Call for Nominations!!

Hello grads,

There are still numerous Caucus positions available.

Please consider nominating yourself or someone else to one of these positions.

Without your help events such as the Welcome Party, BBQ, Movie night, Christmas party, Symposium, and Grad hosted speaker can't happen!!

While planning some of the events can be a bit time consuming, we have tried to organize the caucus in such as way as to spread out the workload as much as possible. With the chair, associate chair, and the three event officers, as well as other grad volunteers, all working together and sharing the workload, organizing the events has been fairly straightforward, efficient, and yes, fun!

Nominations will close on April 22nd.Voting will take place April 30th at the Caucus meeting.

A. Elections will be held for the following positions (Nominees in parentheses):

    1. Chair

    2. Associate Chair

    3. Secretary

    4. Treasurer (Dhani Kalidasan)

    5. Member at Large (Janey Lam)

    6. Webmaster (Alex Chubaty)

    7. Event Committee Officers (3 positions)   

    8. GSS Representative (Thomas Unsoeld)

    9. TSSU Steward

    10. Faculty Mole (Samineh Deheshi)

    11. DSC Representative (1 position, 2-year term)

    12. DGSC Representative (Jenn Sunday, 1-year term) (Erica Jeffery, 2-year term)

    12. International Students Representative

B. Proposed constitutional amendments.

1. There are two rep positions for the DGSC and DSC.  
2. Officer and representative positions are for one-year terms except for DGSC and DSC rep positions which can be for two-year terms.
3. When there is only one nomination for any given position, not just for the GSS council rep, that position must still be ratified by a majority at a caucus meeting.
4. Amendments to the constitution no longer require ratification by the GSS and become binding upon approval by Caucus.
   

Thank you,

Isabelle Raymond
BISC Caucus Chair

Notice of Elections - Call for Nominations

Hello grads,

At our next caucus meeting on April 30th we will be holding elections for most Caucus officer and representative positions. We will also be voting on several proposed constitutional amendments. Please see below for details.

We are now accepting nominations for any of these positions. You can nominate yourself or someone else (provided they accept of course!).

If you are interested in any of these positions, but would like to know more before you nominate yourself, please feel free to ask! Some of these positions are a bit more time consuming but some require fairly minimal time commitments.

All of these positions are for one year terms except for a couple of the Departmental Scholarship Committee (DSC) and Departmental Graduate Studies Committee (DGSC) positions which are two year terms.

Nominations will remain open for one month, from now until April 22nd. On the 22nd, nominations will close and a one week campaigning period will begin, from April 22nd to the 29th. Voting will take place on the 30th at the Caucus meeting.

A. Elections will be held for the following positions:

    1. Chair

    2. Associate Chair

    3. Secretary

    4. Treasurer

    5. Member at Large

    6. Webmaster

    7. Event Committee Officers (3 positions)   

    8. GSS Representative

    9. TSSU Steward

    10. Faculty Mole

    11. DSC Representative (1 position, 2-year term)

    12. DGSC Representative (2 positions, one 1-year term, and one 2-year term).

    12. International Students Representative

B. Proposed constitutional amendments (attached).

1. There are two rep positions for the DGSC and DSC.  
2. Officer and representative positions are for one-year terms except for DGSC and DSC rep positions which can be for two-year terms.
3. When there is only one nomination for any given position, not just for the GSS council rep, that position must still be ratified by a majority at a caucus meeting.
4. Amendments to the constitution no longer require ratification by the GSS and become binding upon approval by Caucus.
   

Thank you,

Isabelle Raymond
BISC Caucus Chair

Caucus meeting, Friday, March 26, 3:30-4:30

Hello Grads,

My apologies for the short notice.

We will have a Caucus Meeting this Friday, March 22, 3:30-4:30pm in the Bio grad lounge (7000 level). I have attached the agenda.

If you have any thoughts/comments/suggestions about the Grad hosted speaker and Olympiad/Symposium events of last week, please feel free to come down and share them with us. We'd love to hear your thoughts!

We will also be discussing elections for caucus executives and representatives, which are coming up shortly.

See you all there,

Isabelle Raymond
BISC Caucus Chair

Caucus meeting: March 3rd - 3:30-4:30

Hello Everyone,

We will be having our next caucus meeting Wednesday, March 3rd, 3:30-4:30pm (Bio grad lounge).

I have attached the agenda for the meeting.

See you there,

Janey Lam

BISC Caucus Associate Chair

Volunteers and Activists Needed!

Volunteers and Activists Needed!

There are a number of volunteer positions available for grad students on committees within the GSS.  These are an excellent opportunity to get involved in grad student affairs, meet other students from across the campus, gain some volunteer skills, and to have a say in how your grad student experience is directed.

Most of these positions require a small time commitment of 2-3 hours per month.  Some are fewer than that.  In every one of these positions, you will have an impact on grad student life at SFU.

In addition to these committee positions, the GSS is constantly looking for ways to improve grad student life at this university.  Do you have an idea for a project that you think will benefit grad students?  Are you willing to put in some volunteer hours to make your project a reality?  Send me an email at president@sfugradsociety@sfu.ca and tell me all about it.

Benefit Plan Committee

Are you interested in how your health and dental benefits plan is governed?  Would you like to be a part of the decision-making process?

Meetings: 2 or 3 per semester, 2hrs each

Meeting time: no fixed schedule

Contact: Josh Newman, president@sfugradsociety.ca

Childcare Committee

Discusses childcare issues on campus.  Currently (and unfortunately) vacant.  There is a big need for people to work on this issue.

Meetings: as much as you want

Meeting time: no fixed schedule

Contact: Josh Newman, president@sfugradsociety.ca

Finance and Audit Committee

Reviews the spending and revenue-generating practices of the Society and makes recommendations on improvements.

