- that, together we can make a more relevant, consultative government that actually improves the lives of our peers. We do this by making a smoothly run, professional council. We will never make decisions without your knowledge, we will work with you. All that we ask for is your honesty, your commitment and your professionalism. Internally we have two main expectations: professionalism and structure. We will hold you and ourselves to a very high standard. We want a distinction between personal and professional. When you’re in the office, hold yourself to a professional standard. Hold yourself to these standards. This is your job, and we will hold you to them. Don’t treat the office as a hang-out space while on office hours. We want VUSAC to be inclusive this year. We want it to be accessible by not acting like a club, but like a public service.
- • Gabe: Another thing we want is to have a cohesive structure within council. Not of superiority, but in the sense that different positions have different expertise. We want a hierarchy of understanding of what people’s roles are. If you have an issue for example that is administrative you would talk to me or Ben, rather than a first year councillor. The same would go with equity, and sustainability. In years past this collaboration has not existed or if it did, it was through councillors.
- • Ben: We want to put in place a policy of publishing committee attendance; a huge part of observing structure and standards is showing up. We also want to make sure that you all understand your fiduciary duty by creating a policy document as well as through general office orientation, equity workshops, et cetera. With regards to external expectations, we want to reform VUSAC internally to be as efficient as possible so as to increase awareness of VUSAC in the student body. Keep in mind our public interactions with the student body. These come in many forms.
- • Gabe: Specific ways to increase our presence are online through our social media. There has been activity to ensure that we actually own our domain name. As well, we want to increase our presence during frosh week. We’ve already been talking to Apurva and Bergita about this. In the past there was pizza with VUSAC, now we want other events that VUSAC can participate in or even run. For example, VUSAC-led Goldring tours.
- • Ben: Another major policy priority for us is the sexual assault and mental health focus groups. We’re going to be starting those off this month and basically the goal of these groups is to get as many perspectives on Vic’s resources to come up with student perspectives to influence and add to protocols.
- • Gabe: We have got a ton of applications, all groups will be very safe, comfortable spaces for those who may feel overwhelmed. We have enlisted the help of some former Dons, who are trained with sensitivity training, to provide safe spaces. We also talked to Darren and Thomas about Cat’s Eye Concerts. We want to have one in September. We have a list of bands and acts lined up, still sorting out ticketing and whatnot, but this is super exciting. The final issue is the UTSU. Multiple issues, a large issue. Brighter is in. That’s great. They have been very friendly to us, and very good to work with. As it stands there is an October deadline to create a new board of directors for the UTSU. If this isn't voted on in an AGM, the UTSU dissolves. It ceases to exist. After that the next more relatable entity takes over assets for that corporation. We don’t know exactly what that entity is yet, there’s a lot of speculation. This is the first non CFS backed slate in 13 or 14 years, we’re working with people who are normally not paid to do such work and are students themselves, who just want to see the best possible outcome, so we’re all working towards a proposal. There are two so far, with a purely Mississauga one with no Saint George collaboration or anything,

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