*Disclaimer: The following report are my  personal views, interpretations of & opinions on SRA meetings and the organizational structure of the MSU. They should not be constituted as the official viewpoint of the MSU or SRA in general. I also apologize in advance for any factual accuracies in my report.————————————————————————————-SRA Updates & Summaries

BY HUZAIFA SAEED, SRA SOCIAL SCIENCES

So, as a part of my unusually massive election platform in the October By-elections I promised regular notes/updates regarding what is going on in the MSU world. I haven’t been able to do so because of a number of reasons, I have compiled a brief summary of the past few meetings as well as links to their draft minutes.

SRA 9H October 18th 2009:Not much on note happened really. One of the shortest meetings of the year at less then an hour. It was just a long list of various committees & Services of the MSU presenting. QSCC,Mac Green, House Leader, EB, UA Committee, EA Committee and the President Vishal Tiwari informing us of his work with the Mac Health Forum as well as PACBIC (President’s Advisory Committee on Inclusive Community). We also amended a few bylaws and Operation Policies.

SRA 9I November 1st:This meeting isn’t in the minutes yet, hence I won’t be able to initiate a memory recall until they release the document. There was a usual assortment of reports by SHEC, SCSN, MarMor, PAC as well as a few bylaw changes.

The main point of note however was the release of auditors statements of the overall MSU finances by a professional accounting firm. As you might/might not know the MSU hasn’t had an entirely good year as far as finances are concerned. They recorded a 400k deficit last March and on paper atleast there appears to be another 376,000 “accounting deficit”.

There are a number of reasons for that, however this deficit was also in part due:

The deduction of approx 375k from the Capital account for renovating Quarters Bar & Pub

The Marmor, the McMaster yearbook you receive at the time of graduation had collected a back log of issues that needed to be published and sent out.

Apparently, we had failed to pay the OMBUDS Office their regular annual fee for a few years and hence had to pay $140k this year.

Undercovers (The MSU used book exchange service) didn’t do all that well financially since it is based on a flawed and risky revenue system. As things stand the BOD has decided to scrap the service come next year.

Underground Print & Media didn’t do as well financially as it potentially can if they tap into & advertise their design department better (according to the view of a few knowledgeable SRA/MSU members)

Quarters obviously recorded a 376k operating loss.

The Silhouette had a negative expenditure over revenue outcome of $45,000

MSU Shortstop didn’t do all that well either. Part of it was because they somehow managed too lose $15,000 worth of stock in the backroom that was later found.

The Dental Plan actually managed to have a recognized $45,000 deficit.

In the list of negatives there still were a few positives like the Union Market, Compass, Day Care, Clubs, CFMU who managed to draw a positive revenue.

The Entire Draft Report Document can be found here.The Vice President Finance’s commentary can be found here.

On a random note the Vice President Education’s bi annual report is here.

So what can be done?

Now given the bleak report, there must be concerns as to what can be done & why the financial situation at MSU is looking this bleak; I only wish I could analyze it better for you guys but I have a major weakness when it comes to finances/accounting.

The MSU has recently hired a comptroller (accountant) to look after our accounts and make sure there are no errors in that sector. However, there still are independent organizational issues present in a number of services as far as staffing, advertisement, service and management is concerned. It is understandable when we consider the fact that a number of these services are run by part time student managers and employ regular everyday students just like you. Yet there are still a few things that can be improved on at the micro level according to the view of a number older SRA and MSU members that I have been conversing with since the budget release.One thing I brought up in the last meeting myself during question period was the issue of over staffing at 1280, Undercovers and Underground during off peak hours; however the SRA or the BOD have not much of an autonomy over the everyday running of these services, however I did

get an assurance that they are aware of these issues and do their best to inform the Managers on a regular basis.

Similarly “budgeting” is an important aspect of any organizations financial structure; to the best of my knowledge the corporate charter of MSU requires a budget review to be completed before December. However due to unknown reasons the MSU hasn’t had a budget review for the last 4-5 years. The VP Finance did promise a budget review during his election’s platform and I have hence publicly inquired about that issue in the last two meetings. According to current schedule the SRA Finance Committee is supposed to complete a budget review by January.

I only wish that I could provide a more substantive list of solutions to our problems, however the financial scenario is an intricate result of connections between the MSU full time staff, student part time managers with various levels of competence, autonomous services, arguably flawed financial structure the Board Of Directors and every single staff member. It is unfair and difficult to figure out and point the finger on one body within this structure. However, it is our union, the students are equal owners of every single item on the MSU structure. If anyone reading this has any suggestions or anecdotal evidence on what some of the issues are, feel free to contact me and I will make sure I forward them to the SRA and Board Of Directors.

