The Athenaeum

Tag: ASU By-Elections

  • SRC Decoded: What You Missed October 14th, 2020

    SRC Decoded: What You Missed October 14th, 2020

    The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) is the independent organizational body that represents the students of Acadia. More than 50 years old, the SRC provides representation and communication for students at Acadia and manages the ASU. There are many positions involved in the SRC, even some that need feeling! Attendance at the meeting this week was the executive, made up of the President, VP Academic and External, VP Finance, VP Events and Promotions and VP Student Life (Robbie Holmes). Also in attendance were the Faculty Senators, the Diversity and Inclusion Representative, and Chairperson, who ran the meeting.

    The SRC met online for their weekly meeting this Wednesday; after approving the meeting’s agenda and confirming no conflicts of interest, the meeting begun. Chairperson Molly Anderson reviewed the minutes of the previous meeting and declared that there were no presentations, tables of matters, reports to council, committee reports, and no notices of motion to be had.

    ASU By-Election

    The next topic of conversation was the ASU By-Election. Carried over from last week, Anderson noted that the nominations started the next day (October 14) so information needed to go out to the students. As previously mentioned, there are some positions open to students: Councillors, Community Relations Representative and First Year Representative. Anderson stressed the importance of ensuring this information gets out to first-year students as they can be harder to reach. Anderson also mentioned the importance of filling those seats on Council as Councillors help a lot with things like general planning and programming. Robbie Holmes, VP Student Life, then explained that Polly Leonard, the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer of the university, had suggested to him that this information be sent out through the Wong Centre as well as through the ASU. She reasoned that this would be a more effective way to reach Acadia’s international students. She also encouraged the SRC to be mindful that the language it uses is always inclusive.

    To run for the SRC positions, you must get 25 signatures from Union Members and send that information to Danish Mohammed ([email protected]). For further information, visit @acadiastudents on Instagram or email Danish through the email given above.

    Referendum Questions

    Finishing up with the elections, the council moved on the talked about the yes/no referendum questions that were created in last week’s meeting which needed to be put to motion (I.e. decided whether or not to pass them). No member had any questions or concerns, so the first question was read: Do you support an amendment to the section of ASU constitution that reads, “A quorum, for a general meeting of the union, shall be 2% of the membership of the union or 100 members of the union, whichever is larger”? The motion was passed, and this question will be added to the ballot of the by-election this fall. The SRC will need to approval of two-thirds of the voter must turn out to pass this motion.

    The Hiring Board is Hiring

    It was announced that the hiring board has vacant seats for council members. Anderson explained that although the SRC had planned to wait until their new Councillors had been elected to fill those seats, there has been interest in those positions so and a hiring process will have to run before then. A non-executive member of the council will need to fill the hiring position (not to be confused with the positions on the hiring board), at least temporarily, so that interviews for those positions can be held. Lara Hartman, Faculty of Arts Senator, volunteered to fill that position for the time being and the council approved that motion.

    Announcements

    MacNeil began by announcing that he had invited Polly Leonard to present to and hopefully give a sort of workshop to the SRC. MacNeil thinks that this would be a good way to ensure that as student representatives, SRC is fulfilling their jobs equitably and with effective representation. Hartman suggested MacNeil to Leonard about doing a panel during this training, similar to the training that the Residence Assistants received, to allow not only Leonard, but also other groups to share their own voices. MacNeil went on the explain that this training will be between 30 minutes- 1 hour and will be recorded so it can also be viewed by societies and clubs during their training. MacNeil proceeded to make a second announcement regarding the Co-Op Program: there will be a presentation by the VP of the alumni association and a co-op student researcher to discuss work they have completed on a career services centre at Acadia. This presentation is the outcome of an ongoing mission between the ASU and the Alumni Association to investigate and add recommendations to the “abominable” lack of career services and support that Acadia gives to its students. The biggest recommendation was to form a more effective Career Services Centre at Acadia which gives students more resources and support so they can successfully enter into careers.

