In a brief meeting on June 2, AMS Council approved an MOU between the AMS and the Graduate Student Society to further advocacy and a Commerce Undergraduate Society fee change.
Here are the details.
Signed, sealed, delivered: AMS & GSS formalize relationship
Council approved an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formalize the AMS and Graduate Student Society (GSS)’s relationship in terms of external advocacy.
The two bodies worked on many joint projects this year — from a provincial voting campaign to UPass negotiations to the first joint lobby week earlier this year.
This MOU, according to AMS VP External Saad Shoaib and former GSS VP External Alireza Kamyabi, will cement the working relationship between the two societies. The GSS already approved the MOU at its council meeting.
Shoaib highlighted a section of the MOU that would exempt GSS members from a Undergraduates of Canadian Research Intensive Universities (UCRU) fee if the federal lobbying did decide to institute a fee — as grad students aren’t represented by UCRU.
“We are turning the page to a new chapter of collaboration between the AMS and GSS,” Shoaib said.
The MOU was approved with little discussion.
Pay less: AMS approves fee reduction for CUS
Council also approved a motion to decrease the Commerce Undergraduate Society’s (CUS) fees this year.
Grace Lee, president of the CUS, presented a motion to decrease the CUS’s student fees this year from the projected $280.85 to $199.
Under the CUS’s constitution, student fees must increase by three per cent each year to account for inflation.
Lee said that this year’s fee should be decreased in the interest of student’s constrained by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to her, the CUS also experienced a profit last year due to conservative spending from executives, meaning that the proposed fee reduction would have little financial impact. This year, the CUS lost $20,000 after backing out of a contract with a student engagement platform.
The motion also passed with little discussion.