2013-2014 School Year Meeting #2
Date: September 23, 2013
Time:12:00-13:00
Location: SUB 212
In attendance:
Grace Romund (MLIS Co-President)
Kate Clayborne (Secretary)
Mitchell Meler (GSS Representative)
Maria Paraschos (MAS Member-at-Large)
Tracey Leung (Faculty of Arts Representative)
Matthew Murray (Webmaster)
Adena Brons (Dual Member-at-Large)
Stephanie Dror (MACL Member-at-Large)
Michael Wynne (MLIS Member-at-Large)
Helen Halbert (AMS Representative)
Sheena Campbell (Events Coordinator)
Jordan Hatt (Treasurer)
Inti Dewey
Nicole Askin
Kelsey Ockert
Regrets (Excused):
Kathryn Rowswell (GSS Rep)
Roohie Kaur (First Year Rep)
Absent:
None
____________________________________________________________
Meeting called to order by Grace at 12:03 PM.
1. Signing of AMS Waiver
A. All organizations are required to have at least ten people to sign an AMS waiver to prove their existence; the waiver was signed by all present
2. Regrets, Attendance, and Maintenance of Positions
A. Brianna Gormly has stepped down as MAS Rep, and will be replaced by Maria Paraschos
B. Kathryn Rowswell will be replaced as co-GSS Rep by Inti Dewey, as Kathryn is graduating in November
C. It is requested that members of the exec do not change their positions from this point on, and let Grace know if they will be graduating before April
3. Approval of Minutes From Last Meeting
A. Amendment: corrected spelling of Roohie Kaur’s name.
Helen motions, Adena seconds. All in favour, none opposed. The motion passed.
4. Follow up from Orientation A. Grace created an FAQ sheet listing resources related to LASSA, which was handed out to the core classes.
5. Follow up from TRC events
A. General approval of SLAIS/LASSA activity at TRC events.
a. A large number of SLAIS students and faculty attended the Walk for Reconciliation,
and had an “enjoyable and moving morning.”
6. Accreditation Luncheon
A. According to Grace, the external review panel will be visiting SLAIS for two days, October 21 and 22. It is made up of six individuals from various universities and organizations in the US and Canada. They will speak with faculty, staff, and students and possibly visit a number of classes. Grace has a copy of their itinerary. More information about the panellists will be available on posters in SLAIS.
B. On October 21 at 11:45, there will be an invitational meeting in the Chilcotin room for the panel to meet with “student leaders.” These student leaders will be members of the student group execs, invited and selected by SLAIS administration.
C. This meeting will be followed by a 12:00-1:00 meeting open to all SLAIS students in SUB 209. There will be a brown-bag lunch provided.
a. As it is regarding ALA accreditation, MLIS students are our biggest attendance
concern.
b. SLAIS will take care of room reservations and the lunch. They have asked LASSA to
promote.
i. The event will be advertised on the digital screens at SLAIS, on the whiteboard, on various Facebook pages, and over the LASSA email listserv.
ii. Grace will put out an eventbrite
iii. First year students will speak to their classmates during core classes.
c. Is this our responsibility? Will is not just divide attention/attendance from the lunch?
Would anyone even show up?
d. Sheena recommends that this be summed up as an email.
D. SLAIS would like us to set up an information session prior to the visit so that Edie & Caroline can speak with students and explain what is expected of them.
a. Concerns:
i. Is this LASSA’s responsibility?
ii. Will it not divide attention and/or attendance from the actual meeting?
iii. Sheena recommends that the information be summed up and sent in an email to the LASSA listserv along with the announcement of the luncheon meeting
E. The LASSA meeting for that day will need to be rescheduled
a. A replacement date will be determined in the future
F. There will be more information about the meeting with the panel and the accreditation process in general at the next LASSA meeting
7. Lines of Communication with SLAIS
A. Grace met with Mary Grenier
a. Regarding the International Libraries class:
i. Students felt it reflected poorly on SLAIS as a WISE course. Mary was receptive to the criticism and agreed to actively work towards changes. She spoke with Susie, who will pass the criticism on to the professor.
b. Mary and Melissa Nightingale have been working with Grace to create a form letter which will be available through the SLAIS website so that students can make a formalized complaint prior to end-of-term evaluations. Students are free to email the office at any time with their concerns, but this will provide a formalized and streamlined way to do so.
8. Follow up on PEP Surveys
A. Mary Grenier has asked whether, if SLAIS is not able to put any recommendations arising from PEP surveys into place immediately, would the process simply create more
discontentment?
a. The question remains whether this is a worthwhile way for LASSA exec members to
spend their time.
b. Is the Director’s Forum already an adequate avenue for airing issues students may
have? Will increasing the avenues of feedback make a difference if none of them are being acted upon?
i. While the Director’s Forum is not officially documented and end-of-term evaluations are not public, a written survey will provide documentation and hard facts with which LASSA can argue on behalf of the student body.
ii. Even if recommendations are not immediately acted upon, this will provide a record of any patterns of discontentment across cohorts which do need to be addressed.
B. Rick Kopak was largely involved in them before, Mary recommends speaking with him.
C. Michael suggests we do an exploratory, a shorter exploratory survey and decide whether to move forward depending on those results.
a. Grace puts forward the idea of each LASSA exec member doing person-to-person questioning of a small number of students, bringing the answers back to the exec.
b. There is also the possibility of a SurveyMonkey survey.
9. AMS Representative Report
A. Helen: There are no AMS updates that are relevant to SLAIS students.
a. Helen needs a proxy for the October 9th meeting. Exec members are asked to email Grace or Helen to volunteer.
10. GSS Representative Report
A. Mitchell & Inti: a social is planned to bring the grad students from various faculties together, possibly at Koerner’s Pub in the GSS building. More information will follow.
B. There is some debate over funding for holding events within the GSS building. Funding beyond what organizations are initially allocated, but only for events held within the building.
That funding is available for LASSA but has never been used. $3 per person is available for programs over 250 people.
a. Could this funding be put towards LASSA orientation activities, which are already held in the GSS building every fall and winter?
i. Mitchell & Inti will look into it.
11. New Business
A. SLAIS Halloween party?
a. As October 30th is a Wednesday, many students will already be on campus. Sheena
will look into a funding request to hold the party in the GSS building.
B. Treasurer’s Report
a. Grace’s spending for orientation is approved for reimbursement. Sheena and Michael signed the receipts.
b. All sub-groups will receive their $50 funding for the year. Jordan has received their budgets for the year.
c. LASSA currently has about $2500 available. We will be receiving cheque for our portion of student fees from the SLAIS office in a few weeks.
d. LASSA will be giving sponsorships to the MACL conference and the ACA conference in the spring.
e. Jordan would like to know who the treasurers are for the sub-groups.
C. Sheena would like to do a monthly get-together for a pub quiz. Possibly at the Cove. The suggestion was met with approval. She will keep us updated.
Meeting was adjourned by Grace at 1:00 PM.