Students’ Council: Feb. 3, 2011

by on February 9, 2011 in News

VICTORIA MARTINEZ
Senior News Editor

Special general meeting to eliminate VP external

Vice president external affairs Blair Shumlich wants to see his executive position eliminated next year.

He says that the portfolio of his position is restricted and that his role can be filled by the other members of the executive.

“There just hasn’t been enough for me to do in this position for the last year,” Shumlich said, adding that he had “been looking at this for the majority of the year” and was sure the position was unnecessary.

Citing the 2008-09 scholastic year, when Nicole Kenney stepped down from her position on the executive, Shumlich said a four-person executive would be perfectly effective. In fact, he believes that the arrangement would encourage more compromise and co-operation within the executive on close decisions.

In order to remove the position — or to keep it, if students vote that way — council called a special general meeting for March 3.

To remove the position, there will be a change to the bylaws that govern the USSU. All students are invited to vote.

Rise in health and dental fee approved

Kristin Foster, the Pacific and Western Regional Director for StudentCare, explained the student health care plan to councillors.

The plan, which has been in place since 2001, provides students with coverage for what medicare doesn’t offer.

Currently about 71 per cent of all claims under the plan are for pay-direct drugs. Another five per cent are for drug reimbursements. The remainder is divided between eyecare and emergency medical costs.

An overall raise of 6.1 per cent to the current StudentCare fee passed at council. This will cover a $1.25 increase to the yearly health plan and a $12.55 addition to the dental plan.

The first quarter of this school year saw a 20 per cent rise in claims to the dental plan, thus the significant increase to the dental fee. If the StudentCare compensation fee — which is based on that first quarter data — is lower than predicted, students will see an increase in benefits.

A detailed description of StudentCare services is available at ihaveaplan.ca.

Education priorities for official opposition

The Saskatoon-Massey New Democratic Party representative, Cam Broten, visited council to update them on the development of the NDP’s platform for next year’s election.

Broten is the official opposition council for advanced education, and focused on issues close to students.

He cited affordability of housing, rent and tuition as the most important issues. He also touched on the importance of childcare at the U of S, which has been a focus of this year’s students’ union.

The NDP platform for the November election is still under review, and will be released in more detail at their March convention.


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  • Ronald Ray Gun

    Perhaps if Shumlich actually attempted to do something in his position then it would be relevant. Last year Stoicheff demonstrated that there are countless meaningful projects and initiatives that the VP External may undertake but it depends entirely on the work ethic of the person in the position.

    Some advice, Blair: Don't think of your job as something that has "duties"; think of it as one that provides you with enormous opportunity and make an effort to do something constructive with it.

    Note: leaving intrinsically conflictive socio-political ideologies at the door would be a good start.

  • Blair Shumlich

    I'd be curious to know who you are, Mr. Ray Gun, what my "intrinsically conflictive socio-political ideologies" are, and how you could possibly know what my ideology is. Alas, you didn't use your name the first time so I suspect you won't in the future.

    I'm sure you aren't interested in listening, but it's my job–an unfortunate "duty", one might say–to be open about these things. You might find it interesting to note that the Executive motioned for this first–including Stoicheff. That makes a current VP-External and a past VP-External both in favour of eliminating the position. There was also the 2008-2009 executive, which had the opportunity to experience and executive with and without a VP-External; they decided the organization would be better off without the position. Something worth considering.

    Further, my role is to do what is best for students. If I didn't think this was in students' best interest why would I, at the end of my term when I could just move along quietly, put myself in a position where I could have my name dragged through the mud? The case in point being you: you questioned my value system, my work ethic, and suggested that I don't know my own job; doesn't this sound like something every person who doesn't care would love to be subjected to?

    Perhaps you shall consider these points before you are so quick to judge, my dear friend.

    Peace, love and good will.

  • Blair Shumlich

    Man, that was some terrible grammar. I should proofread what I write.

  • Joseph Smith

    LMFAO, THAT MOTHER FUCKING FIRST COMMENT WAS SO CHRIS STOICHEFF.

