Chukky Ibe’s last few months have focused on preparation, and the McMaster Students Union should expect to see the fruits of his labours as early as January 2018.
Ibe’s yearlong plan focused on large projects, many of which he has addressed since his term began in May. Since September, Ibe has addressed the majority of the projects on his platform.
Ibe has taken the necessary steps to create a post-secondary access strategy, his project aimed to make university more accessible to non-traditional students.
To do this, Ibe has allocated funds to turn a part of the MSU Student Health Education Centre’s office into a permanent lactation room, something SHEC will begin promoting in the coming weeks. This is meant to help support students with children completing their bachelor’s degree, a key point in his platform.
Ibe has also been in talks with the MSU Executive Board to expand the yearly MSU Creating Leadership Among Youth conference. Currently, CLAY is an annual conference but Ibe hopes to transform it into a full-year project aimed at making undergraduate education more accessible to secondary students in Hamilton.
Ibe also began working on his Good Food Delivery program, which when completed will allow students to have subsidized groceries delivered to their homes. The MSU is currently negotiating with Plan B Farms.
Ibe also helped plan Tech Lit week, a campaign aimed at teaching technology literacy. This campaign was a part of Ibe’s plan to optimize student technology.
Ibe also created graduate transition programming, meant to ease the transition from undergraduate to post-graduate work or career building. The MSU will be holding programming in collaboration with other campus partners in early Jan.
Ibe has also done work throughout the semester with other vice presidents to “Open Up the MSU”, by holding a weeklong open house introducing students to the MSU. He has also attended general assemblies or general meetings for various faculty societies and clubs. Ibe also worked with Ryan Desphpande, vice president (Education) to advocate for students on various issues.
The remainder his term will focus on executing his projects and transitioning them to the next president-elect.
Preethi Anbalagan’s role as vice president (Administration) focuses on training and supporting MSU staff, with a focus on service part-time managers, Student Representative Assembly members and associate vice presidents. She is also integral to the MSU’s participation in Welcome Week.
During Welcome Week, Anbalagan’s main role was introducing and expanding strategic themes, meant to aid the first-year transition. This year, the strategic theme committees were split into sub-categories, which caused some redundancies.
With this in mind, Anbalagan is building the correct infrastructure necessary for Welcome Week’s strategic themes. Anbalagan has put forward recommendations to solve some of these issues, which may be found in her Nov. 28 report to the SRA.
Since September, Anbalagan has also successfully trained the newest SRA members, who were voted in during the by-election period. To support the SRA, Anbalagan and the associate vice president (Internal Governance) have scheduled meetings with caucus leaders to discuss their concerns.
To support part-time managers, Anbalagan has made some changes to transition reports and feedback forms.
This year, Anbalagan has asked PTMs to write a midterm transition report to ensure that there are no gaps of knowledge in the transition packages. Before this, PTMs handed in one transition report at the end of their term.
To simplify feedback processes, Anbalagan digitized anonymous feedback forms and asked her employees to fill that out as opposed to paper forms. In her Nov. 28 report, Anbalagan published the results of this feedback form, which had 16 evaluation submissions.
Anbalagan’s scores ranged, with some managers giving her perfect scores while others dipping as low as a three out of 10. Some PTMs gave her high scores across the board and vice versa. All of the feedback given was anonymous and may be viewed in graph form.
In addition to this work, Anbalagan has also been working with peer support part-time managers and the MSU teaching and research assistant on a long-term plan for peer support services to ensure services achieve more collective goals.
Anbalagan’s next steps will include completing hiring and easing the transition process for the new cohort of part-time managers, SRA members and other MSU staff.
As MSU vice president (Education), Ryan Deshpande’s role predominantly entails developing MSU policy and spearheading advocacy.
In his yearlong plan, Deshpande sought to ensure that a number of policy papers are completed by the end of the first semester.
The Health and Wellness, Academic Success and Student Employment and Experiential Education policy papers were passed at the Student Representative Assembly meeting on Nov. 12.
Deshpande’s yearlong plan also emphasized changes to the university’s status quo, including the creation of an Indigenous course requirement, a syllabus repository and changes to exam schedule policies.
While Deshpande was not able to mandate an Indigenous course requirement, the Indigenous Studies Program developed a course called Reconciliation 1A03 and consulted him during the process. The course will be offered to students in the winter term.
