–UPDATED March 19, 2014: 19:09–
The Concordia Student Union met on March 12 in the CSU lounge on the 7th floor to discuss and make decisions about upcoming projects, requests, and proposals at Concordia University.
The temporary measures committee, was tabled indefinitely, practically guaranteeing its disbandment.
CSU president Melissa Kate Wheeler requested that the discussion about the Java U space be tabled until the next meeting due to insufficient information and planning on the issue at the time. A majority vote sided with Wheeler, pushing the discussion until next month’s meeting.
An update on the Hive project at the Loyola campus suggested that a project manager be hired for the advancement of the project. A majority vote was in favor of the request.
The meeting also addressed vacancies on several committees. There were two vacancies on the finance committee, one vacancy on the Loyola committee, and one on the Sustainability committee. Justin Caruso, a councillor currently on the Loyola committee, offered to be a representative for the sustainability committee and was accepted. Michael Richardson, a councillor who was absent due to family reasons, was nominated twice by other councillors for one of the vacant positions on the Finance committee.
A proposal by representatives from La FEUS (Federation Etudiante Universitaire de Sherbrooke) requested funding from the CSU for a research project involving the legal obligations of student council. The CSU found the request was valid and held potential value to their organization and said further inquiries into the project would be held in order to make a final decision regarding the CSU’s participation.
Due to the upcoming Quebec elections in April, a proposal for the mobilization of youth voters was put forth. One representative suggested a video be made in order to inform, specifically Concordia students, about the importance of voting.
The CSU executive proposed entering into an agreement with Concordia’s archives department wherein the CSU would donate their archives to the department and give responsibility for the filing and maintenance of said documents to them. As the CSU currently has no unified means of archiving their documents, this would provide an ideal solution. The motion asked that the Council grant the executive permission to enter into a process of negotiation with the university’s archives department for the purpose of reaching an agreement whereby the CSU’s documents would be moved to the archives department. However, the executive was adamant that if given authority by the Council to pursue negotiations toward an agreement, they would not formally agree to anything without first bringing the agreement to council.
Another motion involving the backup of all Concordia files, as well as the conversion of paper files into digital format, was discussed. Morrow expressed that “having something like this is absolutely crucial,” emphasizing that a move to a digital culture is
necessary. The approximate cost of the project would amount to around $63,000. Morrow suggested that CommVault be considered a good candidate for this project.
Finally, a motion asking for the creation of easily accessible statistics and efficacy rates of student services such as HOJO and Legal Aid was proposed. Council said it would discuss and examine the issue further.
The next CSU Council meeting will take place on Wednesday April 9.