    Wrapping up the meeting, President Brendan MacNeil encouraged his fellow council members to have a “safe and responsible” homecoming and advised them and their peers to “consume safely and responsibly”.

    Happy Homecoming!

  • SRC Decoded: What You Missed November 20th

    SRC Decoded: What You Missed November 20th

    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 (ASU). 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.

    This Wednesday, the SRC received a presentation regarding the ASU Act of Incorporation, was given a Fall By-Election Report and quick update on the UPass Moratorium. Additionally, members of council proposed events, welcomed new members and gave various announcements.

    ASU Act of Incorporation

     The ASU was given a presentation by Ian Morrison, former General Manager, regarding the ASU Act of Incorporation. The presentation began with some background on the existing act which was put into effect on March 27th, 1967. The existing act allowed the ASU to be formed and to create bylaws that are not consistent with the provincial bylaws. Simply, Morrison put, this act outlines what the ASU and SRC can and cannot do. However, Morrison highlighted a few problems found within the Act of Incorporation including that the act states that officers must be elected but executive officers can be appointed, and that the ASU draws its authority from the province.

    Morrison discussed how his team has been working to change the act and bring forward a new one titled the Acadia Student Unions’ Act (ASUA). While the document is fairly like the last it does include a few notable changes:

    1. States the ASU is able to do anything that a natural person can do, they would be only limited by legislation. Although increasingly common in the west, this act would be the only case in Nova Scotia where a union would be considered a natural person.
    2. Allows the possibility of all officers to be appointed to the council.

    The changes in this act would not condemn any past actions of the ASU and would only be in effect from that point onward.   Morrison went on to say that the act and referendum questions have been through about eight drafts with the Legislative Council in the past year.

    Council would approve the referendum question for the ASUA and a referendum would be held in February 2020. The proposed referendum question is as follows and would require the majority of votes to pass:

    “Do you support the adoption, by the legislature of the Province of Nova Scotia and the proposed ASUA including any amendments made to the proposed Act by the Legislature of the Province of Nova Scotia which shall repeal and replace Act to Incorporate Acadia Students union (1967)?”

    Sustainability Officer Max Abu Laban raised the concern that by making it possible for the appointment of any officer on council this would be taking away the students’ ability to vote for who they want to hold a position. Answering his concern both Morrison and Robbie Holmes, VP Student Life, explained that the SRC has continually chosen to have a vote in order to promote student democracy and that won’t change but positions such as VP Finance & Operations require a certain skill set that isn’t always present in potential nominees. Holmes went on to say that in the past the SRC has been worried about who may fill the VP Finance & Operations role and this allows them to appoint individuals with the skillset needed and dismiss those who do not obtain this skillset.

    Morrison also proposed a referendum question for constitutional change regarding the bylaws which previously called for 25% of the student population being present in a general meeting. The proposed referendum question is as follows and would require two-thirds approval to pass:

    “A quoram for a general meeting of the Union shall be 2% of the membership of the Union or 100 members of the Union, whichever is larger”

    ASU Fall By-Election Report

    Chief Returning Officer Chantelle Peng presented the fall by-election report to members of the council. The SRC needed to fill both the councillor at large and first-year representative positions and the nomination period was open from November 8th-15th, 2019. Peng went on to describe the election schedule the election would’ve taken before explaining to council that due to their only being one candidate for each respective position; however, Peng made the decision to approach Chairperson Sulaman Quershi asking him if he would admit both candidates into the positions, should they accept, under Bylaw 3.

    Both candidates accepted the roles of Councillor at Large and First-Year Representative and the election schedule was cancelled by Peng.

    Committee Appointments

     Jonah van Driesum, Councillor, resigned from both the Elections Committee and the Hiring Committee in order for the new SRC members to fulfill their requirements. Molly Anderson, Councillor, was nominated and voted into both the Elections and Hiring Committee.