SRA 9J November 15thAnother short meeting. The usual array of reports by Maroons, Bylaws, EFRT, Services and changing an operating policy. We also held elections for MSU positions on the Services and University Affairs committee. The MSU President also presented a bi annual report and was critically questioned over his platform points and some of his work so far.

SRA 9K November 29thThere was a usual array of reports by SWHAT, Operations, Mac BreadBin, Finance Committee and Vice President Administration. We officially ratified a list of clubs for January, however there was an hour long debate during this motion on the merits of Mac Investment club; A large and well run independent club created by commerce students to pool their money together and invest in the market. On paper it seems like a great idea and learning initiative however there was an issue. The Clubs Administrator and a few members of the assembly were of the belief that since there is a possibility of making a profit, it would go against the official MSU policy against “profit making” for MSU clubs. This debate was opposed by a few other members of the SRA and the individual representative from Mac Investment club. Eventually the club was not ratified and that specific policy was sent to Services Committee for review.

There was however a distinct shift in the overall atmosphere within the SRA. In the previous few meetings there was hardly any activity from most members of the assembly during question period (a period where any SRA or MSU member is free to ask questions to any member of the assembly) or during most reports. During this question period however there were well over 20 questions and a couple of SRA members(including myself) even managed to

reach our allowed questions quota. The debate turned heated around the question of MSU finances and the delay in the annual budget review as well as accessibility to Financial documents for regular everyday MSU members. While in retrospect there were both Pro’s and Con’s to this sudden outbreak of assembly activity, it is good to see the assembly members finally beginning to actively debate (even if it goes in circles at times).

On a sidenote our Vice President Education, Chris Martin, and External Affairs Commissioner, Aaron Wade, were at OUSA Lobby Convention in Ottawa in November. OUSA is a collaboration of Ontario universities for lobbying purposes. They had a positive experience meeting with and getting promises and feedback from various MP’s and Government Education Ministry Officials. OUSA has a few Ambitious goals(www.OUSA.ca) as a lobbying organization, however from what he gathered the VP Ed feels as if they are doable.

December 6th: This was a short & extra meeting called primarily to ratify the changes to the MSU constitution. The MSU constitution is the most important document for the MSU and even more important the bylaws. It hadn’t been updated for a while and due to effective work by the Bylaws & Procedures committee we had a list of changes to it at this meeting. Most of the changes were stylistic and semantic but there was discussion here and there on the changes to BOD recall procedures. The most Important change from this meeting was the fact that the position of Vice President Administration is now open to all MSU members and you don’t need to be elected to the SRA to run for VP Admin. Come next March anyone with experience in managing businesses or services and employees is highly recommended to run!

The other important issue was the passing of a motion that referred to the Space Audit committee the need for a Shared Prayer space on campus. The motion was passed despite a few concerns like: -The VP Admin who was formerly on Space Audit stated that there is no actual space on campus for shared prayer space and the possible venue of retail space currently occupied by Undercovers(which is most likely to close down next year) isn’t appropriate for a prayer space. A concern I for example had was that we should consult and take into account the views of different religious clubs before we try and find a space like this, being a member of MSA I have a good feeling that a number of Muslim people will not be comfortable praying in a room where there are pictures/idols from other faiths and that given their large turnout at prayers they are actually looking for a bigger space then their current office at Wentworth Hall.

Nevertheless the motion passed and the space audit committee will be looking into it next year, if anyone from any religious background has any concerns I’ll be happy to take them to Space Audit.

As for my personal platform points. I have completed the electrionic voting research report and myself and the Chief Returning Officer will be presenting it next year at the January 10th SRA meeting.

I have been conducting further research into course registration systems at other Canadian Universities. I have touched base with economic’s experimental research professors and will be starting working on the 1280 consumer preference experiment design next term when they come off their research leave.

That concludes my long due report. I apologize in advance if there are any factual inaccuracies or errors in analyzing a few situations. Please feel free to point out any mistakes!

As I mentioned before, finances are my Achilles heel, but I am doing my best to overcome that by regularly asking questions and listening to various SRA/MSU members as well as attending finance committee meetings.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to share them and I will do my best to answer them or guide you to the right resource!

In Solidarity,

Huzaifa SaeedSRA Social Sciences.

p.s: MSU financial statements as of October 31st 2009 can be found here http://www.mediafire.com/?tjxjzfwemdw courtesy of SRA Engineering Matt Wright. They are also somewhere on the MSU Website

p.p.s: There was subsequent discussion on a few areas of this note: I would recommend you to follow up on it here & Here