Deshpande acknowledges that changes to the university’s exam schedule policies and the creation of a syllabus repository will require a multi-year effort.
To fulfill the municipal advocacy component of his platform, Deshpande has increased MSU presence at Hamilton City Council meetings, attended rental housing subcommittee meetings and contributed to a research committee to advocate for a landlord licensing pilot project.
“Part of what I wanted to do with the city this year was make ourselves not a stand alone stakeholder, but make students better integrated with the city,” said Deshpande.
One of his objectives was to implement a Landlord Wiki aimed at improving landlord accountability. He says this will likely be completed in February 2018.
On the provincial level, Deshpande contributed to the development of the recently passed Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance Indigenous Students Policy. He has also been working with OUSA on student health and wellness advocacy.
On the federal level, Deshpande sought to work with ADVOCAN, a coalition that lobbies on behalf of undergraduate students’ interests.
Next semester, Deshpande will be focusing on the development of the Transit, Sustainability and Sexual Violence Prevention & Response policy papers.
In his yearlong plan, Daniel “Tuba” D’Souza, McMaster Students Union vice president (Finance), highlighted a number of objectives. His most prominent one was to create Marauders’ Nest, the 1280 café.
Although D’Souza initially sought to open the café in September 2017, this date was later pushed back to the end of the semester.
The construction of the café just finished, and job postings are being added to the MSU website this week. Now, the café is set to be in service in January 2018.
Another one of D’Souza’s key platform points was the implementation of an online ordering system for 1280.
However, when trying to implement this, D’Souza experienced logistical issues, including a high amount of employee turnover at 1280 and financial barriers.
In his platform, D’Souza also sought to restructure 1280 club nights. Fulfilling this platform objective, D’Souza has increased club night attendance by over 58 per cent.
As part of his yearlong plan, D’Souza also stressed the need for MSU community partnerships and more experiential learning opportunities for students.
Over the last few weeks, D’Souza has been exploring the development of a conference fund that allows students to attend conferences for free.
He has been pursuing trial runs for this fund, offering students tickets to conferences such as Ambitious City, which is being hosted by the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce on Dec. 1.
Another one of D’Souza’s year-plan objectives was to increase the MSU’s transparency about student finances.
“We hosted an MSU open house this year, and one big part of that was a pop-up showcase,” said D’Souza. “Throughout three days, we engaged with hundreds of students who came by and learned about where their money is actually going.”
While D’Souza’s plans to distribute Presto cards to McMaster students and consult students about the Student Activity Building have been implemented, D’Souza’s Discount Card platform point has been put on hold.
Nevertheless, D’Souza has helped hire a Campus Commercial Partnership Coordinator, who will be exploring the project as part of their role.
While a few of his platform points have yet to be fulfilled, D’Souza will be working to implement them throughout the rest of his term.
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Since May, six associate vice presidents have worked alongside the McMaster Students Union board of directors to help them achieve their platforms and bring forth their own ideas, whether that be advocating on Parliament Hill or supporting MSU employees.
Stephanie Bertolo, a fourth-year Arts and Science student, works alongside the MSU vice president (Education) as associate vice president (Municipal Affairs) to help him advocate on behalf of students in local politics.
“[It’s] a lot of meetings,” Bertolo said. “I go to the community association meetings for Ainslie Wood/Westdale. It’s going to city hall and seeing what they’re up to with decisions that affect students.”
This is the first year the MSU has had associate vice presidents. In previous years, they had commissioners who were elected by the Student Representative Assembly. Instead of an internal election, associate vice presidents are hired.
Although commissioners and associate vice presidents fulfill a similar niche within the union, associate vice presidents are expected to take on more responsibility, as demonstrated in their pay. Associate vice presidents are also expected to take on more advocacy than commissioners.
“Local politics [are] a little more down-to-earth. More citizens are invested in it because it’s so ingrained in their daily life that they’re out delegating and they get really emotional about these things”
Stephanie Bertolo
Associate vice president
(Municipal Affairs)
Generally speaking, associate vice presidents are expected to work 12 to 14 hours a week, whereas commissioners were paid for six to 10 hours a week.
