STUDENT FEDERATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

MINUTES OF THE THIRTEENTH BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION MEETING OF

2007-2008

Date: Sunday, April 6, 2008

Location: Tabaret Hall, room 083
Time: 1:43 P.M.
Chair: Amy Morris
Secretary: Mélissa Barton

13.1 Opening of the meeting

The meeting began at 1:43 P.M.

Attendance:
SFUO President Pam Hrick
SFUO VP Finance Dean Haldenby
SFUO VP Social Matthew Joseph
SFUO VP Student Affairs Danika Brisson
SFUO VP University Affairs Seamus Wolfe
SFUO VP Communications François Picard
Board of Governors Ryan Kennery
Federated body of Arts Brittany Jukes
Federated body of Communication Joël Larose
Federated body of Criminology Kara Marie Corrigan
Federated body of Droit Civil Fritz-Gerald Morisseau
Federated body of Economics Julie Charest
Federated body of Engineering André Sponder
Federated body of Formation à l’enseignement Caroline Blondin
Federated body of Health Sciences Hendy Fontaine
Federated body of Human Kinetics Erica Erwin
Federated body of Leisure Studies Laura Rashotte
Federated body of Medicine Coralie Boudreau
Federated body of Occupational Therapy Kaelle Cornut
Federated body of PIDSSA Ramy Sonbl (proxy)
Federated body of Psychology Jacques Trottier (proxy)
Federated body of Sciences Sophie Bussière-Côté
Federated body of Social Services Jean S. Guillaume
Federated body of Sociology and Anthropology Blake Thibault
Federated body of Telfer Justin Poirier
Federated body of Undergraduate nursing Laurice Abi-Rashed
Federated body of Women Studies Chaya Porter (proxy)
Residents’ Association Kirin Brown (proxy)

13.2 Adoption of the agenda

Be it resolved that the agenda be adopted

 Proposed by: François Picard VP Communications
Seconded by: Dean Haldenby VP Finance
Carried

13.3 Adoption of the minutes

Be it resolved that the amendments to the minutes of the March 2008 meeting be adopted
Proposed by: François Picard VP Communications
Seconded by: Caroline Blondin Federated body: Formation à l’enseignement
Carried

13.4 Executive updates

VP Communications……………..………………………………………………………….…..
Survey on Food Services
• A survey of 1000 students took place. We are compiling the results. This survey will be
particularly useful as we can use it in the face of a university administration that did not
consult us on the contract renewal of Chartwells, which is unacceptable.

Bilingualism Centre
• The centre organized « journées de la francophonie » with success.

La Rotonde
• La Rotonde’s independence has come to fruition. This long-term process is finally
completed! Thank you to all those, who have for many years worked on this success. In
particular, I’d like to thank Wassim Garzouzi, with whom it has been a pleasure to
work with on this project for the past year.

Transition
• I have started the transition process with Julie over the last couple weeks. We have met
on a few occasions and everything is going well. I am encouraged that the position of
VP Communications will continue to evolve at the SFUO.

Merci
• In conclusion, since this is the last BOA of the year, I would like to thank all of my
colleagues on the executive, with whom I spent a great year. This experience has been
incredible and I believe I have helped the SFUO become more progressive and active. I
think that we have a strong and solid voice for the students of the University of Ottawa
and I am convinced that will continue in the future. Many thanks to the members of the
BOA for their dedication and being involved on campus. Thanks to all students who
decided that the world belongs to us and that we need to make it a better place.

VP Finance.....................................................................................................................................

Year in revue:
 • Working to implement strategic plans for student business improvements at the Pivik,
Agora & 1848 Bar
• Expanded food services at Pivik and 1848 Bar
• Increased business volume at Campus Print and the Agora
• Made 1848 more viable than ever before increasing their sales and cutting losses
• Cleared up our financial by-laws and created more support for our federated bodies
• Will continue to negotiate a $125/semester UPass with Ottawa & OCTranspo
• Worked on ombudsperson campaign
• Doubled clubs' funding
• Increased general subsidies funding for student groups
• Established the first ever clubs' offices
• Worked to establish clubs' conference room
• Balanced budget and controlled finances in all departments
• Worked towards moving La Rotonde to independence
• Implementing human resource director
• Implementing human resource policy
• Distributed more levies to federated bodies over last year
• Worked to reduce the cost of the student health plan and maintain its benefits
• Helped spearhead the first green week

I would like to thank all of our board members, executive, managers, student employees and
other student leaders for their large contribution to the above accomplishments.

