August 18, 2022, 8:00pm
Virtual conference room (Zoom)
Present: Tinson Chen, Anthony Cherubini, David Kanter Eivin, Ian McMillan, Tess Vosper, Oyin Aderibigbe, Caroline Bredin, Phoebe Newton, Sadie Macdonald, Maya Verma, Gillian Irwin, Sydney Wisener, Ella Brown, James Esemu-Ezewu
Regrets: Ally Kortes-Miller, Flynn O’Dacre, Charlotte Johnson, Griffin Kinzie, Jessie Chan, Priya John, Rachel Mery
Absent: Luna Quail, Sanjana Shah, Alex Harris
TL;DR:
Much was discussed!
Everyone introduced themselves/their position/their planned initiatives for this year
General Meeting will take place in first couple weeks of September
Sib BBQ will happen in late September
We still have some open SASSEx positions
Executive meetings will happen biweekly - hopefully in LRW on Wednesday evenings
Beginning of meeting starts with a conversation about what platform to meet on; the consensus is that Zoom is supreme ruler over alternatives like Teams. We discuss what messaging platform to use. Oyin suggests Slack and there is some enthusiasm for this option. Not everyone is familiar with it, but no one seems opposed, so we settle on Slack. Introductions: Tinson: Hi I’m Tinson and I’m a fourth year Artsci combined with CompSci, also linguistics, and this year I’m really looking forward to bringing things back to in person. I’ve been deep-diving into the old ArtSci lore from YouTube etc. and there are a bunch of in-person events that I’d like to see resurrected. There are 90+ incoming first year students which means among other things more student fees – yay – our budget shouldn’t be too big of a concern this year. I’m hoping that also means we can invest in material things that SASS can hang onto in years to come. How about we start by introducing the level reps? Let’s introduce ourselves, our interests and SASS things we’re excited about! Ian?
Ian: Hi I’m Ian, and I’m the Level 2 Rep with Luna, combined in PNB. I’m really excited about two initiatives that we’ve discussed. The first is an ArtSci Records – Like the Guinness Book of Records - but make it ArtSci. Could potentially have some pre-set categories/challenges/records or we could do submissions or both? The other fun idea would be an ArtSci Olympics event.
Sydney [Experiences some tech difficulties]: Everyone can hear me now? I’m Sydney I’m the Level 3 Rep with Alex. Some possible events might include a ArtSci debate series with profs, and potentially a Masterchef cooking/baking event - having profs as judges? We have also discussed organising outdoor activity days like skiing/canoeing, discussed camping too but that might be a bit too much to handle. Also, potentially an inquiry debate series between 3rd and 4th year classes.
Tinson: Yeah debates have happened before – often were funny topics, meant to be lighthearted and fun. Phoebe do you want to introduce yourself?
Phoebe: Yes hi I’m Phoebe and I’m the Level 4 Rep with Jessie. We’re planning to go all out this year. First event is similar to something done in the UK for graduating classes. Basically you do group activities in groups of 6-8 wearing wacky costumes, going around a city completing challenges or completing a scavenger hunt – pretty hard to explain without showing examples but more information is forthcoming. Also planning photography-related events at beginning and end of year à la Phoebe in first year. Also, many fourth years have expressed a wish to be more connected with the younger years, we want to know you all!
[Covid sucks for ripping us apart and casting us into our bedrooms]
Tinson: yes lots of ArtScis now and there’s more coming‼
Ella: Hi I’m Ella, combining in Anthro, and I’m one of the Musical Producers – Sanjana sends regrets. Hoping to do lots of fun fundraising, meeting with fundraising coordinator soon to go over more of those details. Hoping to do bottle drive, which will hopefully be hammered out soon, Lots of ideas about collaborating on events with other initiatives as ArtSci Musical fundraising [o-grams, trivia night, merch] Rehersals will be happening weekly – woohoo!
Tinson: Hey Anthony anything sportsy/games-y going on with you?
Anthony: Yes! Really wanting to do a Spikeball tournament, and maybe Euchere. Spikeball for sure though.
Tinson: SPA and JPA – David do you want to speak to that?
David: Oyin and I have been talking this summer. We think that we want to focus the roles on student experience/input. We’re planning some initiatives to find out how students feel about the academics, how to allow students to provide more feedback, possibly a survey, maybe even a website integrated with SASSWeb. Basically, we want something set up to allow us to provide input to profs and program admin about the experiences/concerns/suggestions of students. We’re also interested to see about organizing an additional event on top of the two Agoras.
Tinson: James what do you have? Also, a note on website-related matters – there are holes on roster of SASSEx and SRA, we’re seeing consequences of low student turnout/engagement but two of those roles are website administrators, something we’ll come back to.
James: I’m James and I’m one of the VP Socials, combining in Comp-Sci [Tinson and James share a moment], Sadie and I plan to add just a add a couple aspects to the role – organizing a Capstone-is-over-party for first years and doing a board games night to get rid of Euchre s there were only 6 people involved in the most recent tournament
Tinson: Euchre needs to stay but I agree with everything else!
