VUSAC Semi-Annual Report 2019-2020

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL SEMI-ANNUAL REPORT FALL 2019

Compiled by Holly Johnstone, Communications Coordinator

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TABLE OF CONTENTS +

PRESIDENT VICE PRESIDENT, EXTERNAL VICE PRESIDENT, INTERNAL VICE PRESIDENT, STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

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ACADEMIC COMMISSIONER COMMUTER COMMISSIONER + CO-CHAIR EQUITY COMMISSIONER + CO-CHAIR MENTAL WELLNESS COMMISSIONER SCARLET AND GOLD COMMISSIONER SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSIONER + CO-CHAIR ARTS AND CULTURE COMMISSIONER

10-11 12-14 15-17 18-19 20-21 22-24 25-26

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CHAIR COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR CHIEF RETURNING OFFICER FINANCE OFFICE MANAGER COUNCILLORS

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PRESIDENT ALEXA BALLIS

+ Introduction Since April 2019, VUSAC has been hard at work developing programming and initiatives for the students of Victoria College to enjoy and benefit from. Part of my role as the VUSAC President includes supporting all the members of council on their Portfolios, and ensuring the overall function of the council. This takes the form of regular meetings with co-chairs and commissioners, as well as Internal Office Hours where members of council can find me in the office and ask any questions. That said, we have a truly brilliant, creative, and hard-working team this year, and it’s been a pleasure watching them flourish!

The other pillar of my job is that I advocate for the interests of Victoria College students on various governing bodies at both Victoria University, and the University of Toronto as a whole. These bodies include the Board of Regents, the Victoria College Council, the Victoria University Senate, the Provost Undergraduate Student Advisory Group, and the St. George Round Table. Each of these bodies serve students in different ways, and it is my job to understand how each group operates and how I can best advocate for the students of Victoria College to improve their overall experience on this campus.

Student Choice Initiative and ChooseUofT In January 2019, The Ontario Provincial Government announced various changes to Post-Secondary education that have greatly changed the way student societies operate. Namely, the Student Choice Initiative. Student society fees would have to be unbundled and categorized as “essential” or “non-essential” according to guidelines provided by the Ontario Government.

In the Spring, I worked on classifying our fees into these categories and determining which of our VUSAC fees and levy fees could be considered essential. Despite the tight timeline, I consulted both the outgoing and incoming VUSAC Executive, the Dean’s Office, and the levy heads, to come up with creative ways to protect our programming and services. Overall, 54% of VUSAC’s fees were considered to be essential. We were not allowed to unbundle the levy fees, and so we had to decide whether the fee was entirely “essential” or “non-essential.” The Office of the ViceProvost had to make similar decisions about our levies if there were similar ones at other colleges. For example, drama societies, newspapers, and athletic associations.

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Over the summer, I participated in the creation of the ChooseUofT campaign as a representative from VUSAC. Student societies across campus contributed to this campaign, which was designed to encourage students who were financially able to continue to stay opted-in to their student fees. In particular, I helped develop the ChooseUofT website and advocated to have all our levies fully represented.

The Winter Opt-Out Period ends on January 20th. The student society Presidents had a meeting with the Office of the Vice-Provost to raise our concerns and provide feedback on the opt-out portal and process. While they have a lot of interests to balance and had to consider the vast size of the university, the way it was done was less than ideal for the way our student groups operate. I will be consulting our levy heads and other students on our campus to discover.

Once I gather as much feedback as possible about our fee breakdown, the portal, and our communications regarding the Student Choice Initiative, I will be creating a detailed transition guide about the matter for next year’s VUSAC team to use.

Communications I’ve been working with our amazing Communications Coordinator, Holly Johnstone, to advertise VUSAC’s meetings and services. This has taken the form of posters around Victoria College, as well as graphics advertising the meeting times and key agenda items to encourage all Vic students to attend so they can have their voices heard. I plan to continue boosting our communications with Holly and finding the best way to present information online. For example, I plan on adding a page on our website for financial awards and important people to know at Vic who are not on VUSAC (eg. Board of Regents representatives, contacts in the Dean’s Office, etc).

Office Updates Last year, VUSAC approved a Student Projects initiative put forward by the Office Manager, Emma Lailey, to bring new printing computers to our office. I worked with Scott Johnston, the Associate Dean of Students at Victoria College, to order the best computers for our space. They have now been set up thanks to Vic community member, Kevin Yue. In addition to the computers, we managed to get the lockers in the VUSAC back room open and we will be transferring our merchandise inside to optimize the VUSAC Store!

Governance In the Spring, I worked with the VP Internal, Katie Marsland, to develop an Equitable Hiring Policy for VUSAC to ensure we have the most equitable and fair process for hiring our staff positions, co-chairs, and committee members.

This policy will be brought forward for ratification in the first semester and will work in conjunction with our other governing documents.

Recently, I worked with Katie and our Academic Commissioner, Lucy Faria, to add an Academic Co-Chair to our team.

The position is officially a part of our Constitution as of Friday, October 18th. We also outlined the roles and responsibilities of the Academic Co-Chair.

We are in the process of undergoing policy reviews for all of our governing documents. This includes our Constitution and Council Policies, as well as our Elections and Referenda Code. We will be updating them, cleaning up the documents to ensure cohesion, and restructuring committees if needed.

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Over the summer, I introduced the President’s Monthly Reports which summarized the work that I was doing along with my hours. The President gets paid an $8000 honorarium to work over the summer, and I wanted to hold myself accountable for this. In addition, it summarizes the work that VUSAC was doing over the summer for transparency.

Executive Retreat Over the summer, I had planned an Executive Retreat for the four Executive members of council: The President, VicePresident Internal, Vice-President External, and Vice-President Student Organizations. By “retreat” I mean an afternoon dedicated to discussions on the role we play on council, the tone we would like to set for everyone, and how we can best work together as a team.

Study Space Another project that I have been working on is VUSAC Study Space. There will be extended VUSAC hours once a week where students can enter the office for a quiet place to study. There will be tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and snacks. It isn’t meant to subtract from Burwash Study Space, but to compliment it.

In addition to VUSAC Study Space, I have been working with the Dean’s Office to improve Burwash Study Space and ensure it serves students to the best of its ability.

VUSAC Strategic Plan My biggest project of the year that I will be focusing on in the remainder of my term is the VUSAC 3-Year Strategic Plan. Different than the Victoria University Strategic Plan, this one will focus on the programming, services, and initiatives that VUSAC puts on to ensure the council continues to serve the students of Victoria College to the best of its ability for years to come. I’m working on surveys about our communications/outreach, events, services, and advocacy that will be advertised on all social channels. In addition, I will be consulting various Vic student groups and students in person.

If you have any questions or comments about any part of this report, please send me an email at president@vusac.ca.

I would love to hear what you have to say!

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VICE PRESIDENT, EXTERNAL VIBHUTI KACHOLIA

+ Hello! My name is Vibhuti Kacholia and I am the Vice President External (VPE) for VUSAC this year. I’ve had a super busy but fulfilling last six months and I’m excited to share what I’ve been up to!

