By: Yelin Gemma Lee, News Writer
Council discuss SFSS response to surges in COVID-19 cases
The SFSS executive Council briefed the non-executive Council on their meetings regarding the COVID-19 cases in BC. SFSS president Gabe Liosis mentioned executives have had to make some decisions over the winter break according to the changing COVID-19 numbers and restrictions declared by the provincial health officer (PHO) since the last Council meeting in December 2021.
Some of these decisions included:
- Cancelled all indoor events on-campus until January 18, 2022
- December 29: SFSS registered to receive rapid tests for staff and membership through the Government of Canada and are awaiting a response
- January 7: Re-activated COVID-19 safety plan now mandated again by the PHO
- January 7: COVID-19 student survey scheduled to released to membership for feedback on how students feel about returning to campus amidst Omicron on January 24 for in-person learning and teaching
- January 10–11: SUB remodelled for reduced capacity
Matthew Provost, vice-president external and community affairs said the survey was to hear back from students on how they feel about the return to campus with the rise of the new variant — a consideration that was not taken by the university.
“The SFSS executive does not believe SFU is taking appropriate measures to protect our community members [ . . . ] We knew that this was urgent regarding the ongoing conversation which we’ve seen through the holiday season,” said Provost. “I want to preface that these ongoing discussions and considerations have been made with intention of community care, to limit exposure and transmission among our membership and staff, as well as the SFU community.”
Liosis brought a motion to Council on behalf of the executive committee and their recommendations to originally close the SUB until February 15. The closure is to be reassessed during the February 16 council meeting. This motion was amended by Provost to end on February 18 to accommodate for a smoother transition of the decisions made at the February 16 meeting.
Provost said it’s better to close on their own proactive plans rather than being forced to close due to exposures in the SUB. “In the event that we cannot meet our staffing requirement, we cannot make staff come in if they feel it is unsafe,” explained Provost. There is a minimum of six staff required to operate the SUB.
“We can decide to take the step of opening the building and essentially saying to our staff, ‘you’re going to get the virus anyway and you just have to deal with that,’ or we could be proactive and foster an environment where our staff know that we have their best health at heart,” said Liosis.
Math representative Ben Tischler voiced concern for closing the SUB in the Council meeting. “There’s quite a significant concern that closing it will cause much more crowding in other spaces on campus. Some that were mentioned were AQ and WMC,” he said.
This main motion discussion lasted a duration of three hours and included several motions to amend. The motion carried with 32 in favour, nine opposed, and none abstaining.
Two 30-minutes in camera sessions were included in the three hour long debate. These sessions are private and not open for public viewing, including to The Peak.
“This decision was not made easily but made with the thoughtful intention to protect the safety of our staff and students,” said Dela Cruz. “We are also able to be leaders as students and set an example to SFU that we are putting safety first, which is something they have not done with their recent decisions and the move to in-person classes.”
Vacant acting positions in Council filled
Non-executive councillors were nominated and appointed into vacant acting positions in Council. This included the vice-president internal and organizational development position left vacant by Corbett Gilersleve moving to acting president with Liosis’ resignation active January 24.
Political science representative Abhishek Parmar nominated environmental science representative Chloe Homenukes to take the now-vacant position of acting vice-president internal from Jan 24–April 30. Homenukes had many council members speak in her favour and the motion was unanimously carried. Parmar nominated himself to fill the vacant position of acting vice-chair of council and this motion was also unanimously carried.
