New Executive Director

After 25 years of service, former SFSS Executive Director Colleen Knox is to be replace by Martin Wyant. Wyant has a history of work with non-profit youth-focused organizations and is “excited to be joining the Simon Fraser Student Society.” In his new position, Wyant will be guiding and managing the operations of the society. President Enoch Weng expressed, “We are very privileged to have Martin join our team. [. . .] Martin brings a good combination of experience and leadership, along with an excellent managerial and community-building track record.”

Ombudsperson Presentation

SFU’s ombudsperson Jay Solman attended the meeting as a guest speaker, and spoke to the various aspects of his job and the services he provides within the SFU community.

Solman’s presentation identified one of the main challenges faced by the Office of the Ombudsperson as being the lack of student awareness and understanding regarding his role and the services provided. Although the office is funded by SFU, the SFSS, and the Graduate Student Society, the ombudsperson is completely separate from the university and only deals with SFU policy as it pertains to students.

Governance Reform

To increase efficiency, a motion to explore a new governance model was put forward, sparking conversation on why a new model was not selected prior to seeking the board’s approval. A small committee has been formed to work with staff on developing a draft of the model, which would then be brought to the board table for review. In the presented “Roadmap to Policy Governance,” it was proposed “to segregate the operational policies from the SFSS Policy Manual, delete the Policy Manual, and institute its Governance Policies.”