Platform I was elected in April into the position unopposed. I also ran for the Board of Regents and won a seat as a student representative which has been complementary to my role as VPE (more on that later). I had a descriptive platform for VPE that I’ve added a few things to but overall include the following point I will touch upon later in this report.

I will go through this list of promises and my progress on each of these goals, but first let’s talk summer!

I spent my entire summer in Toronto this summer and averaged about 10 hours of VUSAC week each week. I have no definitive numbers of meetings and such, but I spent most of my meetings with the Deans Office, mainly Christina, Scott, and Kelly. The beginning of summer was spent dealing with the Student Choice Initiative (SCI) and supporting Alexa (President) work with the Dean’s Office and The Vice Provost Office to create a fee breakdown framework for VUSAC. I attended the Pride Steering Meeting for the SDGO, met with Steven to meet him officially in my role and my plans for connecting VUSAC and Residence Life, and semi-regularly met with Neo, the SMCSU (St. Mikes) President to connect with him on his projects. I also sat on the some of the Staff Hiring as an Equity Representative and was involved in the hiring of the Equity Co-chair as I was in that position last year. I helped some sustainability minded VCU members navigate reports to the Board of Regents and help them prepare for meetings with Physical Plant. I also attended some full day events with VUSAC, like the Represent Leadership conference (U of T Student Life) in May, the UTSU Summit in July, and Exec Retreat in July. I was also an Executive on the Victoria Orientation along with the rest of the VUSAC Exec, which was demanding and awesome. For VUSAC, I organized the VUSAC gift to Orientation, which were beautiful stickers made by Holly (Communication Coordinator). Leading up to the school year, I helped Maria (CRO) to prep VUSAC for elections.

Onto my projects! My portfolio is one that has a lot of flexibility, so I’ve decided to make it project based as that gave me the structure I’m looking for! I have two councillors assigned to me (Mehr and Disha) and they will be helping me manage the projects they are interested in!

1. Composting at Ned’s Café and Residences

A big project for me in the beginning of the summer, the reigns of the project are now in the very well suited hands of the Sustainability Commission and I am supporting them in my best capacity! They are doing fantastic work!

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2. Free Menstrual Product Roll Out + Sustainability The machines have been installed in every single user and female designated washroom in Goldring!! VUSAC has committed to pay for half of 2020-2021 menstrual products along the DO. 3. Sexual Violence Campaign A winter semester project! Stay tuned!

4. Collecting Race Based Data A project that has been put on hold. In my knowledge, the University started collecting this data in 2017 but hasn’t shared it with student stakeholders. More on this in winter semester.

5. Dean’s Advisory Committee The first meeting happened and the VUSAC exec wasn’t super happy with its membership and structure. Alexa and I will be discussing future steps with the Dean’s Office to better the structure in winter semester.

6. Ex-Officio Representation I have been in close communication with VCC, VUS, BoR and UTSU representatives this summer and year. I will be working on better presence from the student representatives in meetings in these coming weeks and next semester.

7. Caucus and VPE things Caucus is happening! There has been a new structure implanted this year to reduce in person speaking time at Caucus which means that levies, clubs that have requested more than $1000 in funding, and building presidents are required to submit reports with varied lengths to be added to the meeting package. They will still be required to be at Caucus and answer questions if need be but I believe this structure will result in a more concise and better recorded Caucus.

In other VPE news, I’ve wrote one official statement for VUSAC (Climate Strike for September 27th).

8. Renaming Ryerson Project The project is going along this year with taking a step back and having in-dept consultations with Indigenous leaders and stakeholders to help VUSAC revise the project and bring it back to the board in their February Meeting. More information is to come!

9. Victoria University Policy Review I’ve been working with Shiny and Scott to revisit policies that affect students- Smoke Free Policy, Alcohol Policy, and Catering Agreement. Progress has been made with all these policies and updates are to come!

10. Naloxone Training VUSAC will be offering trainings next semester to the Vic students!

11. International Councillor Position A winter semester project! Stay tuned!

12. Connecting with Residence Life I met with Dons in September to brief them about VUSAC elections, and am planning to go building meetings in Winter 13. ERC Review Committee I’m chairing this for VUSAC! More details to come!

14. ASSU Mental Health Module A winter semester project! Stay tuned!

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VICE PRESIDENT, INTERNAL KATIE MARSLAND

+ Working as VUSAC’s VPI for the last six months has been a fantastic experience, and I’m so excited to keep moving forward! I started the year in April by drafting an equitable hiring policy, which outlines VUSAC’s various practices for both internal and external hiring. We used this policy when hiring VUSAC’s staff positions for this year, and it will be up for ratification as an official document by February.

Early in the year, I chaired the hiring committees for each of VUSAC’s five staff positions, which met throughout April, May, and June to review applications, interview candidates, and ultimately make decisions about hiring.

This involved creating job postings for each position, calling various hiring panels, coordinating interviews and creating interview questions, and working with each committee to make hiring decisions for each position. My report on the process of staff hiring will be published on our website soon! Following the completion of staff hiring, I also coordinated on-boarding meetings with every member of our team with Alexa to figure out how we can best support everyone, and help them throughout the year with their ideas and initiatives. Later into the summer, I sat on the hiring committees for all co-chair positions, fulfilled various executive responsibilities, and began working on different projects for the school year.

Recently, I helped create the policy language for the new Academic Co-Chair position along with Lucy and Alexa, along with other constitutional amendments. I am also currently working with Vivian and Tran, as well as the Dean’s Office on logistics for Gardiner Gala and Semi-Formal, and recently sat on the hiring panel for Highball Committee. One of my other priorities for the year is the review and reconstruction of VUSAC’s governing documents (our Constitution, Council Policies, and Elections & Referenda Code), which are currently out of date and do not accurately reflect the work that VUSAC does.

I will also be drafting a new chapter for both the Constitution and Council Policies, which will outline the role of the Academic, Commuter, Equity, and Sustainability Co-Chair, since there is currently no formal information on the roles and expectations of co-chairs. I am excited to work with the chairs of each review committee to create documents that represent our team and the way we operate.

Finally, I worked throughout the summer and into the fall on planning VUSAC’s annual fall retreat, which took place over the weekend of October 19th and 20th. The retreat involved several training sessions and workshops by both internal and external facilitators across U of T, as well as some time for us to bond as a team.

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The retreat was attended by almost every member of VUSAC and was a great chance for everyone to connect and work together as a team. I’m really happy to have had the opportunity to plan this event and see everyone continue to get to know one another and bond!

Going forward, I have a few projects that I am excited to be working on. First, I will be working on restructuring the Internal Review Committee. The Internal Review Committee is meant to be a group of students from the VCU who review the goals laid out by VUSAC in the summer and fall, decide the best course of action of fulfilling these goals, and ensure that the council is held accountable. Currently, the committee’s membership is only meant to be members of VUSAC, as well as the Campus Life Coordinator. To my knowledge, the committee has not been called in at least three years. I hope to restructure the committee is a way that allows for direct feedback from both the council and the VCU on VUSAC’s goals for the year. I hope to begin this project in mid-November, with the hopes that the committee can meet in January and in March.

