By: Natalie Cooke, News Writer
On March 8, The Peak attended the Simon Fraser Student Society’s (SFSS) bi-weekly Council meeting. The highlights from the meeting include discussing the new student health care committee and the approved funding for the 2023 Faculty of Applied Science Winter Formal.
Data Privacy and Security
Rastko Koprivica, who was the vice-president of finances and services, at the time of the meeting, addressed the issue of data privacy and security in the most recent SFSS Council meeting. It was noted, “The society relies heavily on non-domestic data storage mediums [ . . . ] The storage of data outside of the country, especially pertaining to personal information of members and society staff, pose questions of liability and protection of social data.”
In the upcoming fiscal year, the SFSS will conduct research to determine where the society should store data. The current Council emphasized their recommendation for the upcoming executive committee to centre “privacy of member and employee information: a key priority to consider when making decisions in regards to information technology services of the society.”
New Student Health Care Committee
The SFSS is prepared to include students in important matters regarding SFU services; there is intention to form a new student health care committee. Abhishek Parmar, the acting president of the SFSS, said: “Students do not have enough input into their health care services [ . . . ] A committee should be established to ensure input, increased engagement, and researched health care matters throughout the fiscal year.”
Despite their intention to create a new healthcare committee, no action or further discussion was taken at the time.
FAS Formal
The SFSS is preparing for the upcoming faculty of applied science (FAS) formal. At the February 8, 2023 Council meeting, the SFSS had approved spending $10,000. Their budget is going towards an evening that “has seen more interest than originally expected, where the current waitlist for the event is already halfway full with many people looking to purchase tickets.”
FAS was requesting an additional $5,000 for the formal. The additional funding was passed unanimously.
