With only one motion up for discussion, the September 10th meeting of AUSU Council was rather short. All current councillors except Corrina Green were present. Corrina’s absence was due to her being on a plane to Alberta to meet with the AU Board of Governors at their orientation meeting.
Also in attendance were two observers, and myself. While I think more students should be taking an interest in what this Council is doing, it’s good to see the number of observers slowly climbing.
The only motion on the table was to approve a draw from AUSU’s reserves of $5,000 to hire a consultant who will be assisting AUSU with developing a succession plan for Council, including AUSU staff, and who will also be ensuring that AUSU executive pay is reasonable when compared with other student organizations.
Concerns were raised as to whether the consultant was an expert with student union issues, and it was explained that while the firm does not specialize in student union issues, they are a firm with a broad scope involving all aspects of personnel management.
After some further discussion, Council approved the draw unanimously.
In the reports from the executives and committees, there was some discussion of a special meeting of the General Faculties Council (which represents most of the professors and tutors of AU) where a motion was brought forward to essentially stop the roll out of the call-centre project. This motion was put on hold, however, and since then amendments have been made to soften the position of the faculty to slowing the process down and ensuring that all stakeholders are fully consulted about the new model.
Also discussed was whether AUSU will be joining with any external lobby groups such as the Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS). Initial meetings with the group are scheduled for late September or early October.
The Awards Committee report noted that there has been a lot of applications for the AUSU e-reader bursary, as well as a few computer bursaries. A lot of discussion ensued over the development of AUSU’s online application system and what kind of savings it would bring for AUSU as a whole.
For those wondering about the AUSU Health Plan, timelines on the project have been slightly delayed, but we are assured that both AU and the insurance provider are putting every effort in to get it up and running ASAP.
