Wednesday, February 4, 2015

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You lost the game! The Imitation Game is a disastrous retelling of Alan Turing’s life. >> Pg. 4

thegazette Our reviewers are crazy since 1906

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015

WESTERN UNIVERSITY • CANADA’S ONLY DAILY STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906

TODAY high -3 low -11

TOMORROW high -11 low -19 VOLUME 108, ISSUE 68

VP changes a continued step in right direction Seven Minutes in Kevin Kevin Hurren NEWS EDITOR-AT-LARGE @KevinAtGazette

It’s usually The Gazette’s task to look critically at the policies and practices of our University Students’ Council. This year, however, the USC seems to be doing a lot of that work themselves. At the beginning of the year, USC president Matt Helfand appointed Jonathan English as a presidential commissioner to investigate the size and composition of council. Finding that the current structure just isn’t practical, English presented a report advising a hard cap of 50 members, with several positions losing voting rights, including senators and first-year councillors. After adopting English’s proposed composition – with a few debates – USC members now have another opportunity to really appraise the way council is run. At the most recent council meeting, USC executives proposed changing the vice-president finance and communications roles from elected to appointed positions, something that was proposed years ago. Before even discussing whether or not this is a good idea, it’s important to note how encouraging it is to have a council who isn’t satisfied with status quo. Cutting the overall size of council was a big first step, but in the constant pursuit of creating the most effective council structure one has to examine the executive council.

>> see SHIFT pg.3

Iain Boekhoff • GAZETTE

PLEASE STILL VOTE FOR ME. Last year’s candidates for vice-president student events answer questions from councillors at AGM II. With proposed changes to the University Students’ Council’s hiring process, student events would be the only executive position left to be internally elected by councilors, with vice-president communications and finance hired instead.

USC proposes changes to vice-presidency process Olivia Zollino NEWS EDITOR @OliviaAtGazette

The executive team announced at the University Student Council meeting on January 28 that the vice-presidents of finance and communications would no longer be elected positions. Beginning with the incoming executive team, the positions will be hired instead. Emerson Tithecott, vice-president communications, said that a major reason for the shift is due to the fact that the positions are more resource based. “We think that this is a change that will not only empower the executive group but will also allow for an overall better communication strategy on my end,” Tithecott said. Andrew Lalka, vice-president

finance, added that the communications role is being changed due to the shift in corporate resources. The executives also announced that a new promotions department will be instituted and help share the responsibilities the current vice-president communications role does on a daily basis. “It takes a lot of time and having

W

E THINK THAT THIS IS A CHANGE THAT WILL NOT ONLY EMPOWER THE EXECUTIVE GROUP BUT WILL ALSO ALLOW FOR AN OVERALL BETTER COMMUNICATION STRATEGY ON MY END. EMERSON TITHECOTT

VICE-PRESIDENT COMMUNICATIONS

that promotional department as support to the communications officer … is going to allow them to actually focus on campaign and public relations and political messaging and all the things that can be bogged down in the day-to-day hustle and bustle,” Tithecott said. As for the vice-president finance, Lalka said that it’s a matter of catching up to the governance change. “The position is moving to be more and more an officer of the corporation that is there to serve the council, but not as much as a political agent anymore,” Lalka said. “This is sort of empowering the president to really be the chief political actor, and making sure that the president and the councillors are actually being supported in a more administrative and governance roles that they don’t always have now.”

The changes will have to be approved at council and will be brought up at the next USC meeting on February 25. “From the entire executive, we can say that the organization has changed a lot in the last three years in regards to its structure and the way that it operates in a lot of significant but subtle ways,” Lalka said. “It is very refreshing to see that with that change, we have recognized a change in our needs.” Tithecott was initially hesitant about the changes seeing as he was elected into the role, but he can now see how it will be advantageous to the USC. “Having been in the role for over six months now, it’s very clear to me that it is much more beneficial for the entire organization if it’s a hired position.”


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Wednesday, February 4, 2015 by Western Gazette - Issuu