The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) is a council composed of a body of students elected by their peers, who are in charge of running the Acadia Students’ Union. The Council meets weekly on Wednesdays at 5:00 PM in the Beveridge Forum which is located off of the Michener Lounge in the old Students’ Union Building (SUB). Every meeting is open to the public and students are encouraged to attend the meetings to learn more about the decisions being made on their behalf.
On November 6th council had a short meeting comprised of various agenda topics. ASU President, Kyle Vandertoorn, gave a momentary update on the UPass Moratorium and introduced the Council Pairings Program to council. Another council position was filled during this meeting and Lynn Verheul, Community Relations Representative debriefed the council regarding her meeting with the Compliance Officer of the Town of Wolfville. Program proposals and reminders were announced along with a few other announcements that closed out the meeting.
UPass Moratorium Update
On October 17th, President Kyle Vandertoorn proposed an immediate moratorium be placed on UPass referendums unless there is an outstanding amount of evidence that if the UPass goes to referendum it will for sure be passed. The moratorium is still in discussion in governance and will be brought to council soon.
Vandertoorn had originally stated the reasoning behind the moratorium was due to the amount of time and money the ASU had invested in the UPass and it ended up being turned down by the student body. Sustainability Representative Max Abu-Laban had previously asked to see exactly how much time and money went into the UPass. Vandertoorn presented a document comprised of all the details to council this meeting.
This document states the ASU invested approximately 90 hours on the UPass with $3621 spent meeting and dealing with the possibility of the UPass becoming reality. In addition, the document included invoices with the ASU Lawyer that were specifically about the UPass for $300 and $880.
Compliance Officer Meeting Debrief
Last week Lynn Verheul, Community Relations Representative met with the Town of Wolfville’s Compliance Officer, Blair MacMurtery. During this meeting Verheul details that MacMurtery expressed two major events that have dissatisfied the town: Cheaton and Homecoming. MacMurtery told Verheul that there were too many people gathering on off-campus locations causing concern for the number of students intoxicated on a singular property. He noted there was a Red Bull tent at one location causing further concern regarding the drink being mixed with alcohol or drugs.
Vandertoorn said that the ASU does put on the Backyard Bash as a deterrent for students partying off campus. She went on to say that the ASU has continually made efforts to keep students safe on these event days but cannot control students who wish to leave campus as that is the RCMP’s jurisdiction.
Verheul finished by sharing that MacMurtery mentioned a new nuisance by-law that is in effect concerning being respectful of properties and not using the bathroom outside.
Book-Store Advisory Council
Lynn Verheul, Community Relations Representative volunteered to be put on the Book-Store Advisory Council and was approved by council.
Council Pairings Program
Vanessa Pearson, Coordinator in Administrative Services with the Town of Wolfville, informed Vandertoorn of a program in 2017 where the SRC and Town of Wolfville came together for a pairing program. Pearson wants to try and make this program happen again which would entail members of council being paired with members of the Town Council in order to gain insight into each other’s positions.
Vandertoorn told Pearson she would bring this matter forward to council. The council agreed on needing further information and clarification and this matter was deferred until the next meeting.
Announcements
Science Senator Nicole Kirkpatrick will be holding a Science Research Showcase in the Axe Bar & Grill on Tuesday, November 12th from 6:30-8:00pm. Kirkpatrick expressed that “This event is intended for students interested in eventually pursuing Honours in the future and would like to see students’ point of view on their experiences and their research”. There will be honours students there to discuss their actual research and the highs and lows of their experiences.
Matthew Penney, Graduate Studies Senator will be hosting a Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s (CGS-M) Writing Workshop on November 12th from 3:00-5:00pm in Patterson Hall room 216. This event will be two hours long designed to help students who are planning to apply for the Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s (CGS-M) for Natural Science & Engineering Research Council (NSERC) or Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Penney stated that “Facilitators for both research council will present twenty-minute talks about how to strengthen wording for research proposals and outlines”.
There will be no SRC meeting next week as three executive members will be at a conference in Halifax.
So as far as Cheaton and Homecoming go, the SRC just doesn’t plan to do anything to try and curb the ridiculous amounts of drunken partying that end up with people not wanting to bother to leave their house or whole streets that I can’t walk my dog down for the broken glass afterwards? Cool.
What sort of measures do you want the student union to take? The parties are hosted off campus without the student unions’ involvement. Students are adults and have the right to leave campus whenever they please, as they should. It is the RCMP who have the job of shutting down parties if they break the law.
Also, when you choose to live in a university town you also choose to live amongst a large amount of young people. This means you are going to have to deal with some extent of loudness/partying as it is never going to go away no matter how much it is complained about or how many attempts are made to crack down on it. It is as futile as complaining about the smell in a mill town or the constant influx of tourists in a resort town.