GSA Council Meeting January 10, 2018 Page 1 of 9

Council Notice of Meeting Date: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 Time: 4:00 P.M. – 6:00 P.M. Place: NH 3407

AGENDA

Time Item Action

4:00 pm 1. Chair’s Welcome and Opening Remarks -

2. Adoption of the Agenda (Changes, if applicable, will be noted with **)

For Approval

3. Declarations of Interest -

4:05 pm 4. Approval of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting

a. November 15, 2017 b. December 12, 2017 – Special Meeting

For Approval

5. Consent Items+

a. Board Reports b. Executive Reports c. Committee Reports

For Information

6. Council Membership Report For Information

7. University of Waterloo Committee Membership Report For Information

4:10 pm

8. Delegations a. Centre for Career Action

Jennifer Woodside, Katie Denomme, Kira Brushke,

and Erica Refling

For Information

4:35 pm 9. Discussion Items

a. CASA b. Cannabis on Campus

Discuss

5:00 pm 10. Update from the Board For Information

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5:15 pm

11. Motions a. Motion to ratify the University of Waterloo Committee

Appointments b. Motion to approve the Terms of Reference for the

Reform Working Group c. Motion to appoint members of Council to the Reform

Working Group

For Approval

5:30 pm 12. Members’ Discussion

13. Notices of Motion -

6:00 pm 14. Adjournment -

+ Consent Items are those items that in the judgment of the Executive Committee require the attention of

Council but that neither require nor imply a decision by Council on any procedural or substantial matter. By adopting Consent Items, Council formally receives information for entry into the minutes. Council may discuss Consent Items at its pleasure. Lindsey Daniels Chair of the Council GSA-UW January 3, 2018

DELEGATIONS

Centre for Career Action Jennifer Woodside, Katie Denomme, Kira Brushke, and Erica Refling The Centre for Career Action will be informing Council on tips for graduate students to help market themselves, how graduate students can transition to academia or industry once obtaining their degree, and what tools are available to graduate student now to help facilitate their career

RESOLUTIONS 11a Motion to ratify the University of Waterloo Committee Appointments

BIRT the GSA-UW Council ratify the appointments as detailed in the report for item 7.

11b Motion to approve the Terms of Reference for the Reform Working Group

BIRT the GSA-UW Council approve the Terms of Reference for the Reform Working Group.

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11c Motion to appoint members of Council to the Council Reform Working Group. BIRT the GSA-UW Council appoint the following six (6) members of Council to the Reform Working Group:

Applied Health Sciences:

Arts:

Engineering:

Environment:

Mathematics:

Science:

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Council Meeting Minutes

Wednesday January 10, 2018

4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

University of Waterloo, NH 3407

Meeting attendance and Chair confirms that quorum is present. The Chair calls the meeting to

order at 4:06 pm. Vogt will record the minutes.

1. Chair’s welcome and Happy New Year to all.

2. The Agenda is approved. (Tannous/Van Bommel)

3. No declarations

4. Approval of meeting minutes:

a) November 15, 2017 minutes are approved. (Tadayon/Spasov). Reid and Salman abstain.

b) December 12, 2017 special meeting minutes are approved. (Tadayon/Van Bommel) Reid

and Salman abstain.

5. Consent Items:

a) Board Report

b) Executive Reports:

c) Committee Reports

Move that Council receives for information and/or adopts the Consent Items. (Tannous/Wass) Carried. Reid opposed and Cyr, Tadayon, Spasov abstain.

Questions about the guidelines for reading week (fall and winter) from the President’s report

may need to be deferred because the President is out of town and sent regrets for this

meeting.

6. Council membership report.

Councillors Starting January 1, 2018

Mei Lin Chen, Systems Design Engineering

Sushma Dusowoth, French Studies

Archisman Ray, Chemical Engineering

Councillors Retiring December 31, 2017

Patricia Huynh, School of Environment, Resources, and Sustainability

Guratam Singh Ahulwalia, Chemical Engineering

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7. University Committee Report.

There are five vacancies for University committees. Councillors or graduate students in their

unit may send an email to the Council Chair expressing their interest.

