Arts and Science Undergraduate Society

We think it is important that students have the ability to view progress on what we, as the Executive, promised during our campaign to run for office. As a result we have decided to post our original platform (from when we ran in January 2010 to acquire this position) and our progress to-date. We welcome any feedback or suggestions you may have! Please email us at president@asus.queensu.ca or vp@asus.queensu.ca.

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Mission Statement:

To increase the value of ASUS to Arts and Science students by revitalizing and reworking ASUS services to more accurately serve the diverse interests and needs of students, by accurately and loyally representing students to a variety of governing bodies, and by alerting students to the variety of opportunities and services that ASUS offers them.

Our 6 Main Proposals in Brief:

1. To market our Society, make it accessible and raise it to its potential by partnering with our Faculty’s website and CFRC, conducting a year-long cyclical marketing campaign, creating an online opportunity calendar, and ensuring a neat and professional environment at the ASUS Core.

2. To revitalize our services by expanding the MindFind Tutoring program to the Kingston community, installing utilities in the Red Room and reforming the way AMT currently operates.

3. To increase the Executive’s financial accountability by using monthly Board of Directors meetings to review the Society’s current financial status.

4. To incorporate the opinions and concerns of international students in the doings of the Society by allocating a non-voting seat on ASUS Assembly to an International Student Representative.

5. Revise ASUS’ Constitution and Policy to improve the efficiency, agreement, and intent of our Society’s guiding documents.

6. To create a Student Faculty Board Caucus with Department Student Council’’s a few days in advance of Faculty Board meetings to properly discuss the coming agenda and better represent our constituents.

Main Platform points (long version):

1. The Arts and Science Undergraduate Society is the largest purely undergraduate society at Queen’s. It would therefore be logical that it is the one with the most representation, participation and awareness. What we want to do is expand our marketing campaigns by partnering with our very own faculty’s website so that incoming students can start reading and learning about us during the summer. We plan to also create an online opportunity calendar so that students are more aware of the different opportunities to get involved with ASUS throughout the entire school year. Furthermore, we will run a year-long cyclical marketing campaign where we do two weeks of intense marketing of the Society followed by two non-marketed weeks. Moreover, we believe that the Executive should have a weekly radio show at CFRC, like Rico has had for almost two years, to update students on what is going on with their Society. Additionally, we will make the ASUS Core more accessible so that students can go there in between classes if they just want a spot to relax, use the Internet, or hang out with friends. Finally, we will ensure that the ASUS Core is always tidy and professional looking by altering the house-manager’s job description and finding alternatives in the event that no house-manager has been hired.

2. The ASUS Movie Theatre (AMT) is still a work in progress with a lot of potential. In the past, the AMT had been able to screen movies during the waiting process between theatres and DVD release. By approaching local movie theatres, we want to re-establish a similar relationship; however, we will also continue helping interest groups and clubs on campus by showing movies of their choice to raise awareness on different issues and help with their campaigns/events. Similarly, we will expand the training that MindFind tutors currently undergo and approach local schools in the Kingston community to make the service reach and benefit more people while making it overall more professional. By partnering with local schools we will not only help those local students in need of academic help but we would also provide members of our Society with more job opportunities. Lastly, we will install utilities in the Red Room to set the foundations for the future expansion and delivery of a profitable service that benefits the Queen’s community and Society as a whole.

3. As elected representatives, we need to make sure that we are held accountable for our actions and decisions throughout the school year, after all, we are managing student funds. Having said this, we want to maintain financial records and conduct a case study of the current way internal accounts work for the society. Additionally, we want to expand the role of the ASUS Board of Directors (BoD) to be more than simply a long-term planning committee whose main purpose is to establish a new service for the society. Board-members are quite knowledgeable on the current society affairs and we can use their experience to provide students with an assurance that their money is being used in a responsible and logical manner. In terms of budgeting, we will continue the approval of the budget by the ASUS Assembly at the beginning of the year and will update Assembly during the mid-year Vice-President presentation; however, we would like to expand financial accountability by having the BoD meet once a month and have the Executive present the financial status of the Society to board-members at these meetings. Through this system, board-members can have an idea and a say, throughout the year, on financial manners, adding and supporting Assembly’s role to keep the Executive accountable on a bi-annual basis.

4. With the increase in international student fees that passed at the December 3rd and 4th meetings of the Board of Trustees, it has become apparent that there was an insufficient amount of consultation with international students in regards to the impact that the decision would have on them. With this in mind, Garcia-Peterson proposes that we add an international student studying in the Arts and Science Faculty to ASUS Assembly as a non-voting member. The International Student Representative will be able to communicate the opinions and interests of international students to ASUS Assembly on a variety of issues. This additional view point will help to improve ASUS’ ability to formulate, evaluate, and execute new initiatives and to help ASUS deal with current student issues. We will work with the Queen’s University International Centre (QUIC) and other methods of on-campus advertising to alert international students about this opportunity and then have ASUS Assembly elect an International Student Representative from a pool of interested individuals at the last Assembly meeting in March 2011.

5. By sitting at ASUS Assembly over the last few years, we have been able to see that ASUS’ Constitution and Policy needs a full revision and update. So far, the current Executive have focused a lot on reforming Constitution so that it accurately reflects the needs of the society and its members as a whole; however, it is evident that more reform and analysis is needed. For example, Constitution currently states that the Chief Returning Officer (CRO) and Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) have to be approved by ASUS Assembly, but the way things are at the moment, the CEO is by default ASUS Assembly’s Speaker, which makes this rule unnecessary. Like this, there are diverse points and clauses in Constitution and Policy that contradict the spirit of a different point. One of our goals is to continue this reformation so that ASUS’ Constitution and Policy can work effectively by accurately representing the current needs and workings of the Society.

6. Here at Queen’s, we are lucky to have student representatives in most of the decision-making organs that alter the quality of our education. Through our experience with the University Senate and the Arts and Science Faculty Board, we have been able to identify that whenever students come together we can have the greatest influence. Currently, student Senators hold Senate Caucus meetings a few days in advance of Senate meetings to discuss the main points of interests for the coming meetings; we believe that implementing a similar system with the different Department Student Councils can be very beneficial towards advancing student interest at the Faculty level. This is why we propose to create Student Faculty Board Caucus meetings to unite as students and properly represent our constituents as public servants.