    Moratorium on UPass Referendum Update

     Originally the council was set to vote on the UPass Moratorium which was sent back from the Governance Committee. Due to new members joining the SRC, not all members were given the chance to review the proposed documents. As a result, the UPass Moratorium has been deferred until next week.

    Proposals

     VP Student Life, Robbie Holmes, proposed cleaning the SRC room in order for it to be used by members of council for work, office hours, meetings etc. Currently, Holmes believes the room is underutilized and this is due to boxes blocking the back room. He asked for volunteers to help clean the room to which Anderson volunteered.

    Cassidy Churchill and Paige Stewardson, Professional Studies Senator and Arts Senators, proposed a Holiday Movie Night which would take place in the KCIC Auditorium on December 1st from 7-9pm. They will be hosting the event to bring together students from all faculties in a holiday event inclusive of all religions and cultures by playing the holiday movie ‘Home Alone’. Snacks and drinks will be provided by Churchill and Stewardson.

    Diversity and Inclusion Representative, Soyini Edwards, talked about the Phenomenal Women’s Conference which was held in the Fountain Commons and Mackeen Room on November 21st (6-10pm), 22 (12-2pm) and 23 (12-2pm). The Phenomenal Women’s Conference is an event working at tackling the insecurities and troubles that the women on this campus face every day. In collaboration with the Women’s Centre and Acadia’s Mental Health Initiative, this event will benefit the students that participate by seeing that they are not alone in their struggle and create a closer community and hopefully have them not be shy/ ashamed of that struggle.

    Announcements

     Brendan MacNeil and Gabrielle Bailey, VP Finance & Operations and VP Events & Promotions, are dedicated to uncovering why student activity and engagement has been low recently. They encouraged council members to give them any insights that may be helpful regarding engagement at The Axe, events and programs.

    Graduate Studies Senator Matthew Penney will be holding a lunch panel with members from all faculties in the winter semester coinciding with an event held January 31st – February 1st, pending a location. He asked council for any topic suggestions they could use during the panel.

     

     

  • SRC Decoded: What You Missed October 16th

    SRC Decoded: What You Missed October 16th

    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.

    This week the council held the first meeting after receiving the results from the recent by-election and welcomed new members warmly. During the meeting, council went over various topics of new business on their agenda such as a proposed moratorium, the filling of committee positions and the tragic Indigenous Society incident. Closing the meeting multiple announcements were made by council members.

    New Members 

    By-election results were sent out to the student body by ASU President Kyle Vandertoorn Tuesday evening announcing the individuals elected to fill several positions on the council. Five positions needed to be filled and three positions were: Brendan MacNeil was elected into the VP Finance & Operations with a vote of 61.6% in his favour, Cassidy Churchill was approved by the student body to fill the role of Professional Studies Senator and Lynn Verheul was approved as the Community Relations Representative.

    There was no First-Year Representative nominated Vandertoorn explained and the Councillor nominated withdrew before the all-candidates meeting. This election had a higher than average voter turn out although Vandertoorn does note that the referendum was likely the cause behind that.

    Both MacNeil and Churchill attended their first SRC meeting this week and were sworn in to their respective positions.

    Chairperson Sulaman Qureshi went over Robert’s Rules of Order for the new members. He explained that Robert’s Rules of Order are used as a way of conducting SRC meetings in order to provide everybody with ample opportunities to contribute, develop a level of governance and is found as an effective way to conduct meetings. Quereshi then went over the formality of meetings, roles of other council members, how by-laws and motions worked and any additional information that is a necessity to understanding and participating in the weekly meetings.

    Moratorium on UPass Referendums 

    Kyle Vandertoorn, President, brought up that the University Bus Pass (UPass) proposed to the student body got turned down in the by-election by 71% of the student population. The SRC had been proposed this UPass a few years back and spent a lot of time working on the UPass last year. Vandertoorn said that the UPass put a lot of stress on the SRC last year and over 1000 students ended up turning it down.