VP University Affairs...................................................................................................................

Campaigns
• The Campaigns Committee have unanimously passed the following campaigns : Stop
Drinking and Driving, Promote Open-Source Software, and “Be it resolved that the
SFUO does not support the NATO-led war in Afghanistan; Be it further resolved that
the SFUO supports a UN-led peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan”.
• The SFUO took part in World Water day on March 19th by giving away 500 re-usable
water bottles and got over 400 signatures on a national petition demanding the federal
government do more to protect the right to water and not go down the path the
privatization of water. The SFUO executive has also joined the fight against
privatization of water by designating our offices and meetings “Bottle Water-Free
Zones”.
• We will be sending a 15 person delegation to the ‘People’s Summit’ organized to
parallel and protest the so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership in New Orleans,
April 20-22

Center for Equity and Human Rights, CRESAC

• While still obviously handling many cases, both of these services are doing year-review
reports and are currently hiring for the summer and next year

Governance
 • I am deeply disturbed by the lack of transparency at the last Board of Governors
meeting on March 31st. These are meetings that are by Ontario law, open to the public,
yet they refused to allow students in to the room and not a single member of the board
even questioned this illegal decision. At that point an impromptu protest began, and I
acted as representative to the highly supportive police. The main police officer has
made it quite clear that he will be willing to back up our case if we take legal action.
• The transition UART will be this Thursday, April 10th at 7 pm in Fauteux room 137
before heading off to the end of the year bash

VP Student Affairs........................................................................................................................

Clubs
• The following clubs subsidies have been awarded since the last BOA meeting:
○ $310 to the Pre-Med Society for their general meeting
○$496.21 to the University of Ottawa Table Tennis Club for their pizza luncheon and
3rd Annual X-treme Ping-Pong Tournament
○ $200 to Students Aiding Village Empowerment for their food sale
○ $250 to the Radical Feminist Collective for their bake sale and “grandma-to-
grandma” film night
○$437.40 to the Polish Students’ Society for the Miss Polonia Ottawa competition
○$500 to the University of Ottawa Punjabi Association for Glassy Kharkeh II
○$500 to the Pakistani Student Federation for Glassy Kharkeh II
○$130 to the University of Ottawa Unicef Club for red hand day
○$150 to the Iranian Student Association for Iran Day
○$65 to the Club de plaidoirie de droit civil for their “scéance de plaidoirie”
○$53.06 to Catholic Christian Outreach for the Hub
○$19.53 to the Bioethics Debating Society for their first meeting
○$500 to Engineers Without Borders for their Poverty’s Days Are Numbered event
○$500 to the Tamil Student Union for the South Asian Formal
○$200 to the World University Service of Canada for their pizza dinner
○$30.90 to the Russophiles Circle for their Russian culture lectures
• We increased club funding to $1000 per club per year to a maximum of $750 per
semester ($250 for the spring/summer semester).
• We are currently recruiting a full-time Clubs Coordinator for next year.
• We assigned offices to clubs for the first time last week. The clubs will have access to
the offices for the summer, but they will have to re-apply in September if they wish to
be assigned an office for the fall.

Services
• We met with the volunteers of all services to determine what they want for the next 5
years in their service. We will compile this information over the summer, and afterward
the new coordinators will establish a professional 5-year plan for each service.
• Foot Patrol has accompanied approximately 100 more clients this year than last year—
their total number of accompaniments was 1255 a week or two ago.
 • The Food Bank began two campaigns: Food for Fines and Empty the Shelves. Empty
the Shelves is a drop-off space where students who are moving out can leave their
leftover non-perishable items for the food bank).
• I-House hosted a wonderful gala, which was completely sold out.
• Pride Centre had a great year for social events—they hosted an event almost every
night.
• CSD finished their accessible event planning guide. The CSD will work with VP
Socials to plan an accessible 101 week.
• Peer Help had a great year all around. The volume of calls to the phone line increased
and the services within the centre improved significantly.
• We are currently working on the transitioning of the Women’s Resource Centre, which
will become an SFUO service in May.

Roger-Guidon
• We formed a new committee to address the needs of students at RGN. This committee
met for the first time on March 19. The meeting was highly productive—we discussed
an end-of-year BBQ, a permanent SFUO kiosk (similar to Kiosk 5), and a large-scale
event to attract main-campus and RGN students.
• The end-of-year BBQ we discussed was held last Wednesday at RGN. The event was
very successful because all the parts of the SFUO participated, including services,
clubs, campaigns, health plan and social events.
• We distributed surveys to RGN students to determine their needs. The survey covered
topics such as library hours, food services and student interest in the SFUO.

