All Posts Tagged With: "McMaster Students Union"
Voter turnout up 33% at Western, down at McMaster
Two more student elections to note. Voter turnout is up at the University of Western Ontario where 9,470 students voted in the student union elections this week. Western has about 25,000 undergraduate students. Emily Rowe, whose campaign video was the topic of one my recent posts, won with 3,957 votes. Voter turnout was down at [...]
Two more student elections to note.
Voter turnout is up at the University of Western Ontario where 9,470 students voted in the student union elections this week. Western has about 25,000 undergraduate students. Emily Rowe, whose campaign video was the topic of one my recent posts, won with 3,957 votes.
Voter turnout was down at McMaster University with only 13 per cent of students voting. Vishal Tiwari, the current vice-president education of the McMaster Students’ Union, won the preferential vote with 59.27% of votes after eight rounds of counting. Tiwari received 861 first choice votes.
Despite deficits, student pols increase their pay
SCSU and MSU vote to increase pay; despite poor balance sheets and performance.
A story in The Strand this week reports the undergraduate student union at the Scarborough campus of the University of Toronto voted to increase their pay despite financial difficulties facing the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union.
The SCSU voted to increase executive pay by more than 30 per cent earlier this academic year.
Student union president Zuhair Syed told The Strand the student union executive were unable to sustain themselves on a salary of over $20,000 per year. “”We can’t even sustain ourselves. Many executives I know who have to take other jobs, even two part-time jobs, just in order to survive.”
Really? I know people who sustain themselves on less; they’re called students.
The SCSU is not the only group of student politicians increasing their bank balances from a dry well.
The McMaster Students Union executive are receiving a whopping 22 per cent pay raise after student politicians there decided they were underpaid as well.
Much like the SCSU, the student union at McMaster is facing a financial crisis and is making cutbacks to its campus bar.
The MSU’s financial situation is more serious, with student union going from a $615,202 surplus in 2006/07 to a $41,879 deficit in 2007/08, the last year financial audits are available.
The MSU bar, Quarters, recorded a $425,000 lost in 2007/08. Overall, the MSU bar has lost nearly $900,000 dollars in the last six years.
The financial situation didn’t stop student politicians from giving each other pay raises, as reported by The Silhouette.
(Disclosure: I contribute to The Silhouette but was not involved in this article.)
The wage of the McMaster Students Union president increase from $25,699 per year to $31,460 plus benefits and perks. The MSU president’s benefits worth are over $8,000 per year. The MSU president is provided a rent-free apartment, health and dental benefits, and transit passes. The MSU pays $8,000 for the president’s on-campus apartment. With taxable benefits, the MSU president’s compensation tops $40,000 per year.
Vice-presidents are seeing their salary increase from $25,688 per year to $31,460. The MSU also increased compensation for committee chairs from a $750 per year honourium to $2,340.
Sure, the student unions’ bank balances may be decreasing; but that’s no reason for student union politicians to forgo increasing their own balances. After all, they are only acting like “real world” politicians.
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A question to the readers: does anyone know of a student union compensating its president more than $40,000? Do you know the compensation rate at your student union? If so, please email me; I’m going to create a chart for public reference. Email: joey@joeycoleman.ca
The McMaster Students Union: "Leaders in student democracy"
Yesterday was the last day of classes at McMaster University in Hamilton. The GO train I was on was busier than usual with many students travelling home and not returning to the McMaster campus until the days of their exams. The McMaster Students’ Union is taking advantage of this to hold its annual general meeting, [...]
Yesterday was the last day of classes at McMaster University in Hamilton. The GO train I was on was busier than usual with many students travelling home and not returning to the McMaster campus until the days of their exams.
The McMaster Students’ Union is taking advantage of this to hold its annual general meeting, known as a General Assembly, when students are not on campus.
The General Assembly will be held today (Thursday) specifically to prevent quorum.
Why would they do this?
It all goes back to two years ago when a group of students (many in Engineering) and I got together to try to make at a general assembly. There were many motions proposed, some of which pushed for greater accountability within the students union.
We had about 66% of quorum. So, sadly, all the purposed reforms died.
Even since then, the MSU has discontinued its practice of holding two GAs, one in October and the other in February. Instead, they hold them when they know students are unlikely to attend and call this a commitment to student democracy.
The sad part, they actually believe themselves.
UAlberta SU joins CASA
4th SU to join in the last year
Steven Dollansky, VP External of the University of Alberta Students’ Union, posts that the UASU is joining the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations.
I predicted this back in the fall and predict that the McMaster Students Union will be joining sometime this year.