Second, I am hoping to plan a Vic Open House in early January, which will allow current students to learn more about what different student groups at Vic are doing. I hope that our office, as well as the offices of clubs and levies around Goldring, will be open one evening for students to pop in, say hello, ask questions, and continue to learn how to get involved. I hope that this event will act as a way to get students excited to be on campus again!

Finally, I hope to just continue to support members of our team with their initiatives and projects throughout the year! I’ve been so proud and impressed by everything that we’ve done so far, and I’m excited to be continuing.

If you have any questions, please feel free to visit me during my office hours for the fall semester on Fridays from 9:30-11:30 am (it’s not a very busy time in the office and I would love some company)!

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VICE PRESIDENT, STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS CAMERON DAVIES

+ Student Choice Initiative Consultations During the summer, I worked in conjunction with Alexa to help levies prepare for the Student Choice Initiative.

Throughout this process, I consulted with levies, requested blurbs for the ACORN opt-out portal, and informed levies of their fee breakdown as provided by the Office of the Vice-Provost of Students (OVPS). When VUSAC received its final opt-out numbers from the OVPS, I promptly disseminated this information to the levies, so that they could financially plan for the semester.

Levy Meetings over the Summer Also during the summer, I met with levy heads from each levy, and discussed their plans for the upcoming year and ways in which I could support them. Through the process of this consultation, I both answered levies’ specific requests, and provided general advice to levy heads.

Club Ratification Process This summer, I updated and released the VUSAC Club Application Form and the VUSAC Club Handbook. The primary club application period ran from June 5th to July 26th, a period of over 7 weeks. During this time, VUSAC received 30 club applications. I read each of these applications to ensure that they met VUSAC’s requirements for clubs - most notably the requirement that 70% of each club’s executive must be composed of VCU students. Prior to the August 2nd Club Ratification Meeting, I informed clubs if they failed to meet any requirements, and worked with them to produce plans to meet all of VUSAC’s requirements. Ultimately, 29 of the 30 clubs considered at the meeting were ratified at the meeting, and one ratification was tabled for the next regular VUSAC meeting, and then passed. You can find the powerpoint which I presented at the Club Ratification Meeting here. Since then, 4 clubs have applied for club status and been recognized by VUSAC at regular VUSAC meetings, and one club has applied and is awaiting consideration.

Involvement in Orientation In addition to my role as VPSO, I also sat on the Orientation Executive over the summer. As a part of this role, I organized Dinner with Levies and VUSAC, and Dinner with Clubs. Both events were successes and, in light of the Student Choice Initiative, I verbally highlighted each club, levy, and commission in attendance, so that first year students were made aware of the vibrant and diverse communities at Victoria College.

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Space Discussions I am proud to say that VicXposure now has office space within the VUSAC Office. Over the summer, VicX’s copresidents approached me with a document outlining their office space needs, and I worked with Alexa, and in consultation with the Victoria Environmental Fashion Show (VEFS) to reach a space arrangement. Under this arrangement, we agreed to provide VEFS with expanded access to VUSAC’s back room and secondary club storage, while repurposing their former office as VicXposure’s office.

Club and Levy Equity Training I worked very closely with Equity Commissioner Massoma and Equity Co-Chair Hannah to facilitate club and levy equity training. As a matter of policy (and principle!), VUSAC requires that 75% of each levy’s executive and 50% of each club’s executive attend equity training, as clubs and levies are outward facing bodies which work directly with our students and communities. We invited facilitator Máiri McKenna-Edwards to provide six workshops in late September and early October. New this year, Máiri agreed to host three different types of session: Event Planning Level I, Event Planning Level II, and Bringing Inclusion into Finance. Managing the logistics for equity training was my main priority as VPSO during this entire period - this involved taking and consolidating attendance lists, notifying clubs and levies of sessions, providing clubs and levies with projections of when they’d meet our requirements, and informing clubs and levies once they had met VUSAC’s requirements.

Budget Steering Committee As VPSO, I am a voting member of the Budget Steering committee, and additionally appointed a club representative (Maria-Victoria Walker-Genovese, Veterinary Medicine Club) and a levy representative (Helen Zhang, Caffiends) to the committee. In my work on this committee, I helped set the procedures for this year’s budget, reviewed levy budget requests, and proposed VUSAC’s Interim Spending Procedure. This procedure was a way to circumvent the delays which the Committee encountered as a result of the Student Choice Initiative.

Fall Meetings with Clubs and Levies During the week of October 28, I held check-in meetings with 10 clubs. One of the main issues raised was the difficulty of communicating with students, especially first and second year students. I also plan on meeting with clubs and levies during the week before Caucus.

Associate Clubs Policy Pursuant to my platform, over the summer, I drafted an Associate Clubs Policy, which I intend to introduce as an amendment to VUSAC’s Council Policies at the November 22nd meeting, with the goal of ratifying the policy during the first week of the winter semester.

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ACADEMIC

COMMISSIONER LUCY FARIA

+ The Academic Commission has been engaged in a lot of exciting programming this semester, and we hope to see many more projects come to fruition throughout the rest of the year. During the term, we’ve put forward events within the academic & professional portfolio, and have also developed plans for a lot of the programming for the winter semester.

Firstly, we’ve put forward our new Language Learning initiative! Language Cafés are a bi-weekly event where students can get together and practice grammar and vocabulary within a friendly and constructive environment.

Our last event was held on October 16th, and counted with the presence of students from various backgrounds and learning levels. Our next event will be on November 20th, and should be very exciting. Our previous events were in Spanish, but we’re now expanding to Portuguese as well. Language acquisition is an important asset within the academic & professional sphere, so we hope to run events in a wide variety of languages!

Throughout the semester, study hub has also been running on a weekly basis. This is a great resource provides calm and productive setting where students can work towards specific and concrete goals. In addition, they can also count with the help of a student peer mentor in order to expand learning strategies, and to understand what study resources and approaches can be the best fit for them.

We also have an event coming up with the Student Society for Stem Cell Research. Held on November 21st, this event will aim to create a space for students from various ranges of academia to build dialogue with professors from the area, and to learn more about stem cell research.

In addition, the Academic Commission has also been planning the creation of a bursary for Academic Support, which will allow students to get refunds on academic materials such as textbooks and software subscriptions. We understand that academic expenses that students pay - which often already operate on top of our yearly tuition can be a financial barrier for a lot of undergraduate students. Hopefully our project can help to offer some financial relief, and provide aid for the Vic community in concrete and tangible ways!

Lastly, look out for our yearly Networking Dinner next semester! We’re working in collaboration with the Alumni Affairs & Advancement Office and the Victoria Alumni Association to put forward an event that aims to connect students and alumni and we should use it to our full advantage. (cont. on next)

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Our primary goal is to create a space where students can network and build relationships with past Victoria College graduates, in order to enhance their communication skills, and to pave the way for greater learning experiences. In addition, our event looks to create opportunities for students to expand their reflection on what they wish to do after graduation, and what kinds of skillsets they’d like to further develop throughout their time at Vic. Our alumni network at Victoria College is one of our greatest assets, and we should use it to our full advantage.