VP Social........................................................................................................................................
It’s been an absolutely fantastic year for me and for social programming. We’ve
diversified the social calendar with events such as Rock the Vote and the Farmers Market. Still,
we’ve been able to continue to offer the staple events that people love to participate in year
after year. Moreover, the SFUO-run campaigns as well as Green Week added to the variety of
ways that students may participate on campus.

• 101 week was wonderful. There were approximately 5000 participants throughout the
week.
• Rock the Vote had an attendance of about 3000 students and had one of hip hops living
legends NAS headlined the show.
• Classic events like the Pumpkin Olympics, The Price is right and the Dive in went
off without a hitch and still remained amongst the students favorite events.
• Students on our campus love the ski trips to Mt. Tremblant. Every week we sent buses
full to the hills to enjoy a nice day on the slopes. Our trips to Mt. Sutton and Jay Peak
proved to be successful.
• Our poker tournaments were so well attended in the first semester that we decided to
have another tournament in the winter semester and moved it into 1848.
• Serving ice cream to students in Residence always worked well. This year we had about
400 students fill up their bowls with ice cream served by their VP socials at the annual
Social Sundaes.
 • This year’s speaker series had to be one of the bests ever. With guests such as Maher
Arar and David Suzuki, the attendance at our speaker events was incredible.
• Frost Week helped soften the blow of winter challenge disappearing this year. Guerre
des tuques, the spin and the concert with vulgaire machin were incredibly fun to
organize.
• The Farmers Market was a pilot project that the sustainability coordinator and I
worked on for a while. We had to telephone different farmers every day for two
months. In the end, the event turned out great. Attendance was good and all the vendors
that participated were happy and eager to participate again next year.
• Pandemonium was simply amazing. The Carleton University Student Association and
the SFUO teamed up to bring all our students an unforgettable concert. I believe we
succeeded. Anyone that went to the concert will vouch for me in saying the Roots were
incredible.
• The End of year Bash is next week! It will no doubt be one of the best times of your
life.

I’m proud to have been the elections chair for this year. Thank you to the elections
committee for doing such a fine job and being very reliable. Thank you to my good friends
on the Board, My Social crew and the other executive members. I’ve had an amazing year
being your VP social and I will never forget it.

President........................................................................................................................................

Universal Bus Pass

• I’m continuing to work with Dean on implementing this project as soon as possible

UCU Clubs Offices

• We have reached an agreement to turn the storage space by the University Centre couch
lounge into new club space
• We will be allocating our current clubs office space to the GSAED
• The University will be covering the cost of these renovations, which is estimated to be
roughly $130 000

Café Alternatif
• We’ve secured $75 000 from Central Administration and $75 000 from the Faculty of
Arts to cover the costs of renovating the lounge space in Café Alternatif
• We have also committed to opening an SFUO-run coffee shop in this space during fall
2008

Gil Read Memorial Scholarship

• This award will be given out for the first time in September 2008

La Rotonde
• As of May 1, La Rotonde will be an independent student newspaper
• The final agreement will be presented to the BOA today
Presidents Round Table
• Our final PRT of the year will take place this Thursday at 6pm in Simard 125

I’d like to give a big thank you to all of you who have been involved in the SFUO this year –
the SFUO executive, our Board, our volunteers, and our employees to name a few – for making
this such a memorable experience for me. The success the SFUO has had this year is owed to
their hard work and dedication. I’d like to congratulate Dean on his election and wish him and
his team all the best for 2008-09.

13.13 Question period

13.14 In-camera session: human resources update and La Rotonde independence

Motion to have an in-camera session

Proposed by: Ramy Sonbl Federated body: PIDSSA
Seconded by: Hendy Fontaine Federated body: Health Sciences
Carried

13.14.1 Recess

Motion to take a 10 minute recess

Proposed by: François Picard VP Communications
Seconded by: Ramy Sonbl Federated body: PIDSSA
Carried

13.15 Pandamonium

Be it resolved that an additional $10,000 be contributed by the SFUO to the Carleton

University Student Association for the Pandamonium concert

Motion to allow Nicholas Laplante, a member of the audience, to ask a question regarding this
matter
Proposed by: Francois Picard VP Communications
Seconded by: Jacques Trottier Federated body: Psychology
Carried

Motion to table the motion to contribute $10,000 to the next meeting

Proposed by: Hendy Fontaine Federated body: Health Sciences
Seconded by: Seamus Wolfe VP University Affairs
Carried

