Referendum Rundown

By: William Alexander

The fate of the Exclusive Club Card, SoBi membership, the Marmor yearbook and vice-presidents at large will be decided during this year’s by-election, through a referendum.

To succeed, a referendum must receive at least 66.7 per cent of the popular vote.

The fate of vice presidents at large, SoBi Bikes, Exclusive Club Card and Marmor will be decided during this year’s by-election.

VP at large

The first issue at hand is whether the McMaster Student Union’s three vice-presidents should be elected by the entire student body rather than just the Student Representative Assembly. The SRA has taken a negative stance towards this reform during the Oct. 16 meeting.

Vice-president (Education) Blake Oliver has referenced three different Ad-Hoc committees at the SRA level since 2012 which had all found that the core system is sound, citing voter fatigue amongst other things for reasons against the reform.

Arguments for VP-at-large exist, a common one being the persistent allegations of nepotism within the upper MSU circles—accusations of the “MSU Bubble”, where those with connections to the SRA and to the MSU are more likely to win positions.

Another is that SRA elections only have about 30 per cent voter turnout, leading to a disproportionate representation in anyone the SRA elects as delegates.

SoBi Bikes

The SoBi Bike referendum offers all McMaster students a SoBi bike membership for 90 minutes of daily access to their service at a flat rate of $16.95. The option to opt-out will be available in an online system similar to the one currently used for the health and dental plans.

Currently, an annual membership for a McMaster student would cost $70 plus tax annually for 60 minutes a day. That being said, it is clear that the service would not be useful to everyone, as many students commute in from outside SoBi bikes’ range.

Hamilton Community News also recently reported that SoBi Hamilton has not shared its financial audits with the Hamilton City Council, which would report the allocation of community funds during the building of the original SoBi infrastructure in Hamilton.

Exclusive Club Card

Brought to referendum by petition, the Exclusive Club Card is a discount card offered to students at a price of $5 by Olekt Inc. The discounts are for 31 locations in West Hamilton and Olekt Inc. has claimed they will expand that reach in the future.

The SRA has taken a negative stance towards the service. In a memo circulated on Oct. 10, vice-president (Finance) Ryan MacDonald alleged that the petition was “driven by non-students who have coerced 3 per cent of the student population through financial incentives or misleading to sign a petition.”

“Almost every single one of those discounts we currently offer in the almanac that we provide at the beginning of each year,” said MacDonald.

In response to this, the SRA has dedicated an ad hoc committee to investigating the current legal structures involving the raising of petitions.

Marmor

The Marmor is the annual undergraduate yearbook. It features events of the year as well as that year’s graduating students. Currently, there is an annual $9.22 MSU fee, although students only receive a single Marmor after graduating.

The Marmor referendum proposes a number of options. One is to abolish the Marmor, the justification being that there is mostly negative feedback from alumni, delay in production and that the Marmor fee has been accumulating surplus money which cannot be redirected due to MSU policy. Another is to add $5 to the existing fee to add a digital component to the project. Students can also vote to keep the fee as is.

Campaigning will occur from Oct. 28-Nov.1, and voting can be done from Nov. 2-3 through your McMaster email.

Editor's note: A previous version of this article stated that the digital component to Marmor would be sent to referendum at a later date. In fact, these options are on the same ballot. We regret the error.