SLC continues in quiet June meeting

By Matty Hume, June 6 2018 —

With the spring semester in full swing, the members of the 76th Students’ Legislative Council met for the fourth time on June 5.

The meeting started with a report from senate representative Anayat Sidhu regarding the May 29 year-end senate meeting and other senate updates. The senate approved eight honorary degree recipients and elected nine senators to begin their three-year term. Five of the senators were also re-elected for a second three-year term. Sidhu also reported that senators Laureen Bell and Mavis Clark have raised $40 thousand for a new scholarship in the name of Chancellor Robert Thirsk, whose term ends on July 1.

The senate report was followed by a report by Board of Governors representative Frank Finley. He highlighted three key discussions from the last BOG meeting, including an annual mental health strategy update, an update on the Hunter Hub and a three-year institutional plan.

“We see an uptick [of students], especially in the science- and technology-based fields in the next three years,” Finley said. “We expect growth in other fields, but we don’t anticipate as large of a jump as in [those] areas.”

Reports from executive council members and faculty representatives followed. President Sagar Grewal said he met with vice-president operations and finance Kevin Dang about MacHall building consultations and attended an event at arts faculty dean Richard Sigurdson’s residence. Faculty representative reports largely consisted of meeting with predecessors and planning for orientation-week events.

SLC members then discussed possible changes to the annual executive plan document, with particular consideration for adding faculty representatives to the current annual plan in some capacity.

The meeting came to a close after amendments to the Committee of 10,000’s terms of reference and funding procedure were passed unanimously. The committee was founded in 1973 as a tribute to Russian refugee Olga Valda and allocates money from students obtained through a levy to charitable organizations and non-profits in Calgary.

“Students have endorsed [the Committee of 10,000] previously through referendums,” said vice-president student life Nabila Farid. “It’s currently the lowest of student fees funded through a levy of 50 cents per term.”

Aside from semantic changes, amendments include the addition of a term that clearly states that only one application per organization per year will be accepted.

The next SLC meeting will take place on June 12 at 6:30 p.m. in the MacHall Executive Council Chambers. Access executive reports, minutes and all other SLC documents here.