As associate vice president (Municipal Affairs), Bertolo works with the board of directors and the MSU’s education and advocacy team to improve student life on a local level.
In the past few months, Bertolo focused on advocating for better transit in Hamilton and a landlord licensing program. Alongside the vice president (Education), Bertolo is a part of city hall subcommittees and will give delegations at various municipal meetings on behalf of the MSU.
“[Local politics are] a little more down-to-earth. More citizens are invested in it because it’s so ingrained in their daily life that they’re out delegating and they get really emotional about these things,” said Bertolo. “You don’t really see that in the other forms of politics.”
Bertolo’s job is not without challenges, one of which being the constraints she feels as a student doing advocacy.
“You want to do so much, but you’re a little bit constrained by time. And that also factors into how you feel like you should be doing those things and that you should be representing the MSU, but you just can’t do everything,” said Bertolo.
Bertolo, however, is completely supported by the board of directors, who take on work when she is unavailable.
“I’m always in [MSU vice president (Education) Ryan Deshpande]’s office. He’s always available either in person or via Facebook Messenger, so that’s really great. I can rant to him about meetings that didn’t go my way,” said Bertolo. “[MSU president Chukky Ibe]’s also a really great help, and we really act as a team.”
Bertolo also often faces challenges when trying to dispel stereotypes the community holds about McMaster students.
“One of the main challenges is dealing with the rhetoric around students. A lot of people will start saying ‘I’m not anti-student but...’ and then say things that are anti-student and trying to communicate why these things are wrong and the perceptions people have of students are often not complete,” she said.
Bertolo is excited to see what future associate vice presidents will do with their role and how her role in particular will shape local politics.
“The [municipal] election’s coming up, which is exciting! The community likes to go on and on about how [students] don’t vote and I think this could be the year that we do,” she said.
The next batch of associate vice presidents will be hired sometime in second semester.
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Following a month marked by hundreds of missed hours of Hamilton Street Railway service, Environment Hamilton, a not-for-profit organization that advocates for environmental protection, held a meeting at Hamilton City Hall.
Environment Hamilton’s Emergency HSR Riders Meeting, which took place on Nov. 14, called for HSR users to voice their concerns about the transit system.
The meeting included presentations from a number of relevant speakers and a question and answer period.
Sara Mayo, a social planner from the Social Planning Research Council of Hamilton, spoke about the need for increased HSR funding in Hamilton.
While she noted that, between 2013 and 2016, there was a 15.1 per cent increase in municipal HSR funding, Mayo acknowledged that there are still areas to improve.
Ryan Deshpande, McMaster Students Union vice president (Education) and Stephanie Bertolo, MSU associate vice president (Municipal Affairs), spoke about McMaster students’ persisting problems with the HSR.
“For many of us — low-income students, international students, working students — the HSR is our only option for transportation.”
Stephanie Bertolo
MSU associate vice president
(Municipal Affairs)
“A commute from the mountain to McMaster can be anywhere from 40 minutes to over 1.5 hours.… Our students on the mountain and amalgamated parts of Hamilton are not properly served by the HSR,” said Bertolo. “For many of us — low-income students, international students, working students — the HSR is our only option for transportation.”
Deshpande proposed that Hamilton City Council make substantial investments into transit, arguing that the hiring of 58 additional bus drivers is only a short-term solution with the lack of funding being the core problem.
“We would like our contribution to the HSR system to be valued. More than that, we want every rider to get the HSR service they deserve from every part of this city,” said Deshpande.
Two other speakers included Don McLean, co-founder of Environment Hamilton, and Dennis Guy, the Manager of Customer Experience and Innovation at the HSR.
McLean talked about the nuances and expressed concerns of the HSR funding system and how residents who live in suburbs pay increasingly less compared to residents who live in the City of Hamilton.
Guy spoke about the 10-year local transit strategy and where the HSR sits under the status quo.
During the question and answer period, HSR users voiced a number of concerns with Hamilton transit.
One commonly highlighted issue was the inconsistency of wheelchair accessibility on the HSR.
Another critique concerned the HSR’s lack of accountability when it comes to racism and islamophobia within the HSR, particularly against Syrian and Somali newcomers.
Most of the complaints, however, stemmed from the fact that HSR drivers continue to be overworked.