8. Delegations.

a) Centre for Career Action presentation by Jennifer Woodside, Katie Denomme, Kira

Brushke, and Erica Refling. Link to their website: https://uwaterloo.ca/career-action/

Council heard a presentation on tips for graduate students to help market themselves, how

graduate students can transition to academia or industry once obtaining their degree, and

what tools are available to graduate student now to help facilitate their career

9. Discussion Items

a) CASA-

Some background information was shared for new councillors.

There has been much discussion and many meetings where the cost/benefit of CASA for

the GSA was discussed, and whether the GSA should continue to be a member or exit the

organization. The cost includes membership based on enrollment (about $16,000

annually) plus the expense of sending one delegate to the four nation-wide conferences,

which last about one week each. (approximately $8,000.) and more if there is a second

delegate attending any of the conferences, such as the lobby conference in Ottawa.

The deadline to make a decision without penalty (that is paying for another year’s

membership) is March 1, 2018. There was a general feeling that there is little value in

CASA as one of two autonomous graduate school members. The general sentiment is

that federal lobbying for graduate students is not effective through CASA due to high

undergraduate student numbers. There is no guarantee to address graduate student issues.

It may be more effective to lobby to government directly.

If the intent is to focus internally then take a few years to evaluate advocacy goals, and

consider opportunities and other ways to lobby the government.

Generally, Council would be comfortable to make the decision in February Council and

asks for some information to be provided in time for the February meeting.

Board and Council need to have agreement (Yes vote) in order to exit CASA.

b) Cannabis on Campus

July 1, 2018 cannabis will be legalized in Canada and UW will begin having discussions

about how this will be dealt with on this on campus. In order to be effective in

representing the graduate student view, the President seeks feedback from Councillors

and their constituents.

10. Update from the GSA Board

Board Chair shares some good work done by the Board.

Board agendas, minutes and documents are on line and distributed the agenda for the next

Board meeting,

Board, in applying due diligence by seeking expert opinion, hired a consultant to evaluate

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the Graduate House and look at creative strategies for the future,

There may be a change in time and or date to accommodate director schedules for this

term,

GSA financial investments were reviewed and moved to a new investment vehicle. The

GSA may count on some new investment earnings,

Board is ratifying the GSEF/GSA agreement,

Board will be voting to leave CASA and to effect this a decision must be agreed with

Council - both vote YES to leave,

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) may take place in early April. There will be an

annual report prepared for the AGM is where the accomplishments are heard.

Recruitment: The GSA is looking for directors, and interested graduate students should

ask questions of what being a director entails. The Board is working to expand

recruitment efforts, to ensure that grads in every faculty are aware.

Sharing documents: Operations Issues List (OIL), Board Workplan identifies

monthly/termly goal setting and tasks, OIL covers high priorities for the year.

Q&A:

-the Graduate House consultation was accounted for in the budget through the

Association operations fund.

-Councillors may be silent observers at the Board meetings, however if there is time at a

meeting, there could be an open forum to hear from Councillors.

-What is the GSA going to do with the information obtained from the Grad House

consultation? The information will be shared with staff and engage senior staff in

reviewing the findings and charting the course forward. The consultant’s investigation

will include a 360 degree assessment of the operations and this will be shared with staff.

11. Motions

Motion to ratify the University of Waterloo Committee Appointments.

BIRT the GSA-UW Council ratify the appointments of Naima Samuel to the

Student Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) and the Social Media Committee,

and of Rose Vogt to the Course Evaluation Committee. (Van Bommel/ Freure)

Carried Tadayon, Reid, DaSilva abstain.

Motion to approve the Terms of Reference for the Reform Working Group.

BIRT the GSA-UW Council approves the Terms of Reference for the Reform

working Group. (Van Bommel/Freure) Carried.

Motion to appoint members of Council to the Council Reform Working Group.

BIRT the GSA-UW Council appoints the following six (6) members of Council to

the Council Reform Working Group:

AHS: Julia Goyal

ARTS: Russ Freure

ENG: Kissan Mistry

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ENV: Clay Desilva

MATH: Chris Van Bommel

SCI: Jennifer Reid

(Freure/Van Bommel). Carried. Abstained: Reid, Tadayon, Kearney, Chen , and Salman.

Meeting is extended for 15 minutes by consensus.