    Vandertoorn proposed to council, as a notice of motion, an immediate moratorium on UPass referendums unless there is an outstanding amount of evidence that if the UPass goes to referendum it will for sure be passed. She suggested the moratorium will be in place for a period of about 10 years unless it is repealed by a future council.

    Since 2012 there have been two referendums (2012 & 2019) held on a universal bus pass concept and a third attempt to hold a referendum in 2017. Vandertoorn went on to explain that in both referenda’s students were given the chance to vote and the UPass was turned down by an overwhelming majority. In each case, the Executive and the SRC were not promoting the concept of the pass as something beneficial to students.  Due to these reasons, including the amount of time the SRC has worked on the UPass, a moratorium on the UPass is being proposed by Vandertoorn.

    Vandertoorn stated that the ASU, as an organization, have spent a considerable amount of time, energy, and resources to develop and construct a program that has no prospect of being accepted by the student body. If a referendum is to be held, then it must have a reasonable prospect of success, otherwise the initiative is a waste of time for the ASU and the student body -time that can be better invested. Therefore: Be It Resolved That Acadia Students’ Union and the Students’ Representative Council implement an immediate moratorium on research and discussion of a universal bus pass program. This moratorium will remain in place for a period of ten years from its acceptance or until this Motion is repealed, whichever may come first.

    Members of the council asked a few questions regarding the moratorium leading to Vandertoorn motioning to send this proposal to the Governance Committee to discuss the specifics such as the time frame it will be in place for. This motion was passed by council.

    Indigenous Society Incident 

    Each Year October is designated as Mi’kmaq History Month, providing students with the opportunity to become more in touch with the history of the Mi’kmaq people. Every year in honour of Mi’kmaq History Month the Indigenous Students’ Society of Acadia (ISSA) puts up a tipi on the lawn between Seminary house and University Hall. During the first week of the tipi being put up, it was badly vandalized and is now unable to be used.

    Soyini Edwards, Diversity & Inclusion Representative, brought this matter to council during this meeting. President Vandertoorn announced she would reach out to James Sanford, Executive Director of Student Services, to inquire about what the University is doing about the situation. Doing so will allow the ASU to take the appropriate course of action regarding the recognition of this incident and if the University is already planning on doing something to recognize it, the ASU may potentially partner with them.

    Homecoming

     Gabrielle Bailey, VP Events & Promotions, went over Homecoming events that were taking place on campus this weekend:

    • Welcome Home: Hoco Kick-off will be on Friday, October 18th at the Axe Bar & Grill starting at 9pm. This event is $5 for students and is 19+.
    • Backyard Bash 2019 is an event held on the Cutten House Lawn from 10am – 2pm on Saturday, October 19th. This event will have free food, a DJ, bouncy castles, photo booths and so much more!
    • Sydstock 2019 ft. Big Fish will take place at the Axe Bar & Grill on Saturday, October 19th starting at 9pm. This event will cost $8 for students with all proceeds going towards the Sydney Taylor ‘13 Memorial Fund and the ASU Food Cupboard. 19+.
    • Hoco Sunday Brunch will be the closing Homecoming event at the Axe Bar & Grill on Sunday, October 20th from 10am all the way to 5pm.

    Committees

     A few committees had been postponed by council until after the by-election due to there being not enough members at the time. The Academic Affairs Committee required one non-exec member of council to join and Sustainability Officer Max Abu-Laban volunteered himself for the position. The Occupational Health and Safety Committee required one member to join and VP Finance & Operations Brendan MacNeil decided to join.

    Announcements

     There were a few announcements made towards the end of the meeting regarding events that council members are currently working on and will be announced shortly.

    Mackenzie Jarvin, VP Academic & External, reminded council that the Get Out the Vote Campaign is still happening. She is encouraging students to vote in the Federal Election and reminding those who have voted to pledge their vote on the website in order for Acadia to have the most pledges.