During the question and answer period, Sheldon Albricht from Amalgamated Transit Union Local 107 stated that it is not uncommon for HSR drivers to work 10 hours without leaving their seat.
In addition to criticizing the HSR on a number of grounds, many attendees proposed ways to improve it.
One attendee, for instance, encouraged all councillors and HSR employees ride the HSR to and from work for a month.
Another attendee emphasized the need for drivers to receive more robust accessibility training.
Others suggested that the HSR schedule more breaks for drivers and encourage drivers to ensure that all seats are occupied before deeming their buses full.
The HSR’s most pressing problems won’t evaporate anytime soon. Nevertheless, users and MSU representatives are voicing their concerns and working to improve the transit system.
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As the News Editor, I have made the executive decision to cut the McMaster Students Union board of directors report card we typically print in the last issue of the Silhouette before the exam break. Instead, we will print a check-in where we consider how far the board has come with their year plans.
In previous years, the Silhouette published report cards where the staff evaluated the work the board has done so far in their term. As a part of this team last year, this process was fraught with issues.
First and foremost, the report card style unfairly favoured the vice president (Education) and vice president (Finance), as they are able to easily prove they have completed aspects of their year plans.
The vice president (Administration)’s job focuses on supporting employees and handling the day-to-day problems of the union, while the president focuses on long term projects. These are often difficult to prove and would result in lower marks relative to other board members, something I did not appreciate about the report card format.
In addition, we often run into gaps in knowledge that often cannot be filled without causing issues for those we ask. It is unfair of us to ask MSU employees to go on the record and speak against their superiors when their term is not yet over, but this was often what we had to do to confirm the board’s job performance. It was rare people would feel comfortable speaking out on the record, and I would not expect them to do so.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the report card format was a fantastic way to jolt the board to work harder toward their goals and bring attention to their successes and failures. But grading the board would either imply one board member is better than the others, lack the information needed to be accurate or ask people to disparage their superiors on the record. None of these are ideal but unless we can address each of these concerns, the board’s report card will always fall flat.
With this in mind, the board has to start addressing some of these concerns on their own. There should be a formalized system for MSU employees and members to address their concerns and then publicize this feedback. As paying members of the MSU, people deserve to know what the board is doing during their terms.
To their credit, the board does relay information about their work to the public via social media and their weekly President’s Page in every issue of the Silhouette. But without an open and anonymous forum to discuss the success of their work, it will be difficult to analyze their work.
The check-in will focus on what the board has done and hopefully this will spark a discussion about whether or not the board has achieved enough since their election.
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On Nov. 12, the McMaster Students Union Student Representative Assembly and Board of Directors convened in Gilmour Hall for a particularly lengthy meeting.
In addition to voting on the approval of a number of policy papers, the assembly engaged in a heated discussion about whether the Ontario Public Interest Research Group McMaster student fee should be sent to referendum.
OPIRG McMaster Board of Directors member Tanya Brkic delivered the presentation on the group. OPIRG is a not-for-profit student organization that advocates for environmental and social justice.
Irazuzta highlighted the $8.07 fee that students pay for the service, but did not provide a quantitative break down of how it is allocated.
She did, however, speak about the working groups that OPIRG funds, particularly the McMaster Indigenous Student Community Alliance, and the events that they hold.
After Irazuzta concluded her presentation, she received a flurry of questions from the Assembly.
It should be noted that while McMaster students have the capacity to opt out of paying the OPIRG fee, this option is not particularly advertised by OPIRG. The option is also not available online, as students have to visit the OPIRG office in order to opt-out of paying the fee.
When asked how the organization is advertising the opt-out option, a representative from OPIRG in attendance stated that it has advertised through The Silhouette’s website and in the McMaster University Student Centre.
Chukky Ibe, MSU President, stressed that OPIRG has yet to adopt the MSU’s recommendations from last year, which include concerns about OPIRG’s high level of administrative costs and the consensus that the opt-out process should be moved online.
When the discussion shifted back to the OPIRG discussion later in the meeting, Alex Wilson, SRA member (science), noted the ambiguity concerning what constitutes good advertising in the first place.
Deshpande reiterated the concern that a significant portion of the funding OPIRG collects from students goes towards administrative costs. Ibe critiqued the lack of undergraduate involvement in the organization.
