On Jan. 31, the Science Undergraduate Society’s (SUS) General Council convened to deliberate proposed amendments to the SUS Clubs & Services by-laws and constitution. Council also discussed the society’s upcoming social events, including the SUS 25th anniversary gala and SUS Academia Week.
Council amends Clubs & Services by-laws
SUS President Jasmine Leung proposed a motion amending the SUS constitution and Clubs & Services by-laws. These amendments included removing the offices of Executive Revenue Officer (ERO) and Executor of Clubs and Services (ECS), and creating the office of Vice-President (VP) Sustainability. This motion passed.
The office of ECS, which is currently in charge of fostering relationships between SUS and its affiliated clubs, will be removed from the executive committee on May 1.
“This is the first year that we’ve had a full-time ECS as an SUS executive, and while the work that they’ve done has been super valuable and necessary, we’ve come to the conclusion that, after the initial set up of the portfolio, the day-to-day work is not large enough to constitute an entire portfolio,” Leung said.
After consultations with the current and former SUS VP Communications, Leung decided that the ECS’ work is better suited as part of that portfolio.
“[The current and former VP Communications] think that it would make for a reasonable addition to [the VP Communications] portfolio, given that the current VP Communications liaises a lot with the computer task force and with clubs and services already,” Leung said.
The ERO, who acts as the signing officer for SUS sponsorship deals, has historically had far more responsibilities during the summer months than during the academic year. For this reason, Leung proposed that the position be moved to the portfolio of the VP External, whose work begins in the summer.
“We think that if this position were moved under the VP External, given the definition of the VP External, we think that they, in collaboration with whatever person they assign the role of taking care of sponsorship, would more efficiently manage [the job],” Leung said.
The newly-created VP Sustainability portfolio will manage a number of committees currently within the VP External’s portfolio, so as to allow the VP External to dedicate more time to other mandates.
“The VP Sustainability will continue to take care of the Equity Committee, the SUS Environmental Committee, and SUS mental health committee,” Leung said. “Those committees and this portfolio in general are necessary and highly valuable to the Society, and we have no intention of redacting any of those [commitments].”
For the most part, councillors responded well to the proposed amendments.
“I’m glad that we’re passing this, and I think that everything that’s being passed is being done with the best of intentions and is moving SUS in the right direction,” Executive Administrator Joseph DeCunha said.
Councillors present updates on upcoming social events
Council discussed a number of its upcoming social events, most notably the SUS’ 25th anniversay gala. The event has now been moved back a day to Feb. 9 to avoid overlap with the McGill Biology Student Union’s (MBSU) Darwin Day semi-formal, and will be held at Crew Collective & Café.
VP Academic Ellie Joung also reminded Council of SUS Academia Week, which will feature a number of free science and research-related events between Feb. 5 and 9.
“We have a talk from Dr. [Victoria] Kaspi on cosmology, a workshop on [The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada] NSERC funding for research abroad, and a talk on child psychiatry, [and a number of] lab tours,” Joung said.
VP Internal Soud Kharusi presented new details regarding the SUS ski trip, which will be held on the evening of Feb. 17 for Nuit Blanche. Tickets for Science and Non-Science students will be $50 and $65, respectively.
SUS General Council will next meet on Feb. 14.