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COMMUTER COMMISSIONER MICHELLE ZHAO

+ Hello VCU members! Here is my semi-annual update on what I’ve been doing since May 2019. This update is divided into three sections: what I’ve done over the summer and the fall, and a brief overview of my commission’s upcoming projects.

Summer One of the first things that I did this summer was to hire the VOCA co-chair and the upper-year executives. For cochair hiring, I assembled a hiring committee made up of myself, the VUSAC President, Vice-President Internal, Equity Commissioner and a commuter student representative. For upper-year execs, the hiring process was overseen by me and the VOCA co-chair.

We also met with different levy heads, dons and VUSAC commissioners to discuss possible collaborations that we could hold throughout the year, such as trivia nights with the Commuter Dons. From these discussions, we were able to draft a mock timeline for the year, filled with events that we wanted to hold for students. I also released a new feedback campaign that involved giving anyone who responded to the form a chance to win a locker for the fall semester. Finally, we revamped the VOCA website here, which we are hoping to use as the main information base for commuters.

Fall In September, we began normal VOCA programming and introduced new initiatives. I worked with the co-chair to roll out locker applications, over the course of two days. This was done to make the applications available to students who might have commitments during one of the registration times.

We also began our weekly pancakes event, in the Cat’s Eye from 10 AM-2PM every Wednesday. During pancakes, we have had numerous collaborations with student groups on campus, such as the UTSU, the Veterinary Medicine Club, Leap UofT and more. These are a great way for students to meet student leaders and representatives from various groups and for these groups to gain exposure to more than 140 students.

Finally, we held our first Trivia Night with the commuter dons (Disney themed!) and we hired two first-year execs, using the same process as the upper-exec hiring.

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Upcoming Upcoming events and programming that my commission and I are working on include Sitcom Trivia Night with the Commuter Cons, coming up on November 12th. On November 19th, we are planning a Photowalk at the Christmas Market with VicXposure and the Commuter Cons.

Finally, we are preparing for our annual semi-formal event, Home for the Holidays. This is an event specifically for Victoria College commuters but is also open to students in residence. Due to the Student Choice Initiatives and limited funding this year, we are charging $5 for the event. The money that we receive from ticket sales will go directly back into the event, paying for decorations and activities that we will have during the night. We are currently working on finalizing the menu, which will provide light refreshments, and making the games and activities, such as life-sized reindeer tic tac toe. Ticket registration for Home for the Holidays will begin on November 13th.

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COMMUTER

CO-CHAIR RHEANNON DEMETER

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In terms of commission functionality and productivity, the implemented restructuring and specialization of executive positions have proven effective to date: with 2 additional upper-year executives hired creating 5 duos for each role-type, and the integral use of task communication streams on Slack.

Secondly, a priority of ours has been to boost student outreach including feedback collection, and information accessibility. To date, our advocacy team has been creating online feedback forms presented during each of our events as well as our pancake brunches, and along with using Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter platforms, and physical postering around Vic, our team has been working on including all information on our website as well as our (Commuter Updates) email newsletter.

Regarding events and collaborations: • Aside from our weekly pancake brunches which have been nearly fully booked with student group collaborations to the point where we are looking into hosting two groups at a time until the end of the fall semester, VOCA also hosted a pancake table along with VUSAC at Corncoming this year!

• A collaboration I’ve personally played a large role in are the Trivia & Tacos events with the Commuter Dons, with our second one having taken place on November 12th. Was ecstatic to see the number of students who attended, and the positive feedback received!

• This November we will also be collaborating with the Comm-dons and VicXposure on a Christmas Market photo-walk happening the 19th, and hosting our largest event, Home for the Holidays on November 29th, with preparations heavily and happily underway!

I look forward to next semester!

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EQUITY

COMMISSIONER MASSOMA KISOB

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I was elected at the VUSAC Equity Commissioner (EC) for 2019-2020 School year in April of 2019. My term officially began May 1st, 2019.

Summer I sat on the hiring committees for the Office Manager, Finance Chair, Commuter Co-Chair. She organized the hiring of the Equity Co-Chair (ECC); Hannah Ahamedi was hired and we worked together over the summer to identify our vision for the Equity Commission: Creating initiatives that allow students, particularly from underrepresented communities, to feel supported in expressing their voices on campus both for raising equity concerns and for selfexpression.

The Equity Commission The Equity Commission, as well as the Communications Executive and Secretary positions were established in September. Our meetings would begin in the following month occurring bi-weekly on Thursday from 5:30 to 7:00.

These meetings provide space for commission members to bring forward their amazing ideas and share work that has been happening in event working groups. Additionally, I created the Summer/Fall budget and submitted to the Finance Chair on October 7th.

Equity Training Equity Training for Clubs and Levies began in September. The workshops were organized in collaboration with the Vice President: Student Organization, Cameron Davies, and facilitated by Maìri McKenna Edwards, Coordinator for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Training with UofT Student Life.

Upon the request of the Bob Revue's team during October, I developed and facilitated an equity training for their writing team.

Past Events • UofT Queer Orientation – Collaboration with the LGBTOUT to host Queer and Trans Student of Colour Discussion in The Cat’s Eye • LGBTOUT 50th Anniversary – Collaboration to host an Open Mic Night to celebrate this anniversary

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• Federal Election – Worked with Sustainability Co-Chair, Leila Tijang, to organize VUSAC facilitated Vote Pop Ups around the Victoria College Campus • Cultural Celebration Series – Hosted Diwali Celebration: Rangoli Making in the Wendy Cecil Atrium for students to engage with a tradition of the festival Led by Namah Jaggi • Vic or Treat – Ran a Cultural Appropriation Pop Up with visual developed by commission members Led

by Alexandra Kurtesi, Ellenoor Shameli, Cheryl Nong, Natalia Sandoval Sanchez Upcoming Events • November 12: Inclusion in Governance – Panel Discussion featuring Tiffany Ford and Velma Morgan to discuss how federal election may impact marginalized communities, and the process of these communities gaining space in government • November 18-21: Literacy Week – Week-long programming to highlight the work of writers and story tellers from underrepresented communities Led by the ECC • Monday: An online campaign featuring the work of writers from marginalized communities • Tuesday: A Zine-making workshop for students to create Led by Cheryl Nong • Wednesday: Launch of the Vic Anthology project • Thursday: Guest Author/Poet to do a reading and speak about their experience in the literary field • November 26: Mic the Change – Opportunity for students to hear from speakers on the topic of sexual health and HIV/AIDS action in Toronto. Featuring a raffle of Victoria College Merch. All proceeds go to Casey House.

• December 6: National Day on Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women – An event in collaboration with the Dean’s office to recognize the gender-based violence that occurred in 1989 at L’École Polytechnique de Montréal.

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CO-CHAIR HANNAH AHAMEDI

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Hello Victoria College community!