To remedy the problem of insufficient advertising, an OPIRG representative suggested that the opt-out be moved online.
Another OPIRG representative suggested the formation of a working group between OPIRG and the MSU.
By the end of the meeting, most of the tension between the Assembly and OPIRG dissipated, as both the Assembly and OPIRG staff expressed interest in not sending the OPIRG fee to referendum.
Instead, Deshpande proposed that an Ad Hoc committee be established to review OPIRG and set long-term direction, which includes compliance with bylaw 5 — financial affairs.
The next SRA meeting will be held on Nov. 26 in Gilmour Hall. The motion to put the OPIRG fee to referendum, as per finance committee recommendations, will still be on the agenda.
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On Nov. 1, 11 part-time manager positions were posted on the McMaster Students Union employment page and will be up for two weeks until Nov. 15. Most of the jobs are usually put up later in the year, which calls into question whether the hiring board has considered the challenges this date change creates.
For those unfamiliar, a PTM is the coordinator or director of one of the 35 MSU services offered. Always a full-time student, a PTM is in charge of running the service and sets the tone for said service for the year.
The majority of the jobs put up earlier this month usually aren’t up this early in the year. Typically, PTM positions such as Queer Students Community Centre, the Student Health Education Centre and Diversity Services are hired early second semester.
It may seem like a minor shift to change to move up the hiring of these PTMs, but moving these particular jobs to Nov. with little promotion drastically hinders students’ ability to apply.
I’ve applied to work for a few services before, and the hiring process isn’t easy. Writing the cover letter that each job asks for is stressful and if you move on to the next hiring stage, you’re likely going to have to complete an assignment in addition to the interview.
While difficult, the hiring process usually lands during a relatively calm time for students. But no matter what faculty you’re in, Nov. is probably the busiest month of the semester. Hiring during Jan. has worked well for students as it ensured they had ample time to work on their applications.
That is, of course, if students are even aware these jobs are available. The MSU news page only promoted the job openings on Nov. 6 even though the positions had already been up for five days.
The MSU used their typical methods for promoting positions, but considering that the majority of the posts were delayed and that students were not expecting this sudden change in the first place, I’m wary that the typical efforts will be as effective.
Considering that most services have yet to hold their major events meant to promote their services, it’s unlikely that qualified students are aware that these jobs are available unless they personally know the current PTMs or coincidentally saw the recent social posts.
All of these factors will limit the number of applicants for each role, which is troubling considering how important services such as the QSCC, SHEC and Diversity Services are. The PTM will set the tone for what the services will do next year and without making the jobs accessible to all possible applicants, the MSU is limiting each of these services’ potential.
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with moving up the hiring date for some positions and I’m sure the higher-ups have their reasons. But without accounting for the student schedule and sufficient promotion, I’m concerned of how fair and efficient this round of hiring will be. With that said, I do wish all applicants good luck and hope that this editorial motivates those who weren’t aware of these jobs to apply.
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From Oct. 23 to Nov. 5., the McMaster Students Union surveyed students about their experiences with the Student Wellness Centre.
This MSU health services review was two years in the making, and was constructed by the University Affairs committee in collaboration with the Student Health Education Centre last year and taken up again by Ryan Deshpande, MSU vice president (Education).
On. Oct 23, the health services review survey was made available on the MSU website, giving students a platform to share their SWC experiences with the MSU.
The survey, in part, asked students about their demographic background. In the “Health Support Services” section of the survey, students were asked about their SWC experiences. Questions largely concerned wait times, the accessibility of SWC, blood test advisory, referrals to an off-campus health centre and the accessibility of counseling in the SWC.
In addition to facilitating this survey, the MSU held focus groups, giving students the opportunity to voice their opinions on student medical support at McMaster.
“The great thing about running this survey is that we can see what McMaster students are really having problems with and focus our advocacy accordingly.”
Ryan Deshpande
Vice president (Education)
McMaster Students Union
The results of the health services review will be used to inform the MSU’s stances on health and wellness.
“While all [our] policy papers are based on evidence and best practices, nothing is as valuable as large-scale input from McMaster students,” said Deshpande. “The great thing about running this survey is that we can see what McMaster students are really having problems with and focus our advocacy accordingly.”