Motion to allow Faris Lehn, a member of the audience, to speak during Blake Thibault’s turn
on the speaker’s list
Proposed by: Ramy Sonbl Federated body: PIDSSA
Seconded by: Blake Thibault Federated body: Sociology and Anthropology
 Carried

Motion to call the question on the motion to table the motion to contribute $10,000
Proposed by: Ramy Sonbl Federated body: PIDSSA
Seconded by: Jacques Trottier Federated body: Psychology
Carried

The motion was tabled to the next meeting

13.16 Engineering Students’ Society

Presented by Pam Hrick

Whereas the Engineering Students’ Society (ESS) executive has permitted the repeated
publication of offensive material about violence against women, persons with disabilities and
the gay community in the Oral Otis;
Whereas the content published violate policies 8 and 16 of the SFUO Policy Manual;
Whereas the ESS is a federated body as defined within the by-laws of the SFUO; and
Whereas members of the ESS executive and Oral Otis editorial board have recently shown a
willingness to work to rectify this situation and prevent the publication of further derogatory
and discriminatory materials in the Oral Otis

Be it resolved that before August 30, 2008 the ESS must submit to and have approved by the
BOA a full content policy and editorial policy for the Oral Otis with such policies to be
developed in consultation with the CSD, Women’s Resource Centre, Pride Centre and the
Centre for Equity and Human Rights;
Be it further resolved that before August 30, 2008 all members of the ESS executive (2007-
08 and 2008-09) must receive anti-oppression training from the Women’s Resource Centre,
and that the cost of this training shall be paid by the ESS; and
Be it further resolved that should the actions outlined above not be completed by August 30,
2008, an amount equivalent to 10% of the levy paid by the SFUO to the ESS during the 2007-
08 fiscal year be withheld from the SFUO levy due to the ESS during the 2008-09 fiscal year
Proposed by: Pam Hrick President
Seconded by: Seamus Wolfe VP University Affairs
Carried

Motion to allow Virginie Corneau, a member of the audience, to speak during Ramy Sonbl’s
turn on the speaker’s list
Proposed by: Ramy Sonbl Federated body: PIDSSA
Seconded by: Jacques Trottier Federated body: Psychology
Carried

Motion to modify a section of the motion to read:

“Be it resolved that before August 30, 2008 the ESS must submit to and have approved by the
BOA a full content policy and editorial policy for the Oral Otis with such policies to be
developed in consultation with the Centre for Students with Disabilities, the Women’s
Resource Centre, the Pride Centre and the Centre for Equity and Human Rights;”
 Proposed by: Seamus Wolfe VP University Affairs
Seconded by: François Picard VP Communications
Carried

Motion to call the question

Proposed by: Fritz-Gerald Morisseau Federated body: Droit Civil
Seconded by: Coralie Boudreau Federated body: Medicine
Carried

13.9 Café Alternatif

Presented by Pam Hrick

Be it resolved that the SFUO create a student café within Café Alternatif
Proposed by: Pam Hirck President
Seconded by: Ramy Sonbl Federated body: PIDSSA
Carried

13.10 Second reading: By-Law 3 - VP Communications

Be it resolved that the second reading of the modifications to By-Law 3 – VP Communications

be adopted
Carried

13.11 Second reading: By-Law 2.3

Be it resolved that the second reading of By-Law 2.3, Membership be adopted

Carried

13.12 Second reading: By-Law 10

Be it resolved that the second reading of By-Law 10, The Media Board be adopted
Carried

13.13 Draft budget presentation

Presented by Dean Haldenby

13.14 BOA training

Presented by Pam Hrick

13.15 Miscellaneous

Motion to call a 5-minute recess

Proposed by: Ramy Sonbl Federated body: PIDSSA
Seconded by: Blake Thibault Federated body: Sociology and Anthropology
Carried
Motion to allow the motion proposed by Ramy Sonbl to be heard
Proposed by: Ramy Sonbl Federated body: PIDSSA
Seconded by: Brittany Jukes Federated body: Arts
Motion lost

Motion to call the question

Proposed by: Hendy Fontaine Federated body: Health Sciences
Seconded by: Ramy Sonbl Federated body: PIDSSA
Carried

13.16 Question period

13.17 Closing of the meeting

Be it resolved that the meeting be adjourned

Proposed by: Pam Hrick President
Seconded by: Ramy Sonbl Federated body: PIDSSA
Carried

The meeting closed at 5:13 P.M.