My name is Hannah Ahamedi and I am the current equity co-chair for the academic year. The Equity Commissioner, Massoma Kisob, and I have been working diligently to provide the Vic community with equity programming and collaborations.

Going into this role, my main goal was to make sure that everyone felt comfortable walking on to the Vic campus.

As we work towards this goal, the momentum we are currently creating would not be possible without the help of our amazing commission that we hired in the fall using an equitable hiring process.

Additionally, we have more programming planned for the upcoming year. Within November we will be holding our first Equity Literacy Week. This is something I included in my application and I am very excited to see it happen. This week will be tons of fun and will include workshops, a social media campaign and also an anthology! I hope the Vic community will partake in this exciting week ahead!

To add on, I am currently in the process of spearheading an equity forum that will be available to the Vic community. This will be accessible, safe and confidential. The goal of this forum is to provide students with an outlet to voice any of their concerns regarding their current experience at Vic or UofT. Through this medium I hope that a link will be created between both the faculty and students. This forum is currently a work in process but I feel confident that it will have long-lasting change on the Victoria community.

Feel free to reach out to me regarding more information.

VUSAC

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2019-2020

REPORT

MENTAL WELLNESS

COMMISSIONER SPANDAN SENGUPTA

+ Before I get into the body of the report, there are two things I would like to say.

Firstly, I would like to say that stepping into the role of Mental Wellness Commissioner for the first full year of the commission has been an honour and a privilege and I hope to do justice to the faith that the Vic community has placed in me. Secondly, I feel the need to apologize for not being able to live up to the expectations I had set myself at the start of the semester and lagging in terms of the plans I had for events and projects. This has partly been due to the incident that took place in Bahen earlier this semester and the aftermath of it which took a large toll on me in terms of my mental health, and also had me occupied in terms of time and effort. I do not want to make excuses for personal issues getting in the way of what I am supposed to do as Commissioner, which is why I express my deepest apologies to the Vic community.

In terms of the Commission’s activity this semester, we held an event in collaboration with the previous Mental Wellness Commissioner, Ali Kehl called “Make Your Own Stress Kit” where we provided a variety of items and materials including fragrant wipes, tea bags, and jars of beans for people to add to a stress kit for themselves. I was also involved along with Alexa in the consultations for the Provostial Task Force on Student Mental Health that was conducted at Vic by VUSAC and the UofT Mental Health Policy Council.

In addition to this, I put out applications for students to join the commission and as of now, we have seven members along with two councillors that comprise the Mental Wellness Commission. We had our first commission meeting (that is open to all VCU members) on the 25th of October.

Things that are currently (as of Nov 5) in the pipeline (and may have happened already, depending on when you are reading this): • Fruit Fridays: Continuing where we left off last year, there shall be fresh fruit outside the VUSAC office every Friday morning. The rationale is that Friday is the only day of the week where no event gives out free food at Vic, and we want people to get that healthy and delicious fruity snack • Self-Authoring event: An event that came from the mind of Cedric, one of the councillors on my commission, and is scheduled shortly after Reading Week. The idea is to provide a space for people to explore their ideals, beliefs and objectives through creating a written account of themselves.

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• Art-therapy based event in collaboration with Healing Hearts Through Art: I am still in conversation with them on the exact nature of the event, but it is scheduled to be after Reading Week and may be an Open Canvas or something similar.

• Compliment Wall: Setting up a large paper/poster in the Wendy Cecil Atrium for people to leave a note, a compliment, or a message for themselves or someone else and try and fill the space with positivity.

• Pre-Exam De-stressor: Not planned as yet, but scheduled to be in the last week of classes.

VUSAC

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2019-2020

REPORT

SCARLET AND GOLD COMMISSIONER TRAN THAI

+ Feedback Survey In July, I released the “More Scarlet, More Gold” survey looking for feedback from members of the VCU the events under the Scarlet and Gold portfolio. 36 responses from the VCU responded to this survey. The answers from this survey will be taken into consideration when planning my events as well as for future Scarlet and Gold Commissioners to reflect back on.

Falling for Vic Pub Night On Friday September 13th, we hosted our Back-to-School Pub Night at the Duke of Somerset! This pub night was meant to welcome students back into the school year and give students a fun time to get together. I started planning this event back in mid-July. The entry fee for pub night was $2 and all students were wrist-banded by staff before entering the pub! We provided lots of free food for students to munch on throughout the night. The decorations were all reused from last year’s pub night and made with the help of VUSAC members Holly, Leila and Michelle (Commuter Commissioner). Additionally, the Duke of Somerset was a 15-minute walk away from Victoria College and was right beside College Station, making it commuter accessible. Over 250 students attended Falling for Vic Pub Night making it a big success! Thanks to VUSAC volunteers and staff at the Duke of Somerset, the event ran very smoothly.

CornComing This may sound corny, but Vic’s contribution to CornComing would not have happened without the help of Michelle, Rheannon (Commuter Co-Chair), VOCA and VUSAC. This event took place on October 11th in the UC Quad.

For this year’s St. George Round Table (SGRT) CornComing, we planned a Pancake booth filled with toppings like whipped cream, chocolate chips, pumpkin spice and more! We also had hot chocolate and a bunch of activities like ring toss and giant Jenga.

Semi-Formal Plans for semi-formal are currently going under-way! I am working on the logistics of semi-formal with my three councilors (Fatima, Jay and Mehr) in the Scarlet & Gold Commission. This year’s semi-formal will most likely take place in mid-January of 2020!

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Winterfest Victoria College will be contributing to the UofT-wide Winterfest with activities held at Victoria College! I am working with Alexa and my councilors to plan events/activities at Vic for this year’s Winterfest.

Highball Highball, Vic’s end of year formal is also currently being planned as well! Applications for Highball Committee opened up October 18th and closed November 1st at 11:59PM. There were many fantastic applications this year.

With the help of the Michelle, Hannah (Equity Co-Chair) and Rintaro (Councilor), we selected a strong team of individuals to work on the Highball Committee. During this timeframe, my councilors and I have also been researching potential Highball venues that are accessible, high-capacity but also affordable. The Highball Committee will meet once before the winter break starts and have bi-weekly meetings to officially start the planning of Highball!

VUSAC

21

2019-2020

REPORT

SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSIONER AMINAH ATTAR

+ Since my election in early October of this year I have worked closed with my co-chair, Leila, to make the Sustainability Commission more transparent and work towards the goals highlighted in my platform. This includes collaboration, waste reduction, student engagement, working with administration to set sustainability targets, and working with the larger environmental community.

With regards to transparency we have started to share pictures and information of what we do in the larger University of Toronto community such as the Sustainability Commission’s involvement in the Environmental Working Group. In October, we held our first commission meeting. These meetings are open and moving forward we will be making our meeting minutes available to students on our Facebook and our relaunched Instagram page.

We will be collaborating for an Open Mic focusing on current indigenous issues in Canada with the University of Toronto Scene Initiative this semester. We also plan on collaborating with Victoria Environmental Fashion Show Club and the Equity Commission next semester. It is important to engage with other Victoria University Clubs not only to provide support, but also help make sustainability more accessible to students.

