Congress Weekly: Budget, Collaborations, and New Congress Office Policy!
October 27, 2023
After a photoshoot with their committee members, Congress sat down in the boardroom for their weekly meeting. This week’s Congress meeting was short and sweet: a post-mortem for the karaoke that wasn’t announced correctly, a review of the MSU budget, and an overview of some potential collaborations… A calm week with interesting updates and information!
Prepare for Spirit Week!
Activities organised by clubs were held in the student lounge during AP on Halloween! Pumpkin carving, candy prizes, and more! Moreover, a dance party is happening in F-105 during AP on Thursday! The Coordinator of Cultural Affairs wishes to see as many people there as possible.
Open House
On November 12, the College will be organising its Open House to welcome new students, and Congress is invited to come help as student representatives. Due to it being on the same week as SSUNS, an extracurricular activity for Model UN, many members of Congress will be unable to attend. However, their committee members might be there to fill in for them.
Breakfast with Leaders
Congress discussed whether to partially subsidize the entry fee for the Breakfast with Leaders happening soon and decided against the idea. Congress came to the conclusion that subsidizing will not help increase the amount of participants drastically. Moreover, the current semester budget is limited and the activity is happening on a school day. So, after some consideration, it is better for students to participate using their own funds.
Surgery Kits for the Scalpel Society
The Scalpel Society’s request for the MSU to purchase surgery kits was rejected after some discussion. The current request is unclear and Congress needs more details concerning budgetary requirements before accepting such a request. Moreover, the club has already received a grant concerning surgery kits, so further funding through a collaboration would be unnecessary.
Collaboration with a Brébeuf Club
Last week, Congress received a volunteering collaboration proposal from a Brébeuf club representative. Interestingly, instead of simply being mailed electronically, the representative came in person to the College and submitted the proposal under the form of a folder of printed documents written entirely in French. Congress considered the proposal and said that they will read it over, but also suggested between them that it is better for the collaboration to be made with one of the charity or volunteering clubs at the College. More details to come.
New Policy for the Congress Office
Congress faces its biggest challenge yet: agreeing on a policy with respect to allowing their friends in the Congress office. After multiple votes, a decision was barely reached with the majority choosing not to allow friends in their office during any office hours! Details concerning Congress office hours can be found on the MSU Instagram page.
MSU Semester Budget
Congress reviewed their semester budget this week and are preparing to present it during the upcoming Bi-Annual General Assembly (BAGA). For this year, Congress decided not to use MSU funds to buy Merch for themselves. Instead, members will individually choose whether or not to buy it using their personal funds. Moreover, as a fun fact, some resources such as chargers and Tylenol available at Wayne’s World are purchased through the MSU budget, making them freely available to members of the MSU. A detailed breakdown of the semester budget and the surplus from previous years will be presented at BAGA, so don’t forget to come see where your student association money is going!
Waste Water Analysis Lab Project with the Marianopolis Research Team
After reviewing the budget for a lab activity in collaboration with the Marianopolis Research Team (MRT), Congress voted to accept a part of the proposed budget. For the rest of the budget that includes things such as equipment, Congress suggested to the MRT to first look into what the labs currently have available for students to use. With respect to the obtainment of better equipment or funds, members of Congress suggested multiple ideas: the club can charge an entry fee for the project, it can use contacts to borrow equipment from other labs such as those found in the McGill University Health Center, or it can even try to have the College labs buy equipment for students to use with their surplus budget. Congress is currently strained on their semester budget, so this was the best they could offer.
