What have you done this summer?
“I spent time working on new initiatives, improving our internal documentation/structures, and finding space for student groups on campus. Regarding new initiatives, I reached out to over 70 student body presidents across Canada and the US to learn about what initiatives they have at their schools [....] Our internal documentation was severely outdated, I spent time collecting and verifying numerous sessions of the Board of Directors and Legislative Councils from previous years [....] Finally, [VP Student Life Cody Esterle and I] spent significant time finding building space on campus. Working with [campus groups…], we are hoping to mitigate the impact of not having a SSMU building.”
What are you working on now?
“Two of [SSMU’s new] committees include the Fall Reading Week Committee and Governance Reform Committee [....] We’re hoping to engage on the fall reading week conversation more seriously than what was done in previous years [....We’re working on] the Governance Reform Committee, which VP University Affairs Jacob Shapiro has committed significant time to. We’re hoping to critically evaluate SSMU’s governance structures and work on reforming the structure of groups like the Board of Directors.”
What challenges do you foresee this year?
“The biggest challenge for this year is the building closure. Not having a building significantly hurts clubs, services, and operations such as Gerts. Knowing this, [Cody Esterle and I] have spent a lot of our time [...] helping groups get additional space on campus. We’ll continue to put our time into helping out clubs and services as much as we can so that student life on campus is not severely impacted.”
What have you done this summer?
“Firstly, I spent time both reading key documents and policies, and meeting different McGill staff and administrators [....] Secondly, I set priorities with Senators and UA staff. Thirdly, I began working on my top two goals: setting up a intergenerational homeshare pilot project and creating resources to help facilitate more effective advocacy work by senators and undergraduates sitting on university committees. Fourthly, a number of issues arose over the summer, and I played a supporting role in [...keeping] up the pressure after the walkout in April as well as in helping to lay the groundwork for the successful Divest vote at Senate.”
What are you working on now?
“I am now working on understanding whether [my proposed Satisfactory-Unsatisfactory grading scheme is] feasible to implement [....] We have received initial interest in the Associate Senate position, and I have been working on setting that up, as it will help build our capacity and institutional memory at Senate. I have been working to further past work on Fall Reading Week, Open Educational Resources, and increasing university support for students from [foster] care.”
What challenges do you foresee this year?
“One large challenge that I see for this year relates to student consultation. The Provost’s Office is currently conducting a review of the scope and orientation of Office of the Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning). The committee was supposed to finish its work in June; however, its work is still not complete and, as such, students are rather in the dark [....] We also saw major changes to Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) announced over the summer and with little student consultation.”
What have you done this summer?
“I have worked on a game plan to increase financial literacy among the membership of SSMU, especially among clubs and services. Currently, many students are left in the dark [with regard to] how to approach SSMU finances. To combat this issue, I have created an accounting guide to demystify the compliance process of the accounting department and to teach clubs and services how to budget accordingly. In the same vein, I am working on finance templates to give clubs and services guidelines to approach their budget. I helped facilitate the club bank transition over the summer and reviewed the internal finance and governance controls for clubs to find methods to improve on them. I developed a new funding process and help streamline the backend workflow with my funding commissioners.”
What are you working on now?
“I am working on the club bank transition to provide clubs with online banking functionalities through renegotiating a new bank agreement. The most pressing issue on my agenda is to minimize incurred expenses given the building closure [and delayed opening] and its impact on the investment portfolio. One of the way[s] to minimize the impact is to optimize the cash use of other departments that aren’t directly impacted by SSMU’s operating budget. I am also reevaluating the internal accounting procedures with the controller to find ways to improve on it such as the accounting forms. I am also recommissioning the Financial Ethics Committee and developing a Purchase/Investment Policy to replace the one that expired.”
What challenges do you foresee this year?
“The lack of revenue from our operations and space accommodation for student groups will be the biggest roadblock ahead. Furthermore, I anticipate that centralizing processes and structure [...] with minimum backlash will be difficult, but it’s something that fundamentally needs to [be overhauled to] foster long-term financial sustainability. Other challenges will be finding new software that will synergize with developing better workflow and internal controls [...This] will be a massive endeavour that I hope my successors will take up in my footsteps.”
What have you done this summer?
“I took on a lot of the communication with both our clubs and within SSMU, [and also with our banks]. [We’ve been looking] to find space, and I've coordinated with all of our student groups to [hear] their needs [....] I also worked [...] to clean up our list of clubs and make sure we had an updated list of everything, and also worked [...] on the new interface/login system they are developing for clubs. Finally, [I worked on] Activities Night. The change of locations was quite a challenge, [and,] this year [,] I attempted to organize it a bit more by assigning tables and publishing a set floor plan with all of the groups, as well as creating an entirely new layout and organization of the tables [....] I hope everyone enjoyed the event!”
What are you working on now?
“Right now, my main priority is building space. I want to make sure that as many groups as possible can function and be successful this year. We also have mental illness awareness week at the end of the month [...] being organized for the first time, which is very exciting. Additionally, I've been working with Rez Life to set up an event in residences centered around mental health throughout the year.”
What challenges do you foresee this year?
“I think the [building closure] is extremely challenging, it brings on a lot of unforeseen labour and organization around my portfolio, and has definitely gotten in the way of some of the projects I wish I would've had the time to work on this summer.”
Vice-President External Marina Cupido did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication, but a report to Council dated Sept. 13 detailed their activities thus far.
“Marina Cupido’s work has involved numerous projects and initiatives related to external and community affairs, working with on-campus groups like Divest McGill, Elections SSMU, and Rad Frosh. They were a point of contact with SSMU for ongoing campus initiatives like the Taskforce on Renaming and Commemoration, the Ad Hoc Senate Committee on Teaching Staff-Student Intimate Relationships, and the Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support, and Education.” “[Cupido] has also coordinated with other SSMU-led research initiatives into harmful military technology and austerity, and liaised between SSMU and provincial student unions like UÉQ and AVÉQ.”
Cupido’s complete council report can be found here.
What have you done this summer?
“I oversaw Crash Pad, a service that allows froshies who live far from campus to sleep in a safe place on campus [....] Additionally, I launched a new [alcohol-free] Frosh event: a free night of laser tag and snacks [....] I also spearheaded SSMU's first-ever participation in the Montreal Pride Parade (and expressed my incredulity that it took this long for us to march) [...and] a free screening of Deadpool 2 on Lower Field, complete with free food!”
What are you working on now?
“There's so much happening! [....] The First Year Council (FYC) elections are imminent, the centralized calendar (one of my platform promises) is underway, the listservs are thriving, [and] my policy on VIP culture at SSMU events is going to [Legislative] Council [....] As co-chair of the McGill Alumni-Student Engagement Council and a member of the Life After Your Degree Committee, I'm working with the McGill Alumni Association to plan networking and professional development events and to create a stronger link between students and alumni. I'm excited to implement [...] a new social media strategy that will highlight the faces of SSMU.”
What challenges do you foresee this year?
“History shows that the SSMU executive is incredibly prone to internal turmoil. When you spend upwards of 70 hours a week in a role, working remarkably closely with five other passionate people (in a high-stress, politically-charged environment), it can feel like intense discord and animosity is inevitable. That said, I believe that our executive entered office acutely aware of this risk; we've worked hard to nip any potential interpersonal issues in the bud and we've set clear ground rules for how we will conduct ourselves this year.”
A previous version of this article placed Jacob Shapiro’s response in Tre Mansdoerfer’s section. The Tribune regrets this error.