    • http://thesheaf.com thesheaf

      All caps? Really?

    • Blair Shumlich

      ONLY 2 CAPS? REALLY?

    • Karol

      Wow, I'm really surprised that wasn't me.

  • Blair

    Why did you continue to stay on the executive if you felt your position was meaningless? You could have saved students some money.

  • Blair Shumlich

    That's the plan, other Blair. I've been interested in getting rid of the position since July, but was routinely told that I should hold off judgement until I had most of a year under my belt. Now that the year is nearly done, the Executive has decided to move on this issue. Had stepped down, the position would continue to exist, costing students more in the long term. Now students will be saved the money every year.

  • Blair

    By stepping down in July you would have saved students money and still could have called for the elimination of the position. Instead you remained in the position taking money from students which could have been better spent.

  • Nancy Ray Gun

    I'd like to comment on behalf of my husband, Ronald.

    Mr. Shumlich, I believe the executive voted in favour of bringing the matter to a Special General Meeting, not in favour of eliminating the position.

    I'd like to ask a couple of questions that relate to your view of your position and its usefulness. Firstly, during the elections you promised that you would attend every City Council meeting in order to represent student views. Did you fulfill this promise? Secondly, the USSU has said it is dedicated to building bridges between the U of S student community and the Saskatoon/Saskatchewan Aboriginal communities through its We Are All Treaty People campaign and its declaration of commitment to learning with the Office of the Treaty Commissioner. Have you been meeting with Aboriginal leaders regularly to support this declaration or come up with ideas to advertise these commitments to the U of S student body? Thirdly, have you been meeting with federal government officials to advocate on behalf of U of S students since the USSU is not a member in any national student lobby organizations? Fourthly, can you say you've been a dedicated member of the Saskatchewan Student Coalition to advocate for students on the provincial level? If you believe you have fulfilled all of these roles and still think the position is irrelevant, then I take back mine and my husband's comments.

    • John Edward Ray Gun

      I would like to comment on behalf of my son, Ronald.

      ROFL at Stoicheff's platform and 'Initiatives.'

      The We Are All Treaty People campaign was launched by Stoicheff and is therefore not under the portfolio of the VP External, but rather that of the President. I agree that if an Executive member decides to undertake an initiative, they should see it through.

      I also agree that the Saskatchewan Student Coalition is handicapped by the weakest members. The question becomes what has the organization ever done to build credibility or brand equity? The answer is not much. While started by President Stoicheff, the organization has done little beyond publishing narrowly circulated and poorly recieved policy brief.

  • Blair Shumlich

    If you have real questions come to the SGM and I'll be more than happy to answer them–to your face and real name. I'd love to see Ronald Reagan show up; that would be some real government relations.

    But yes, internet comment boards are not the place for civil discourse over these issues, but I'll be more than happy to answer the questions at the SGM.

    Cheers!

  • http://judaspriest.com/ Judas Iscariot

    It's all fine and dandy to have these interesting and provocative comments posed to Vice President External Blair Shumlich, but are we not, as a student body missing the real story in all of this? The person who truly needs to be purged from the ranks of the USSU is not Blair Shumlich.

    Its the dastardly and inept Kelsey Topola. She is single handedly wreaking havoc upon our institutions. Sure she's intelligent, witty, and well rounded; but is she anything more than just a pretty face? She brings shame on an otherwise professional executive.

    We need to harken back to the ideal image of a student leader. Someone staid, boring, pale and unprincipled. We need more Chris Stoicheff. We need him working diligently on boring our elected leaders with our mundane and trivial concerns. We need him blathering on with beleaguered optimism about students, all the while decrying our lot in life. We need him making uninspiring speeches and collecting .06% of the vote. What would we do if we lost our dear leader? Without that trademark beard or hipster attire – who could we look to for our future?

    If we could just model all USSU executive members off of Chris Stoicheff. I would have unbridled optimism for our future.

  • John Negorponte
  • http://www.facebook.com/ishmaeldaro Ishmael N. Daro

    Boooooooring.