ArtSci Assembly
October 22, 2014
Present
President
VP Internal
VP External
VP Communications
VP Finance
VP FYA
VP Academic
SASSS Vp External
SACS VP External
NiRC Co-chair
Arts & Science SSMU Rep
Arts & Science Senator
President
 -PAC meeting last week
o -half meeting was spent talking about cognitive science
o -general information about state of program
o -636 students registered as of this year
o -got more applicants than expected this year
o -25 artscis transferred into arts and 21 into science last year
o -arts had net transfer in of 2%
o -program doing well; admission standards similar to last year (~88.5% min avg)
o -lack of resources addressed
 -cogsci students not being able to get into classes they need
 -nothing will be changing with the program as of now
o -academic survey was sent out to students, received good input
 -results will be presented next PAC meeting
 -plan to get McGill back up to the top being discussed
o -interdisciplinary was mentioned 27 times!
 -room bookings done under BASiC
o -currently looking into how many hours departments could get booked from
BASiC
o -will be changing bylaws
o -AUS and SUS consider us as department whereas SSMU sees us as faculty
 -Know Your Fees campaign will be looked into by committee
o -coming up with pamphlet that can easily be shown to students about where their
fees are going
 -meeting with presidents under SUS soon
o -discussion based round table between all presidents
o -will be talking about state of SUS and matters affecting science
o -suggestions for issues to bring up(?)
 -looking into Burnside basement renovations
 -C2C planning is underway
ArtSci Assembly
October 22, 2014
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-Jan 31st and Feb 1st
-submitted room booking today for SSMU ballroom
-have some speakers selected
-for student accommodations will be approaching hotels, student residences or
student
stays (will be sending out applications)
-social media promotion coming in next two weeks
MAC
 -Nov 20th, four professors from school of environment coming in
o -room booking in leacock from 6-8pm
 -send any listserv blurbs to communications@mcgillbasic.com
 -trying to plan curling event in February
 -have a wine & cheese for Jan 22nd
VP Academic
 -got about 30 responses for survey
o -BASC 201 had mixed reviews
o -will be concentrating on what students like and dislike about it
 -tutoring sessions went really well
 -sitting on Academic round table meetings
o -talk about the library a lot
o -most important thing would be 24 hour access
SACS - Secretary
 -two yoga sessions Nov 11th 13th
 -great research day last week
 -new office on McTavish, started office hours
 -clothing orders due next week
NiRC
 -event calling for new applications
o -still missing a couple of positions
o -trying to find new candidates
o -first meeting next week
o -have 6/8 committee members
 -not liking the name "NiRC" too much --> can bring motion to assembly
o -confusion about the national part
VP External
 -could talk to Library Improvement Committee about lobbying to get extra hours for
library access
 -room bookings for SACS have not been answered by SSMU
 -started doing blog posts, they are available on basic website
ArtSci Assembly
October 22, 2014
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-at Nov 18th there will be a caramel apple/popcorn sale at Y-intersection
-working charity directory with External committee
-SUS GA tomorrow
o -two motions being present
 -space improvement fee & science undergrad fee
o -tomorrow in Lea 132 at 6:30pm
-last AUS council
o -Dean of Arts came in to talk
 -will be cutting arts internship office because of lack of funds
 -proposing separate fee for students
 -would be $67.50 a year per full time student
 -for first 5 years it would go to arts internship office endowment
 -potentially increasing tuition instead
 -after the 5 years, fee would stop being paid for arts internship and start
going
towards advising (would be same cost)
 -there is talk about having opt-out fee
 -would also be getting private donor support for this
o -consultation will be focused on whether students want this to happen
o -thinking of implementing hiring freeze, lacking advisors
o -asked about why they are rolling in money
 -MBA program is privatized
MESSS
 -last event of semester will be potluck Nov 19th
VP Internal
 -semi-formal is this Friday, get everyone to comes
o -open bar for two hours
 -went to frosh debrief meeting today
o verbal responses most useful
o great leaders this year
o artsci event had big turnout
o overall great positive feedback
 apartment crawl with ArtSci & Biology
Nov. 20th is confirmed as date*
blurb will be sent out in listservs
tickets will be $15
VP FYA
 potentially going to have laser quest night event late November
VP ERO
 -helping out with semi & C2C
ArtSci Assembly
October 22, 2014
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-got food sponsorship for semi
VP Finance
 -clothing samples are now in office
 -orders due on Nov. 7th
 -have SACS & SASSS budgets
ArtSci Rep to SSMU
 -SSMU GA
o -had informal discussion at council
o -deadlines for motions can only be submitted 2 wks before so did not have
enough time to book other rooms
o -can talk to councils about any problems with GA if you have complaints or
concerns
o -can talk to ArtSci Rep or Senator directly
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-Elections SSMU J board was dropped
o -did not go to j board hearing, both sides agreed upon Elections SSMU resigning
and will
hold new recruitment process as stated in the bylaws
o -Ben Fung and others have to step down but they can reapply
o -council as a whole will be looking into elections hiring and bylaws
o -Ben wants to create committee of students that could also help with decisions
o -nominating committee is already created
SSMU makes nominating decision by --> HR decision as well as nominating committee
and then to council
-council on Thursday
o -budget going to be presented and approved
o -on SSMU website there is a budget featured
-24 hour library access funding
o -SSMU has library improvement fund ~ $850 for fulltime students
o -since fund was created, it has been used to pay for extended hours in library
o -argument is that extended hours are operational cost
o -fund pays 250,000$/year to McLennan, Schulich, and Law
o -question for students is: Do you think 24 hour library access is something
university should pay for?
 -most agree that McGill should pay and if they refuse, then fund should
be used
o -McGill is not obligated to offer 24 hour access but it is something they should
provide'
-lights in study spaces
o -should lights be added to study spaces where it is dark(?)
Senator
 -access to books in library
ArtSci Assembly
October 22, 2014
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o -McGill could be looking into extra book storage
-had senate meeting on Oct 22
o -there were questions asked regarding McGill's approach to student discipline
(assault, etc)
o -questions about sexual assault
o -talked about off campus program initiatives
-Know Your Rights Campaign
o -big initiative of senate this year
o -extending student rights
o -figuring out how to get policy that takes into consideration student rights and
how to implement its
o -recommend anyone who is interested to get involved
-Sexual Assault Policy
o -there are a lot of proactive measures going to be institutionalized
-Mental Health Awareness Week coming up
o -talked about having a forum where people can talk about their accommodation
during mental health crisis at McGill (challenges, barriers, accessibility to
advising)
o -if anyone knows someone who would like to talk about their experience,
important that they share --> university can fix these problems
-today was Senate Board Meeting
o -theme was community engagement, research & innovation
o -talked about breaking down barriers - combining efforts of different faculties
o -was a lot of talk about interdisciplinary programs
 -they should provide support to artsci program
VP Communications
 -starting photography club, everyone can put it in their listservs
o -photographers could be used at ArtSci events