Deshpande notes that the results of the survey will also be used to ensure that future advocacy efforts from MSU vice presidents (Education) and associate vice presidents of University Affairs are exclusively student-driven.
“We don’t want to fall into a trap where the opinions of a small group of students are guiding large-scale advocacy efforts, so it’s important we get the input of the student body,” said Deshpande.
However, the MSU health services review survey was not emailed to all students, being instead promoted heavily through social media channels such as Twitter.
Turnout rates from previous MSU surveys and elections suggest that students are increasingly disengaged from the union. It is unlikely that a significant portion of the student body participated in the MSU health services review.
Moreover, the fact that the survey was extended to Nov. 5, even though it was projected to finish on Nov. 3, implies that an insufficient number of students initially participated. According to the Your City Survey from 2016, they only received 484 responses, which is less than 2 per cent of the MSU population.
While the survey results may reshape MSU advocacy, they may continue to be unreflective of all students’ voices.
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By: Emile Shen
The Hamilton Railway Service missed the mark in Oct. To be precise, there were 1,400 to 1,600 hours of missed bus service in October leaving students, McMaster staff and faculty and Hamilton community members late for work, class and appointments. Across campus, students stood in mass crowds waiting for the 5, 51 and 1A.
There was an average of 23 cancelled buses per day in Oct. This problem cannot be blamed on the negligence of the Hamilton Railway Service alone but is symptomatic of more substantial labour relations and workplace burnout complications.
The cancelled bus problem is troubling for both the occupational safety for bus drivers who have to step up and continuously work overtime as well the failure of contract fulfilment between the McMaster Students Union and the HSR.
The issue arose from the high rate of employee absenteeism, 19 per cent, among drivers. In turn, other employees were asked to work up to 68 hours per week voluntarily. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 107, which represents all the bus drivers for the HSR says that this short-term solution is only leading to more burnout and illness amongst employees.
The director of transit for the HSR, Debbie Dalle Vedove, explained that the HSR’s troubles did not come to fruition overnight.
“The result of multiple issues that have been building over a long period of time,” she said.
The long-term issue is most accurately highlighted in the statistic that showed overtime costs due to employee absenteeism have doubled since 2012.
It is not surprising that poor service may lead much of the student body to believe that our ever-increasing bus fees are not being efficiently put to use with the HSR. Students voted overwhelmingly in favour of maintaining this level of bus service provision during the January referenda. As of the 2017-2018 academic year, each undergraduate student pays $187.67.
The bus agreement was only $138.65 per student two years ago. But within the next two years, MSU members can expect to pay $255.55 per student.
“It will take some time to address the root causes of the problem, but in the meantime we are implementing short-term actions to address the problem and provide reliable service,” said Dalle Vedove. “Service throughout the main corridor [serving McMaster] is expected to be improved as service hours are approved by council.”
It should be noted that the bus drivers’ union has previously called for Dalle Vedove to be fired.
On the advocacy side of the McMaster Students Union, vice president (Finance) Daniel “Tuba” D’Souza stated that, “We are currently completing our new agreement with the HSR and will be sure to reinforce that students expect reliable, efficient transit.”
The way forward must be sustainable for hard-working bus drivers, with the sizeable budgetary contribution of MSU students, and have a contingency plan if mass amounts of busses are cancelled again.
Given the large budgetary contribution MSU members make every year to the HSR, some of the key issues include creating more sustainable working conditions for drivers and a contingency plan if mass amounts of buses are cancelled again.
“[I would] like to apologize for the recent route cancellations that McMaster students have experienced. This is unacceptable,” said Dalle Vedove.
Hamilton city council voted on Nov. 8 to hire up to 58 more drivers.
HSR users may also attend the Emergency HSR Meeting on Nov. 14, held by Environment Hamilton, to talk about ways to improve the service.
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On the Sept. 28 editorial entitled, “The McMaster Students Union’s lack of communication,” it was noted that a significant chunk was cut out from the archives from the Sept. 24 Student Representative Assembly meeting. This has not changed. It remains just over an hour long, a fraction of a much longer meeting, and 17 minutes of that is a break.
The Oct. 28 meeting promised topics like Aidan Johnson and updates about ward 1, discussions about the smoking ban policy and the McMaster Marching Band. The archives have the ending 11 minutes and 51 seconds of the meeting available. The rest seems to be unrecoverable.
