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thegazette • Friday, March 15, 2013
Council passes 2013–14 budget Iain Boekhoff Gazette Staff After two hours of spirited debate, the 2013–14 University Students’ Council budget passed at the first half of the Annual General Meeting Wednesday night. The budget made it through the debate intact, meaning main campus students will see a $22.69 increase in student fees. Tony Ayala, vice-president finance for the USC, was pleased the budget was passed in its entirety. “This is an exciting budget for students next year,” Ayala said in an interview. “It includes some amazing growth for the USC, such as reallocations to increase the number of paid student internships with the organization, re-align our operations with students’ needs with the creation of the new Creative Services and allocating more funds to the grants system.” Jordan Coop, president of the Faculty of Information and Media Studies Students’ Council, and Michael Zawalski, president of the Undergraduate Engineering Society, led the charge against the budget in the debate. Coop was concerned with the lack of alternatives to a new $2 service stabilization fee, as well as increasing the cost of education when the USC has been saying it should be more affordable.
Zawalski thought the planned cash injection of $250,000 to help offset an anticipated budget shortfall meant the USC was engaging in risky behaviour when it could be making cuts to services where too much money was being spent.
I think it’s rather complacent of us to just sit here and sign off on this budget. —Michael Zawalski
President of the Undergraduate Engineering Society
“There is a very real risk that, by approving this budget as it exists, the USC could fall below its minimum $1 million cash balance threshold,” Zawalski said at council, referring to a USC policy mandating council maintain a minimum of $1 million in its bank account. Ayala said the $1 million cash balance policy is an internal policy, and it in no way means the USC is in financial trouble if it falls below that threshold. “I think it’s rather complacent of us to just sit here and sign off on this budget and say, ‘We need to maintain service levels. We can’t make the cuts now because we don’t know what cuts to make,’” Zawalski said in
CHRW signs off on station upgrades
the debate. “I think it’s true. We don’t know what the cuts that need to be made are in this budget, but I think to say that there are no cuts in this budget that could be made is completely unfair.” Concerns were also raised about the accessibility of the budget to councillors and students, how effectively money was being spent for each student, as well as how input from councillors and students was being incorporated into the budget. “During the consultations for the weeks prior, many councillors voiced that they wished for new budget policies in the future. It was discussed in the weeks prior that there was a possibility of many new innovations to the budget process, and the USC supports many of these changes but wanted to discuss them on the open floor of council,” Ayala said. “The USC will be looking at its budget process and how to incorporate student input earlier on.” When all was said and done, the budget was passed by the majority of council, with only a few against the motion. “A budget should never pass without constructive discussion and debate. Councillors work to ensure that students interests are being addressed in the budget,” Ayala said. “Upon completing a very constructive dialogue about the budget and process, the budget was passed by an overwhelming majority.”
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Cameron Wilson Gazette
Kaitlyn Oh Gazette Staff During Wednesday night’s council meeting, CHRW announced their plan to make $130,000 worth of improvements to their existing studio space. The money will go toward major upgrades in their production studio and live floor, which is the area where bands perform live to air. The changes will primarily involve sound-proofing the live floor, purchasing a new professional-grade recording console and aesthetic renovations. Grant Stein, station manager for CHRW, emphasized how the improvements would provide students with more opportunities. “We’re doing the changes so we can bring live bands in to play and showcase local talent and Western talent,” Stein said. “It will also give an opportunity to students in general—especially students who aren’t in the music faculty—to perform in a live-to-air environment.” The opportunities will not only extend to performers and artists, but would also help budding music producers. “We’re hoping to integrate training for students who are interested in areas like music production,” he said. “They’ll be able to come in and learn from local professionals about how to work professionalgrade equipment or tackle harder
technical tasks.” Jeremy Santucci, vice-president communications for the University Students’ Council and the chair of CHRW’s board of directors, echoed these sentiments. “Ultimately, we are hoping the studio improvements and service will draw more students to the station and provide more value and opportunity to students in the Western community who fund a large portion of CHRW’s budget.” Adam Fearnall, USC president, initially proposed these upgrades in his election platform last year. “Adam brought the idea forward to CHRW early in his term,” Santucci said. “The board approved the idea for the music studios service in principle after the station manager Grant Stein provided us with some more information on what the project would entail.” Fortunately, the $130,000 plan will not cost students any additional money. “CHRW receives their funds from a student fee, but there will be no increase because of this project. It all comes out of CHRW’s standard student fee,” Stein confirmed. “We have basically been saving this money up over a series of years, and every so often a project comes up that we think is worth investing into.” Construction on the improvements is set to start this summer and finish before September.
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