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AMS to seek $12.50 festival fee
Fee would be mandatory and cover most of the ReUnion Street Festival’s costs B y M ishal O mar Assistant News Editor The AMS is asking for a $12.50 mandatory student fee to help cover the costs of next year’s ReUnion Street Festival, intended to become an annual event. The fee proposal will be voted on by members of Assembly on Thursday and, if passed, will go to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on March 10, to be voted on by all AMS members in attendance. AMS President and CEO Allison Williams said the fee would be used to cover a portion of the festival costs next year. The ticket cost for alumni, graduate students and community members to go to the licensed area of the festival would also be $12.50, where alcohol would be served. The total cost of the festival is estimated at $311,250. The student fee, if passed, will
cover $208,750 of that and the remainder of the amount needed will come from ticket sales and corporate sponsorship, said Williams, ArtSci ’14.
A $12.50 mandatory fee put forward by the AMS would pay for part of ReUnion’s $311,250 expected price. The AMS originally requested the University to front $75,000 in operational
costs, but the administration declined due to what Principal Daniel Woolf previously said were “remaining concerns” from community partners and that there were still “far too many” people on city streets. “We won’t see an event going forward that doesn’t have a substantial contribution outside of student fees, so the fee that we’re proposing is no larger than what we feel is a fair contribution from students,” Williams said She said so far, the University has provided the AMS with a lot of support for the ReUnion Street Festival, including the help of departments in providing expertise, time and input into every aspect of the festival. According to experts the AMS has been consulting with, the fee may not be necessary within five years if the event continues annually, Williams said.
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AMS
Board of Directors bars guests
Board looks to avoid inaccurate information; will continue to release reports B y C hloe S obel News Editor
Postscript: To express love or not page 16
The AMS Board of Directors decided at its Jan. 12 meeting to restrict students from attending its bi-weekly meetings. Tuba Chishti, the chair, told the Journal via email that Board will determine who is relevant to a meeting based on the agenda topics and “whether or not they’re confidential”. The Board of Directors deals with strategic management, financials and support of the AMS. Members are elected annually at the Corporate General Meeting by incoming and outgoing members of AMS Assembly,
and Board is made up of six student directors, three non-student directors, the AMS executive, three AMS service directors and the AMS General Manager. Board meetings have generally been open to all AMS members, excluding closed session, which Board members vote to enter, according to past chairs. In an email Chishti, ArtSci ’15, sent to the Journal Editors in Chief explaining the decision, she wrote that shareholders are “in general” not permitted at Board meetings. Board policy — which outlines its mandate and operational procedures — makes no mention of guest attendance or the Journal covering meetings,
which has been prohibited according to Chishti. “While we are a student government first, we are also a corporation that works with a lot of high level confidential matters that encompasses anything from the risk level of the ReUnion Street Festival,” she wrote, “to service goal plans and budgets to the long term future of each individual service and everything in between, like personnel matters and remuneration.” She added in the email that having discussions tweeted and reported on “sometimes inaccurately by guests” — including the Journal, which has attended See Board on page 5