On waste reduction, we are in the process of piloting composting in VUSAC office and in Annesley Hall Residence.

We are also setting up a subcommittee of students to work with Ancillary Services to make Victoria College more sustainable. This includes launching a bring your own container / reusable mug campaign. Furthermore, we are in the process of launching a recycling education campaign for this month of November.

We have also launched a strategic planning petition to start our policy work to guide the administration towards sustainable policy with a climate justice focus. This is the beginning of our work to have administration commit to working towards sustainability. Much of this has been done in collaboration with Vic Zero. Vic Zero is a student project supported by the VUSAC Sustainability Commission which aims to help transition Victoria University towards more sustainable practices and policy. Key topics that we plain to target this year are fossil fuel investments, carbon neutrality of buildings, and waste. I have been in contact with LEAP and I will continue to consult with them in the future.

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Student engagement is a key component of all the goals and initiatives mentioned above. We are actively working to get more students involved, provide support for any initiatives they have in mind to make Victoria University more sustainable, and listen to their concerns. I have helped organize one Doc n’ Talk that was held in October that focused on the Inuit people. We plan to hold Doc n’ Talks once a month for the school year to help involve students.

We are also engaging with student by starting Vic Goes to Climate Strikes every Friday and bringing in speakers who are involved in activism beyond our campus.

VUSAC

23

2019-2020

REPORT

SUSTAINABILITY

CO-CHAIR LEILA TJIANG

+

For the first four weeks of this semester, I focused on establishing the commission presence by planning several small-scale events to get students engaged before we had a full commission and elected commissioner. This consisted of one Doc N’ Talk, two pre-Climate Strike poster making events, and a speaker on the election. Along with the Equity Commission, I also coordinated a federal election voting campaign for VUSAC, which involved running a Vote Pop-Up. In addition to this programming, I put together the commission’s budget, coordinated the ordering of new Greenshift products with funds from the Student Project Initiative, and sent out a hiring application for executive positions. After September, I worked with Aminah to hold our first commission meeting, draft and release a petition to address sustainability in strategic planning, hire executives, to develop programming for the rest of the semester.

This year, we hope to delegate most event planning to our executives and commission members, so that Aminah and I can focus on the coordination of behind-the-scenes sustainability initiatives with the administration, physical plant, and the rest of VUSAC. Our primary goal for the remainder of this semester is to continue to press for climate action in Vic’s new strategic plan, because we believe this will hold the university accountable to taking concrete steps towards addressing the climate crisis. As for my role, I will continue to manage certain aspects of the commission’s everyday tasks, such as emails to commission members and coordinating with executives, while also assisting Aminah in our biggerpicture goals for the year.

VUSAC

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2019-2020

REPORT

ARTS AND CULTURE COMMISSIONER VIVIAN LI

+

The Bob Hiring for The Bob Co-Directors 2019-2020 occurred during the summer break. The committee consisted of The Bob Co-Directors 2018-2019, an Equity Representative, the VPI, a club representative, the outgoing Arts and Culture Commissioner, as well as the incoming Arts and Culture Commissioner. After the hiring process, planning with The Bob Co-Directors 2019-2020 began during the summer. As well, we created posters, applications, and booked spaces in preparation to hire a Co-Producer for the 2019-2020 school year (as per the council policies).

The call went out in late August and a Co-Producer was hired in September. The call for auditions and curation of posters also occurred in September, culminating in a cast being hired by the end of September. I’m eager to implement the equitable hiring policies for tech crew applications coming up. The Bob Co-Directors have also organized filming and rehearsals to submit to The National College Comedy Festival in New York! I’m eager to see the fruits of their hard work this year!

Literary Meet and Greet Creative writing is something that’s dear to me, so I wanted to give other students the opportunity to connect with others who have the same passion. The event was a success and occurred on a Thursday night in October. Ten journals, along with student editors and writers, as well as students from across U of T, engaged and networked during the session. Hopefully, this can be an annual event consisting of even more journals across U of T (including UTM). For pictures of the venue and a more personal account of how it went, you can read the blog post I wrote for my work-study position at the Centre for Community Partnerships.

Friday Night Live at the ROM I have inquired about FNL tickets and they have been invoiced to me. As such, there will be a call for students to purchase them at a lower price, similar to last year.

Gardiner Gala I have begun discussions about the Gardiner Gala with Christina, Tran, Alexa, and Katie. There is a possibility that Gardiner and Semi will be combined as one event due to financial cuts this year (more will be revealed during council discussions or next year’s report).

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2019-2020

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Other Upcoming Events Keep an eye out for interdisciplinary workshops with Art Starts (a non-profit organization centered on providing artistic opportunities to youth living in marginalized communities), a Bob Ross Painting Night (collaboration with Mental Health and Commuter Commission), Valengram event, a panel discussion on Arts and Science intersections, Vic Variety Talent Night, among others!

VUSAC

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2019-2020

REPORT

CHAIR GABRIELLE DA SILVA

+

Hi everyone! I started my term as Chair officially this past July. Two summer meetings were held in the beginning of my term — one in the beginning of July and one at the beginning of August. To prepare for my term as Chair, I read prior transition reports, re-read VUSAC’s government documents, and familiarized myself with Robert’s Rules of Order. The meetings in July ratified VUSAC’s newest members, clubs, and important statements made by council.

At the end of the summer, I planned VUSAC’s meeting dates and times for the year. Similar to the previous year, VUSAC will meet six times per semester, plus a budget ratification meeting. In consultation with the VUSAC President, it was decided that meetings would begin at 5:30pm this year - to ensure that even those with class until 5pm could make it to meetings on time. I looked into other venues for VUSAC meetings to be held, but in the end it was decided that VUSAC would continue to meet in the Copper Room - to ensure continuity year to year, and as Goldring is arguably Vic’s most accessible building.

VUSAC’s fall retreat was held in October, where I held a workshop for council going over meeting procedures and council rules. This was done to ensure that all those on council, particularly newly elected members, were aware of the Constitutional requirements of their positions as it applies to meetings.

In consultation with the VUSAC executive, it has been decided that in an effort to make VUSAC meetings more accessible and enjoyable for the VCU, VUSAC meetings would operate under a slightly adapted version of Robert’s Rules that are easier to understand. I have developed two new documents, as “updated” versions of past years’ Chair’s meeting procedures, to ensure that folks attending meetings know the meeting protocols. The first is titled “Meeting Procedures” which gives an explanation for all the aspects of a VUSAC Meeting Agenda. The second is titled “A VUSAC Guide to Robert’s Rules”, which goes over the rules of order which VUSAC will be using this year. It also provides explanations on policies regarding email votes and in-camera meetings. Beginning at the end of October, these documents will be available in meeting packages for folks to look over before attending the VUSAC meeting.

In the future, I am meeting with some members of councils to discuss governing document review committees and I’d like to play a significant role in seeing these committees come to fruition!

VUSAC

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2019-2020

REPORT

COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR HOLLY JOHNSTONE

+

The first half of this year has been busy for this portfolio. That being said, I am genuinely proud of the work that I have been able to accomplish so far, and it absolutely could not have been done without the endless support of all the folks at VUSAC! Let’s dive right in!