Sadie: Yes our Google Doc basically says not Euchre not scrabble for the board game tournament. We’ll be organising Kaffeehaus both terms and the board game night. [Sadie mentions Catan could be fun but recognises that her mind may be on Catan because she had to miss a game to attend this meeting– sad!] James and I are also willing to help fill in gaps to make other events happen and provide logistical/organizational support.
Tinson: What’s happening with Welcome Week?
Tess: I am ironing for Welcome Week – love the design for the shirts but I’ve been ironing for hours, only completed 6 and I am sweating‼ But yes I’m Tess, in fourth year and one of the Welcome Week Planners. Charlotte is at Welcome Week training so we’ve split ourselves in two for tonight. Welcome week events upcoming include: Dundas/Westdale tours, move in support, [Gillian missed a bit here with the minutes because there is so much happening‼!] Charlotte and I are also willing to help with things deeper in the year, because our roles basically wrap up as yours begin, and the first years will know our faces well by then so we can definitely be of help with that aspect of events. We were thinking patches fundraiser?
Sydney: [mentions Artsci book club in chat, much enthusiasm in the chat for this idea]
Tinson: I want an embroidery machine, more details forthcoming.
[People seem interested in this investment]
Gillian: Hey everyone I’m Gillian, I’m going into fourth year – AH thesis‼ But yeah, I’m Communications Director this year, taking minutes, running social media, looking forward to filling a calendar with all of your fabulous events. I’ve been wondering about a Communications Committee just to make sure we have content from all the events to share with ArtSci, but those plans are not super solid.
Caroline: Hello, I’m one half of the Formal Convenor, Rachel is at camp. Formal is so fun, hopefully sweaters, lots of exciting things will be coming up this year with that.
Tinson: I can’t wait for Formal.
Maya: Hi I’m Maya although I think pretty much everyone here knows me. I’m going into fourth year and I am VP Functions, running functions and supporting Tinson. Some of the main events will include housing/combining milk and cookies – maybe grad school milk and cookies but that has had a lukewarm reception in past so we’ll see. Maybe we’ll have a Functions Committee although there are going to be a lot of committees so I might handle things solo instead. Note: there is a question of whether we really need a website administer, position could be somehow absorbed with another role and/or could make SASSWeb more integrated with current ArtSci website, more on this later.
[Oyin is back]
Oyin: Hello I’m Oyin and I’m the JPA. David and I will be planning Agoras. Also might be thinking about ArtSci House Games. This year we plan to focus on advocacy - anonymous feedback form with check-ins, we want to make sure that students know they can come to us with questions/concerns/ideas for improvement.
[Tinson mentions the equity, diversity, and inclusion survey from last year as a possible place to dive in for that.]
Tinson: Let’s move along to Sib Matching!
Maya: Yes! The forms for Sib matching forms are due back on August 20th, we plan on grinding out the matching process so that everyone is matched in time for the Sib BBQ which will be happening mid-September – open call for backyards for that event – Oyin?
Oyin: The form was sent to all levels so that even people in upper levels have the opportunity to be matched with a lil sib. Having two to manage this process is so helpful. Then segway into house games, sib fam integration, lots to look forward to!
Tinson: On the note of houses, it’s up in the air whether we keep them running this year. They were mainly introduced for the purpose of meeting COVID limits last year. Calls for thoughts/comments/concerns?
Maya: Houses have muddied the waters a bit in terms of sib lineages. It might be more fun to just organize events that get the families together more so?
Phoebe: I would agree. Was a great idea for COVID times and maybe not now that we want people participating in events. For example, I couldn’t see my grandsibs at events because they were sorted into another house.
Tinson: Okay maybe we have a final hurrah for the houses before we lay them to rest? We can discuss more details of that kind of event later. On to the rest of agenda. Web admins – we kind of discussed already – not sure if that’s going to happen/be necessary. Yearbook editor - haven’t tracked down. First year reps - we’ll get the ball rolling on that after general meeting which will happen in the first two weeks. SRA - no one representing, might be solved in October byelections. ArtSci events to keep on the radar – Maya do you want to talk Sib BBQ?
[Maya was chewing, but recovered gracefully]
Maya: Most likely will happen on the weekend?? Mid-September / toward end of the month so as not to interfere with other events at the beginning of the month. The ArtSci social calendar for the year is launched by the Sib BBQ, location/logistics happening, keeping track of who’s bringing each course will be organized
Tinson: I will be organizing monthly breakdown of events, and meetings will happen as per the constitution – at least 6/year which roughly works out to biweekly meetings. I was thinking Wednesday evenings as LRW is shut down – about 4-5pm in LRW – any objections? I’ll put out something to make sure most people can make it. Wednesday evening seems to be the best time of the week for people. Meetings will be in person, in LRW pending Marquis approval. Snacks for meetings??? Maybe not in LR but we’d like to make these meetings not so grueling as they potentially could be. In next couple weeks Marquis would like to meet with positions and Maya/Tinson might be jumping in to those meetings as student society admin support. That is what can look forward to – Maya sent out Doodle with meeting times – respond to the polls,
Maya: There might be slight adjustment to times as per Marquis, but we’ll keep you informed.
Tinson: Let’s break with 13 min to spare. Expect some follow-ups from this meeting. The next meeting will happen sometime in September. You’re all dismissed!
[END OF MEETING]
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