THE GRIND NEVER STOPS: Congress Weekly – October 16th, 2020
Written by Si Wen Shen
Edited by Bhromor Rahman
Students were busy during these two weeks of midterms, and that includes the members of Congress. A few couldn’t make it to the meeting last Friday, but they are still working hard to organize MSU behind the scenes.
First Year Committees
Our first-year Congress committees are now formed! There were many more applications than expected. Interviews are done and acceptance letters have been sent. These committees will soon be active, so look forward to that!
Student Insurance
As touted in previous articles, Congress is considering getting student insurance for Marianopolis. Due to some unpleasant past experiences (referring to student unions from other CEGEPS), they will not consider Plan Major. It seems that Vanier has partnered with Studentcare, who have partnerships with many universities across Canada. This may not be necessary for some Marianopolis students, so Congress will first inquire about the student body’s interest in student insurance before proceeding with planning. Of course, they will also discuss it with the school administration.
Social Justice Committee
After a relatively successful movie night, the Social Justice Committee has decided to hold a movie night every Friday, with movies of various genres that feature some form of social justice. They are still looking into having a common Netflix account, and finishing the Spotify playlist.
Unfortunately however, the Tell Us Your Story project has been canceled due to a serious lack of participants.
Ted Talk
Congress is planning intercollegiate talks in cooperation with CASAQ inspired from the TED Talk format. Current plans are to recruit from the Marianopolis Ted Talk Club first, and then open applications for the entire student body.
Escape Room
As on-campus activities are currently impossible, Congress has been looking into organizing an online escape room for Marianopolis students. After some consultation, it will be about 800$ for 500 students, but they could maybe buy the licensing, making it available for the entire MSU with a one-time purchase.
Circle for Reconciliation
The intercollegiate Circle of Reconciliation on October 15th was a great success. Considering the short amount of time for preparations, it was difficult to find a large number of Indigenous participants, but those that did come were from very diverse locations across Canada. There are plans to expand this activity for the next semester as there is not enough time to do so this semester. Congress is in touch with other institutions, including student groups at John Abbott College, to organize future sessions.
Academic Integrity Task Force
Administration has proposed to include two students in the Academic Integrity Task Force. Congress suggests to have at least one second year student, as they would be more familiar with the procedures and methods of Marianopolis. The two students appointed on Monday, October 19th were Yena Lee, Congress Financial Assistant, and Emma Rodriguez, a non-Congress representative and member of the Student Advocacy Committee.
Halloween
Many activities are in the works to have a fun Halloween off-campus. There will be a pumpkin carving contest with a prize for the winner and a horror movie will be streamed likely on Facebook, but Zhaoran is also looking into other possible platforms. There was a suggestion for an inter-club game or competition, as well as a collaboration with other cegeps.
Congress Meeting Procedures
Some members have noted that weekly Congress meetings can end up being considerably long, therefore many propositions have been made in order to shorten the meeting length. Meetings will be reserved for matters on which Congress members need to vote or need to discuss in group. Updates about already ongoing projects will be excluded from the meeting and will simply be posted in the members’ common work platform. Of course, updates will be regularly provided to MWR.
