New faculty representatives, financial audits approved at Nov. 28 SLC

By Tina Shaygan, November 29 2017 —

The Nov. 28 meeting of the Students’ Legislative Council began with a brief discussion on a code of conduct document brought forward by Students’ Union vice-president operations and finance Ryan Wallace.

Wallace asked for SLC members’ feedback on the document, saying that a final version will come to SLC for approval soon. Provisions clarifying conflict of interest, breach of confidentiality and respect for office spaces and shared areas were added and clarified in the document since it was last brought to SLC in the summer.

Following the code of conduct discussion, Wallace said the SU’s audited financials were professionally reviewed and align with Canadian standards for non-profit organizations.

After the resolution for approving audited financials passed, motions to appoint new Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Faculty of Arts representatives were brought forward. Julie Choi is a first-year veterinary medicine student from the University of British Columbia. She volunteered with animal organizations and farms during her undergraduate and wants to integrate the Spy Hill campus, where veterinary medicine students study, with the University of Calgary’s main campus. The resolution to appoint her as the new veterinary medicine representative passed unanimously.

For arts representative, the Nominations Committee interviewed a shortlist of three candidates and brought forward Sheliza Ismail as its recommendation to SLC. Ismail is a fifth-year international relations student who has experience volunteering abroad and with organizations such as the Mustard Seed. She said her priority is securing increased funding towards professional opportunities for arts students. The resolution to appoint Ismail as the new arts representative also passed unanimously.

During executive reports, vice-president academic Tina Miller said she worked on policy regarding video recording in classrooms, planned the Undergraduate Research Symposium, which will be held on Nov. 30 in MacHall, and reviewed National Survey of Student Engagement results.

Faculty representative reports included meeting with representatives from the Alberta College of Art and Design, speaking with students regarding concerns about the student experience in kinesiology and advocating to the nursing faculty to officially adopt the U of C mental health strategy. Law representative Bassam Saifeddine said he brought forward concerns regarding the expansion of professional opportunities beyond corporate law to the faculty.

The last meeting of SLC for the fall semester is on Dec. 5 at 6:30 p.m. in MacHall Executive Council Chambers.