Positions: 2 positions available

Meetings: 2 per semester, 2hrs each

Meeting time: no fixed schedule

Contact: Cris Costa, treasurer@sfugradsociety.ca

Funding Committee

Discusses ways to improve grad student funding at SFU, including the management of TAships and RA funding.  This committee is currently vacant.  We need people to be discussing ways to convince the university and the government that they are not adequately supporting their graduate students.

Meetings: as much as you want

Meeting time: no fixed schedule

Contact: Josh Newman, president@sfugradsociety.ca

Grants Allocation Committee

You know how the GSS gives out grants of up to $750 to student caucuses for academic-related events?  You don't know?  Well, we do.  In fact we have $10,000 budgeted for these student-led events for the 2009-2010 school year.  Would you like to sit on the committee that recommends how these grants are distributed?

Positions: 2 positions available

Meetings: 2 per semester, 2hrs each

Meeting time: no fixed schedule

Contact: Cris Costa, treasurer@sfugradsociety.ca

Graduate Space Committee

Discusses how best to use grad student space on campus, and also makes recommendations about future building and grad space issues.

Meetings: 2 meetings per semester, 2 hrs each

Meeting time: no fixed schedule

Contact: Josh Newman, president@sfugradsociety.ca

Social Committee

Are you interested in social life at SFU?  Do you really like our free hamburger/cheap beer pub nights, but wish we did more?  Are you tired of SFU's reputation of zero grad student community?  As expected, this committee is currently vacant.  Come help us bring some community to SFU.

Meetings: as much as you want

Meeting time: no fixed schedule

Contact: Josh Newman, president@sfugradsociety.ca

Sustainability Committee

Tired of waste?  Want to help reduce your carbon footprint?  This committee discusses sustainability and environmental issues as they pertain to grad students and the university.

Meetings: no fixed schedule

Contact: Duncan Wlodarczak, dwlodarc@sfu.ca

Task Force on Students with Disabilities

It has come to the attention of the GSS that students with disabilities are not adequately supported at SFU, especially grad students who may have teaching and research duties in addition to traditional studies.  This task force was set up to identify the university's shortcomings in this area and to propose some recommendations for improvement.

Contact: Christi Garneau-Scott, cgarneau@sfu.ca

Any questions about these committees, or about anything else related to the GSS?  Send me an email at president@sfugradsociety@sfu.ca, or come by our offices in the Maggie Benston Centre (MBC 2201-2205) and ask someone in person.  You can also call us at 778-782-3899.

Questions about the health and dental benefits plan?  Please call 1-866-369-8795 or visit www.ihaveaplan.ca.

Thomas Unsoeld

Upcoming Strike Vote?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Do you want to go on strike? Do you want to take a paycut to avoid a strike? Are you willing to give up your benefits just to avoid job action? Do you need to know more about bargaining and the bargaining process before you can answer any of these questions?

The TSSU Contract will expire as of May 1, 2010 and we need YOUR help to bargain what YOU want. On Tuesday, Feb. 2nd the education committee will be holding a bargaining Question and Answer period with the TSSU Bargaining Committee in MBC 2290 from 1:30-2:30 (Refreshments will be served). This is your chance to meet the committee who will represent you and your interests to the university and to have your voice heard.

Most of BC's public sector is bargaining this Spring, and given that the provincial government has already put forward a mandate for no gains this year and our tuition fees go up by at least 2% every year, we need to put our heads together and come up with some creative bargaining strategies.

IMMEDIATELY following the Bargaining Q and A will be the February GM, from 3:00-4:45. FREE FOOD will be served at 2:30 SHARP.
Members' input is  VERY important at this meeting: even if you can only come for part of the meeting, please attend!

In solidarity,

TSSU Executive

Caucus Meeting: Friday, Jan 29th, 3:30-4:30

Hello Grads,

Our next caucus meeting will be Friday, January 29th , 3:30-4:30pm (Bio grad lounge).

We'll be discussing the grad hosted speaker and symposium events coming up in March with Dr David Conover, who has agreed to come and give all three talks, the Departmental and Les Ecol seminars and the informal talk to grad students! Please come if you can, we've got some important decisions to make about what format we want the symposium to have this year.

As usual there will be refreshments and snacks.

See you there,

Isabelle Raymond
BISC Caucus Chair

Benefit Plan Endowment Fund - GSS

Dear fellow Grad Students,

At next week's meeting, the  GSS council will discuss (and likely vote on) whether to establish a Benefit Plan Endowment Fund for financially needy grad students.

As your caucus representative I would like to have a discussion with my caucus to vote in the best interest of our department.

I would like to encourage every BISC grad student to meet with me tomorrow, Friday 15th at 3:30pm in the BISC Grad Lounge (where we usually hold our caucus meetings) to discuss the following issue:

For the unlikely event that the GSS general membership votes to eliminate the benefit plan in part or in whole the GSS retains a reserve fund for the graduate student health and dental benefit plan. After 4 years, the accumulated money now exceeds what the GSS would be required to pay out if it defaulted on its contractual responsibilities with its insurance providers. Since this money was collected by many students over a long period of time (many of whom have now graduated),  the GSS thinks it would not be ethical to dispense this money directly to current students in any way.

 

Instead, the Benefit Plan Committee recommends that the interest of the accumulated money be used to establish an endowment fund, from which annual bursaries can be given to financially needy graduate students to pay their benefit plan. The bursaries would be disbursed through an application process. At current interest rates, up to 10-12 financially needy graduate students could receive free health and dental benefits courtesy of the GSS. 

Please let me know your opinion.

Best,

Thomas