I was hired as communications coordinator in late-May of this year but the main portion of my work didn’t begin until mid-July. After meeting with Alexa and deciding on a posting agenda, the roll-out of regularly scheduled Member Monday posts, commission highlights and descriptions of various VUSAC services began on July 15, 2019.

In early August, I was asked if I could design promotional VUSAC stickers for Orientation Week. I designed the Northrop Frye stickers, of which about 1000 were printed and distributed during the first week back at school.

Also during Orientation Week, I was able to collect 130+ emails from first-year students who were interested in joining the VUSAC mailing list at the Vic Clubs Fair.

So far, I have engaged with 55+ clubs, levies, and house heads in order to organize the first monthly newsletter of the 2019-2020 school year which was sent out on November 5th, 2019 to an audience of over 200 Vic students. Since the beginning of the year, I have also been in communication with clubs and levies who needed promotional materials designed or distributed via our social media channels. Since mid-July, our Facebook following has grown from 1,652 to 1,693 likes with 95+ posts published during that time. Also since mid-July, our Instagram page has grown from 651 to 794 followers with 45+ posts published in that same period.

My other projects have included updating the VUSAC website, rebooting the Events page, increasing the dissemination of information regarding the bi-weekly VUSAC meetings, designing posters for the newly-installed menstrual product machines, collaborating with the Equity and Sustainability commissions to run a campaign to encourage young voters, and the compilation of the report you’re reading right now. Meta, I know.

Feel free to contact me anytime at communications@vusac.ca!

VUSAC

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2019-2020

REPORT

CHIEF RETURNING OFFICER MARIA PEPELASSIS

+ Report not submitted.

VUSAC

29

2019-2020

REPORT

FINANCE CHAIR TYLER BISWURM

+ Report not submitted.

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2019-2020

REPORT

OFFICE MANAGER RENA SEEGER

+

In this semi-annual report I would like to briefly describe some of my responsibilities thus far as well as projects I am currently working on and have in mind for the near future.

As Office Manager, one of my main responsibilities is maintaining the physical space of the VUSAC Office. I try to come into the office at least once a week outside of my regular office hours to check in on the space, make sure supplies are stocked (e.g. making sure the bin outside the VUSAC office is stocked with menstrual and safe sex products), moving any belongs left behind into the lost and found bin, and moving items lying around back to their proper spaces.

As the cabinets in the back have been recently opened up, an upcoming project is to organize the back room so it is more accessible to students wanting to use it for meetings and as a study space. I also plan to move the merch/ supplies into these cabinets to free up space and make it easier for other people trying to find things! I plan to move one of the older computers to the back room so it can be connected to the screen on the wall and be used for meetings. As for the other old computer, I want to move it behind CafĂŠ VUSAC so more students can print and use it for doing work. Another one of my responsibilities includes responding to and organizing room bookings, as well as responding to any questions about the physical space. Recently I changed the format of the calendar on the VUSAC Room Booking tab so that students booking spaces are able to see the availability of the space more easily. For the fall season I also decorated the office and plan on redecorating it for the upcoming winter/holiday season to make it a happier and more festive space for students to spend time in.

My goal is always to make the space more inviting and accessible for students, so earlier this term I also moved one of the couches out and re-vamped CafĂŠ VUSAC so it was easier for students to come in and catch up with friends. I have also recently ordered new cleaning products, tissue boxes, as well as am planning on ordering new boxes and pillows for the office.

In addition to managing the physical space, I also manage the printing services, and check in with students who want to print over 40 pages to make sure they are not taking away resources (mainly time) from other students who need to print. I also answer any questions people have on how to use the printer (e.g. how to use the photocopier, how to change which drawer to print from) and make sure the printing room is kept organized.

Finally, I take and edit the minutes at each of the bi-weekly VUSAC meetings.

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2019-2020

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COUNCILLOR PAUL CEDRIC BADERE

+ So far, I have done a few VUSAC office hour shifts and it has been enjoyable meeting people through this experience.

For the Mental Wellness commission, I’m planning an event (pending a name) that involves evaluating one’s current habits and readjusting them to fit goals for their future; it will include food and drinks and will be a low-energy event. I hope to help the commission and our events to reach a wider scope at Vic this school year.

One of my ideas is a wholesome memes-focused Instagram page run by our commission to combat the large amount of dark memes of being a UofT student.

For the Commuter Commission, I will continue to do my pancake shifts and thus bring joy to the many pancake-lovers and clean the Cat’s Eye as a concerned member of VUSAC and the Cat’s Eye Subcommittee.

Furthermore, I will be helping plan a commuter safety workshop, assist the design of the website as well as help run the VOCA Instagram. I am also planning a Secret Santa to take place here in the Cat’s Eye that will hopefully involve commuters and residence people alike.

Additionally, I will help maintain the office space and update the VUSAC website.

Finally, I will be working on a ‘special project’ with Alexa that involves the implementation of feedback from the VCU to future VUSAC events and initiatives.

Overall, it has been an amazing experience being a part of student governance and helping to address and discuss issues, initiatives, and concerns among Victoria College with a group of other driven, creative, and wholesome individuals.

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2019-2020

REPORT

COUNCILLOR DISHA DOBBY

+ Being elected as a First-Year Councillor was a privilege. The training session hosted by the leaders of VUSAC was very insightful and I’m looking forward to aiding the Vice President External, Finance Chair and the Arts and Culture Committee.

With respect to the Arts and Culture Committee, this might be the first year that we merge two high-profile events.

If that does go through, I look forward to organizing a detailed schedule that would cater to both types of the student profiles that would be potentially attending the event. Furthermore, I’m interested in devising an advertising campaign that would draw in upper year students, not just the first years.

With respect to serving as a Councillor to the Vice President External, I’m eager to work on existing projects like Renaming Ryerson. One project that I’d like to launch is a Scholarship Knowledge event that helps students identify the scholarships (Victoria University, UofT and external) they’re eligible for.

As per aiding the Finance Chair, I’m yet to fully understand how I can contribute. However, my vision for this role is to create a system where Vic students have access to VUSAC’s budget breakdown. Furthermore, similar to the liasoning nature of the role of the Sustainability commissioner, as a Finance chair councillor, I’d like to serve as an advisor during any event planning.

VUSAC, thus far, has been a very supportive and inspiring community and I’m looking forward to see the new heights we achieve this academic year.

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2019-2020

REPORT

COUNCILLOR RINTARO ALEXANDER MASUDA

+ This year I am working with the mental wellness commission, Arts and Culture Commission, Highball hiring committee as well as the sustainability commission.

In Mental Wellness, we discussed potential events we can host in order to have a positive contribution on the campus. Some ideas that came up were Animal Therapy, a DIY SAD lamp event, informative sessions, yoga in collaboration with VCAA etc.

With the Arts and Culture Commission we have not had a meeting, however I was able to help out with the set-up of Literary Meet and Greet. We are planning to have a meeting after reading week to discuss our plans for this year.