12. Members’ Discussion

Reform:

A number of issues surfaced since the November Council meeting and the Board, with Council

are working very hard to have more collaboration and work together. Board is clear that

Council’s wishes will be expressed first and then Board will make final decisions based on them.

Board’s authority comes from policy one, the OCA, and other legal documents. Bylaw changes

would go through an approval process at a general meeting if needed. There are no proposals to

change bylaws at this time.

Councillors are acknowledged for spending time on these proposals and asking questions. This

is very important.

To be noted for the minutes, the Vice President and Board Chair have abstained from all voting

on Council.

A concern raised about the Studentcare Health and Dental Plan Survey and that information was

gathered about graduate students. How will this information be used and/or shared?

The GSA and Studentcare are seeking student opinion in order to improve service. Studentcare

already has student information in order to deliver health and dental benefits. The survey results

will be shared with the GSA in order to inform decisions about the service and gaps in coerage.

Policy 33-Ethical Behaviour Review Committee has posted a survey that should be completed by

March 5, 2018.

Councillors request some information and discussion about unionizing TAs for the next meeting.

The topic should be brought to CEC for March meeting.

13. Notice of Motion:

Potential changes to Policy 7- Council, to

-allow general members to speak at Council.

-identify directors to be non-voting Council members. (or similar)

14. Adjourned at 6:20 pm.

LD: rv

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Meeting Attendance record: (1 = present, 0 = absent, R = regrets sent, blank = no representative appointed.)

GSA-UW Council Attendance List

Total active members of Council 31

Quorum= 10 19 0 0 0

Potential Reformed Voting Structure

Winter 2017 -- Meeting dates = 10 15 21 11

Board/Officers

Jan Feb Mar Apr

Chair of Council Lindsey Daniels 1 1

FAC. DEPARTMENT

AHS AHS Dean/Social Work*

Kinesiology Daniel Martel 1 1

Rec & Leisure Naima Samuel 1 1

SPHHS Julia Goyal 1 1

ARTS Accounting and Finance Allan Wang 1 0

Anthropology

Classical Studies

Stratford Digital Exp. Innovation*

Economics

English Lang& Lit Jason Lajoie 1 0

Fine Arts

French Studies Sushma Dusowoth 1 1

German&Slavic

Global Governance Clay Dasilva 1 1

History Russ Freure 1 1

Peace & Conflict MPACS

Philosophy Chris Wass 1 1

Political Science MacKenzie Smith 1 0

Psychology Emily Cyr 1 1

Wat. Public Service, Master*

Religious Studies

Sociology&Legal Studies

Camb Architecture* Tanvi Kundiliwal (Nov/17) 1 0

ENG Chemical Archisman Ray 1 0

Civil & Env Jessica Achebe 1 R

Electrical & Computer Takin Tadayon 1 1

Management Sciences Alison Jennings 1 1

MBET

Mech & Mechatronics

Kissan Mistry

1 1

Systems Design Mei Lin Chen 1 1

ENV Geography and Env. Mgmt Vicky Vanthof 1 0

School of Planning Christopher Bell 1 R

SEED

SERS Aravind Kundurpi 1 0

MATH Math Dean

Applied Mathematics Josh Thompson 1 R

Combinatorics & Opt Chris van Bommel 1 1

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Computer Science Camilo Andres Munos 1 0

Pure Mathematics John Michael Sawatzky 1 1

Stats & Actuarial Sci Danqiao Guo 1 1

SCI Biology Emilie Spasov 1 1

Chemistry

Earth & Env Sciences Maria Digaletos 1 0

Physics and Astronomy Jennifer Reid 1 1

Optometry Dania Abuleil 1 1

Kit. School of Pharmacy*

THEO Catholic Thought

AHS AHS Dean/Social Work*

Non- At-Large (IQC) Daniel Grimmer 1

Voting General Manager, S/T Rose Vogt 1

Gov. Support Staff JJ Mathews

Officers President Robert Bruce R

Vice President Max Salman 1

Board Chair Norman Kearney 1

Director Matthew Morison R

Director Richard O'Brien

Director Serxho Selmani

Director Ramy Tannous 1

Director Beth Timmers R

Director Evan Andrews

Director Sondra Eger

Director Allison Sachs R

Director Amanda Joynt

Director Julie Cook