    Sustainability Officer, Max Abu-Laban announced that Acadia Dining Services will be opening the Acadia Growcer soon. This Growcer is a farm in a box – it requires 99.7% less land than a regular farm and 95% less water. Abu-Laban said to stay tuned for the grand opening and watch for the Growcer’s products to be featured at the salad bar in the Wheellock Dining Hall.

     

     

  • Community Relations Representative: Lynn Verheul

    Community Relations Representative: Lynn Verheul

    Lynn Verheul grew up in rural Nova Scotia loving the outdoors. Most of her time was spent appreciating the delights of being on a farm. After high school she attained a BA in Political Science and began traveling throughout Southeast Asia. Looking for a new adventure, she did her STCW95 training and worked two seasons on yachts. After cruising around the Caribbean and eastern seaboard of the US, she returned home again to work in administrative positions. Later she decided to return to academia and pursue a career in law.  Currently a history major at Acadia, she is excited to be involved in an energetic university and community.

  • Professional Studies Senator: Cassidy Churchill

    Professional Studies Senator: Cassidy Churchill

    Hey, Acadia Students! My name is Cassidy Churchill. I’m a third-year Business student majoring in Accounting and I’m running to represent YOU on the ASU as the Professional Studies Senator for the 2019/2020 school year. I was born and raised in small town Yarmouth, N.S and I decided to come to Acadia for its vibrant student life, academics, and overall reputation. If elected I will be dedicated to representing and supporting the Professional Studies Students, helping ensure your voice is heard and your needs are met. Remember to VOTE CASSIDY from October 6th-10th 2019!

  • VP Finance and Operations: Brendan MacNeil

    VP Finance and Operations: Brendan MacNeil

    My name is Brendan MacNeil. I am a fourth year finance student, and one of the founding executives of the Acadia Investment Club. I have worked for three years in the investment industry, and am passionate about technology and startups, and the role we as students play in that. As president of the Axechange (business school) podcast I have investigated many of the business leaders and entrepreneurs building the next generation in Atlantic Canada, and I am determined to bring these opportunities to Acadia.

  • VP Finance and Operations: Joseph Creagh

    VP Finance and Operations: Joseph Creagh

    I am running for the position of VP Finance and Operations because of my passion for Acadia and the accounting field. I strive to take what I have learned in the classroom and apply it to the real world. Acadia University and more specifically, the Acadia Business program has taught me a lot. I hope that I would be able to pay back Acadia with fiscal responsibility and responsible spending.

    When I was younger, I never wanted to be an astronaut or a race car driver. I always wanted to be an accountant. This passion for accounting continues to this day. This enthusiasm would aid me in the position; it’s also an excellent opportunity to apply my financial aptitudes and interest in student benefits.

    Acadia is a great place, and if I can contribute in any way to making this next year as enjoyable as my other years, I will be delighted to do so.

Betzillo positions itself as a versatile gaming hub where structured bonuses and adaptive gameplay mechanics support both short sessions and extended play.

Built with a focus on innovation, Spinbit integrates modern casino architecture with rapid transactions, appealing to players who value speed and digital efficiency.

Ripper Casino emphasizes bold entertainment through high-impact slot titles and competitive promotions crafted for risk-oriented players.

A friendly interface and stable performance define Ricky Casino, offering a casual yet reliable environment for a wide spectrum of gaming preferences.

King Billy Casino channels classic casino spirit into a modern platform, delivering recognizable themes supported by contemporary reward systems.

Immersive visuals and layered slot mechanics are at the core of Dragonslots, creating a narrative-driven casino experience.

Lukki Casino appeals to players seeking direct access and minimal friction, focusing on fast loading times and intuitive controls.

Casinonic provides a structured and dependable gaming framework, blending modern slots with transparent operational standards.