I have an exciting idea to hold a Culture Festival so that will be one of the things I would love to bring into the discussion for the meeting.

For the Highball hiring committee, I worked with the team to work through the applications for the Highball committee. We were able to select individuals who we thought would make a strong team Tran can work with.

Hiring was a new experience for me and I believe this was a great learning opportunity for me.

Finally for Sustainability, I was unable to make it to their first meeting and their meeting will be taking place every week on Monday mornings. Due to course conflicts with the meeting, it may be harder for me to get involved with this commission, but I will do my best to make contributions to the team.

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2019-2020

REPORT

COUNCILLOR MEHR MUKHTAR

+ In addition to fulfilling my Councillor mandate by attending meetings and holding weekly office hours, my main contributions to VUSAC this semester have been centred around assisting the commissioners of my assigned portfolios in meeting their aims.

My role within the Sustainability Commission mainly entailed conducting an internal audit of the VUSAC office to examine areas where office practices could be made more environmentally friendly. This included surveying the space to determine how it could be optimized, identifying resources that could be utilized more efficiently and discerning how organizing the office could make Greenshift products more accessible to the VCU. The purpose of this initiative was to begin implementing more sustainable office practices that are aligned with the goals of the commission and ensuring that these changes are transparent for students. Alongside this, I’m also aiding commission members in carrying out a recycling awareness campaign which involves creating signage for Victoria College residence buildings to verify that students have adequate information to dispose of their garbage correctly.

Moreover, I have been facilitating the Scarlet & Gold Commissioner in preparing for the main events organized by the commission next semester, the Semi-Formal and Highball. The arrangements for these involve locating venues and executing site visits to certify that they are accessible and meet the requirements of the VCU. My work on council has been very rewarding and I am looking forward to an even better and more enriching experience next semester with my fellow council members.

VUSAC

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2019-2020

REPORT

COUNCILLOR JAY MUOIO

+

During the time that I have served as a Councillor on VUSAC so far (October 18th, 2019 to November 5, 2019), I have attended two of VUSAC’s biweekly meetings and the VUSAC Budget Ratification Meeting. I have also had a weekly 2-hour VUSAC office hour shift. As a councillor, I have been assigned to assist with the portfolios of the Commuter Commissioner (VOCA), Scarlet & Gold Commissioner, and the Arts & Culture Commissioner, making me a member of each of their respective commissions.

On VOCA, I have so far attended one of the commission’s biweekly meetings. Furthermore, I attend and help run VOCA Pancake Wednesdays by being one of the volunteers who prepare and serve the pancakes for, at minimum, a weekly one hour shift (11:30am-12:30pm). I also noticed that during this event, students often threw away their plates in the litter bin which I knew was not the correct way to dispose of them. Because of this, I decided to design a sign to be put up every week during our event to ensure all of the materials we were providing were being disposed of properly and as sustainably as possible. To ensure the composting information I was giving was correct, I did research into who handles Victoria College’s waste and compost and what the rules were under that system; I did my best to portray this information on a eye-catching, easy to read sign, as well as through word of mouth, to the students attending the event as well as other VOCA members. Finally, though this project is in its very early stages, I have also been part of discussions on the ongoing process of revamping VOCA’s Pancake Wall of Fame in the Cat’s Eye. On the Arts & Culture Commission I have so far helped with the set-up of the commission’s Literary Meet & Greet event.

On the Scarlet & Gold Commission I have attended one commission meeting where various future plans on SemiFormal and Highball were discussed. I was also present when the commission went for a site visit to a potential Highball location.

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2019-2020

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COUNCILLOR FATIMA RANA

+ Being in the VUSAC council so far as a councillor has been wonderful. I have been working closely with the Scarlett and Gold, Equity, and Vic Commuter commissions in particular. I have also been attending the council meetings, which have been an insightful source of information to learn about the progress made among the other commissions.

So far, I have done a lot of work with the Scarlett and Gold Commission with the rest of the councillors. We have had about two meetings and I have been assigned on planning the decorations for our formal events. I have also been actively looking for venues for our formal events.

I have had or have been planning to have one-on-one meetings with the other two commission leaders in order to talk about my role and ideas for the council moving forward. I believe in helping as much as I can and I plan on helping the commission leaders in planning and any logistics they may need an extra hand for.

The VUSAC retreat was also a very insightful time, where I got to learn a lot about how the office operates and got trained in Equity and other important aspects that should be seen in a leader and member of the council. I cannot wait to move forward with my plans with the commissions and see how it all plays out.

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2019-2020

REPORT

COUNCILLOR ELLENOOR SHAMELI

+

Since I was elected councillor, I have been working under various commissions. In particular, I have assisted both the Equity commissioner and co-chair as well as the Communications portfolio.

The Equity Commission held a Vic or Treat Halloween pop-up where we incited meaningful discussions between VCU members about the importance of avoiding Cultural Appropriation when choosing Halloween costumes. I created a mind map of concepts that relate to Cultural Appropriation in order to connect the issue to the larger societal context that it is in. I also stood with other members of the Equity Commission at the pop-up to encourage VCU members to interact with the information while enjoying some candy.

As for Communications, I have been assisting with the advertisements for various events around Victoria College.

Most recently, I posted an advertisement for the Equity Commission’s upcoming Inclusion in Governance panel on both the VUSAC Instagram and Facebook. This should ensure that the event reaches a larger audience and encourages more people to attend. In addition to assisting Equity and Communications, I am part of the Academic Commission.

I have begun to look into the possibility of something similar to an Academic Don role at Victoria College. This is in the very early stages and may change in time as I have only just started researching this role and analyzing its potential at Vic. I plan to continue this research, as well as supporting both the Equity Commission and Academic Co-Chair by assisting with Equity events and advertising for the VCU.

VUSAC

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2019-2020

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COUNCILLOR JENNY ZHANG

+

Hello there! It’s a pleasure to be back on VUSAC to advocate for the VCU and work with another great team. My main focuses as councillor include being informed in voting and improving engagement on the Vic campus through my work on the Academic and Equity commissions.

It’s only been a short while since the newly elected members like myself have been transitioned in, however, I do have tentative visions for what I want to bring to Vic. Firstly, I would like to see an equity training curriculum document come to fruition as a guide to circulate to more students curious about equity, but who are not necessarily able to attend a training session. In previous discussions the possibility of reallocating responsibilities of the Equity Commissioner to spearhead equity training by the addition of a new VP Equity has been brought up; this is a proposal that I support and believe would benefit the productivity of this council.

Next, on the academic commission, I want to increase engagement and interest in test prep / mock admissions test sessions through collaborating with departmental student unions in Artsci.

Additionally, because of my involvement in both Academic and Equity commissions, I will be proposing a jointeffort panel discussion and networking event for Intersectionality in STEM. Thank you for taking the time to read this through.

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CONTACT ADDRESS: 150 Charles Street West Toronto, ON M5S1K9

E-MAIL: communications@vusac.ca

WEBSITE: vusac.ca

PHONE: (416) 585-4473

THANK YOU!