
· VP Communications
7. Working alongside Councillor Thorburn to promote the TCTF and their resources.
8. Promoted and helped stream the ASCAR awards last week alongside Councillor’s Rawling and Penney.
9. Working on the Student Handbook. The first draft should be done early June.
10. Also in the beginning stages of overhauling the website to make it more user-friendly and accessible.
11. Begun hosting Livestreamed Q&A’s on the MASU Instagram to allow students to ask members of the MASU questions directly.
12. New Business
· Councillor Burke’s presentation of the new Academic Advocacy Document.
o Focussed on Mental health in the Classroom, Grade Transparency, Open Educational Resources, Lab Accommodations, Scholarships, and Tutoring.
13. Business arising from the minutes
We have decided to continue to wait until the Fall to open hiring for unfilled positions. This is largely given that many Council positions remain unfilled through the summer and hiring positions without having all positions represented does not seem appropriate.
14. Adjournment:
Motion to adjourn the Students’ Administrative Council Meeting until the next meeting on…
(Moved by Councillor Burke, Seconded by Councillor Tobin).