As their term in the AMS comes to an end, the question of whether Team CYZ will have to give up part of their salaries will be decided at AMS assembly, AMS President Michael Ceci said.
During their election run in January 2009, the team promised to donate $1,000 from each of their salaries for each unfulfilled commitment.
“We wanted to implement a holistic approach to the way the AMS is run,” Ceci said.
One of their promises was to increase clubs funding by 500 per cent and hire a full-time clubs manager.
The team increased clubs funding and hired incoming AMS vice-president (university affairs) Chris Rudnicki as clubs manager.
Ceci, ArtSci ’09, said he thinks the team has been successful in its efforts to reinstate Homecoming.
“We had put a two-year moratorium on brining back Homecoming, and progress has been made,” he said. “We have established working groups between the city and police force and Queen’s, and this has been really important in taking preventative steps on student safety.”
Vice-President (Operations) Leslie Yun, ArtSci ’10, said she thinks the team has fulfilled the commitments they made in their campaign, such as the promise to introduce a new bus route that will go from Queen’s campus to the VIA Rail station.
“Our bus routes with Kingston Transit have been established and officially signed off with city council. This will be operating as of September and it will be a daily service,” she said.
The exact route and frequency is still being decided by Kingston Transit and it will be operational in September.
Yun said there have also been discussions with Sodexo regarding Halal and kosher food options.
“Sodexo is discussing with a local synagogue what rabbi-approved kosher food options will be available,” she said. “Sodexo is also making more Halal options available at dining halls as well.”
CYZ also promised to create a housing guide on the AMS website. The guide was released in January, and it includes information on finding housemates, g leases and moving in, among a variety of other topics.
“We are still waiting on legal opinion for our housing database to start functioning,” Vice-President (University Affairs) Adam Zabrodski said.
Zabrodski, Sci ’09, said the one area that was left slightly unfulfilled was in regards to making Queen’s more environmentally sustainable. Part of that promise included a goal of getting Principal Daniel Woolf to sign the University Presidents Climate Commitment (UPCC), which he didn’t.
“The principal signed two climate commitments and we’re very happy with the work that the University has done,” he said. “This has ended up half completed, and in the end the decision regarding this is up to the [AMS] Assembly.”
The two documents Woolf signed are the University and College Presidents’ Climate Change Statement of Action for Canada (UPCCSA) and the Council of Ontario Universities Sustainability Pledge (COU). AMS Assembly will decide this Thursday whether the executive should donate part of their salaries for their potentially unfulfilled campaign promises, including the failure to get Woolf to sign the UPCC document.
Ceci said the decision is in the hands of Assembly, but he’s proud of his team’s achievements this year. “I’m proud of our record overall,” Ceci said. “It’s important to realize that these six goals were a very small part of the overall package we achieved this year.”
Ceci said he thinks the hardest parts of his position have been organizational instability and having to deal with issues last minute.
For example, when new AMS General Manager Annette Bergeron was hired in late 2009, the executive had to run transitioning with her due to unforeseen circumstances with outgoing general manager Claude Sherren.
Zabrodski said another accomplishment of the team was introducing the Queen’s Centre governance model. This model will introduce a student-led governance model for the Queen’s Centre, the JDUC and student-operated buildings such as the Grey House, he added.
“The Queen’s Centre governance model will give the AMS full oversight of policies over how students can use the student life centre spaces, and we hope that this will maximize utility from spaces on campus,” Zabrodski said, adding that he thinks the introduction of online voting was also a positive achievement of team CYZ.
Zabrodski said he’s also pleased with the opt-outable student fee the team established for the Sustainability Action Fund. The fund will provide clubs that deal with sustainability issues with money they need to operate well, he said.
Yun said she’s most proud of the success the AMS’s Merchandise Services have had.
“This has really proved that the cynical expectations people had had on these services was unfounded,” she said. “The strength of the management teams has been great.”
—With files from Holly Tousignant
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