While going through the tweets made by those in attendance or watching at home and the News article in this week’s issue will be decent resources, specifically about Johnson’s appearance at the beginning, it still pales in comparison to having the primary document available.
There were a substantial number of issues that went into this appearance such as the city’s Indigenous justice policy, the transgender protocol, the LRT, the city’s attempts to adjust Hamilton’s ward boundaries and McMaster students experiencing breaking and entering thefts. A large portion of the discussion was directly about how you and other McMaster students interact with the city. The majority of the issues discussed will continue to be important points.
An unfortunate part about this live stream corrupting is that you no longer have any way to verify the entirety of the meeting. While you may be able to place your trust in whatever source you like when it comes to updates around campus, the only way you can verify is by checking other secondary documents.
If any of these issues come up again in the future, and the majority of them likely will as we move closer to the Hamilton municipal election taking place next year, we will not have the depth of information that we could have provided. Any number of points that were not documented at the time are now lost.
It is important to understand that mistakes can happen, and technology might be a bit finicky from time to time. A backup plan would have been nice. It is simply disappointing that this meeting, the one that radically altered how McMaster interacts with the city, is the one we have the least amount of access to.
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By: Takhliq Amir
The Student Representative Assembly by-election nomination period officially closed on Oct. 20, setting up the upcoming week for the campaigning period that will conclude with the election of three new SRA members.
Currently, there are two vacant seats on the SRA social sciences caucus and one seat on the kinesiology caucus. These seats had been filled in the 2016-2017 year when elections were initially held but have since been vacated by the elected representatives for various reasons. One of these representations, Kathleen Quinn, SRA Social Science, had been re-elected for her second term, but has stepped down due to other commitments.
“My co-op with the city of Hamilton was extended and I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. With the new board I was already making progress on my platform so it was a tough choice, but I had to go with the best opportunity for me and my career plans,” said Quinn.
With two empty seats on the Social Science caucus, however, there is arguably greater strain on the remaining members to adequately represent their faculty.
“As caucus leader, two open seats means we’re missing 40 per cent of our caucus. This means most of the decisions we make are usually tentative as we can’t set out to do a whole lot until we have a full caucus that can make decisions together,” said Uwais Patel, SRA (Social Sciences) caucus leader.
“The SRA is a leadership opportunity that is mostly self-driven; you get what you put into it. It means we have two less caucus members not fulfilling a platform, representing their faculty or supporting the caucus as a team,” he added.
He states that although such situations should not have adverse impacts in the long run, they do cause difficulty in managing responsibilities in the short term.
“We’ve had to put some of our projects on hold and re-evaluate some of the projects our former members had set out to accomplish. This ultimately means that we have less representation within the faculty and less support internally as a team. I believe the more voices you have, the more you can accomplish,” Patel said.
"The SRA provides support as it can through one-on-one [sessions] and setting firm deadlines, but one of the difficulties is that this organization relies heavily on volunteer labour."
Kathleen Quinn
Former SRA member
To compensate, Patel personally decided to run a stronger outreach and communications plan for the by-election in order to have greater outreach. On the MSU website, there is also a page by the SRA Social Science caucus that aims to smooth the election process for those running for a seat in this by-election.
Taking on greater responsibilities is not uncommon in the SRA, where representatives sit as active members on other MSU committees in addition to their own workload to effectively represent their constituents. However, this can also take time away from other extracurricular and work commitments and potentially present as a source of stress for the members, something that was acutely felt by Quinn.
“The SRA provides support as it can through one-on-one [sessions] and setting firm deadlines, but one of the difficulties is that this organization relies heavily on volunteer labour. I found it difficult to balance my job outside of the MSU, school and responsibilities I have as a mature student that others may not have. I think it does affect your mental health as there has been an expectation in the past to work beyond what one should to maintain balance,” she said.
Quinn suggested that there are options that the MSU should explore in lessening the workload of SRA members to ensure that they can balance their responsibilities with their academics or other commitments.
“I think that an honorarium, better compensation and accurate staff hours tracking is key. The culture needs to shift,” she said.
“Ambitious platforms are great, [but] they shouldn’t come at the expense of staff and volunteers… I think we need to discuss with the school how many basic services we are providing as a union and ask for more support,” Quinn added.
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