A SPICE-y proposal
A new scholarship program was announced, to be granted by the GSS and the Office of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Fellows. Student Proposals for Intellectual Community & Engaged Scholarship (SPICES) is to be awarded to graduate student-led projects.
The SPICES program is meant to encourage grad students to collaborate through interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary, and multidisciplinary work. Funding for each project will be up to $5,000; proposals for the first scholarships are due on Nov. 1 of this year. Currently, there are $10,000 secured for the grant program for this semester.
Emergency Grocery fund increase
Eleonora Joensuu, GSS Member and Community Relations Officer, announced that SFU Student Services has agreed to match the budget for the GSS’s Emergency Grocery Card program to the tune of $2,000 for the next fiscal year. There has been a significant increase in use of the program, which council is anticipating will continue to grow with the closure of the SFU Food Bank in Dec. 2013.
Missions, Visions, Values, and Priorities passed
A motion passed to approved a draft written by the executive committee of the mission, vision, core values, and key priorities of the GSS. The statement will be revised and officially approved at the AGM in February, but for now it reads: “To be an exemplary student organization led by a passionate community dedicated to the well-being and success of its members.”
The document includes a list of core values and key priorities, some of which are still being reviewed by executive.
Benefit Plan Bursary Fund
Council also passed a motion to use $3,490.95 from the unrestricted net assets to provide benefit plan bursaries. The society gives out bursaries each year to students in financial need, funded from the interest gathered from an RBC Monthly Income Bond Fund. This year, the bond lost approximately $1,344 of the principal $274,272, leaving no interest for the bursaries. The funding from the contingency fund will provide 10-12 bursaries to students.
A motion was also proposed to move the funds in the RBC bond to a risk-free 13-month GIC from Canadian Western Bank, but the motion was tabled until next month’s meeting.
