Hello 2012/2013 SRA and MSU members!

As you may know, the SRA will be electing members to Committees on Sunday April 15th. Each Standing Committee will have one commissioner, four SRA members, and two MSU members elected to it. The following is a description provided in the last couple of years by former members. Ive updated the descriptions and some of the projects each committee has been working on for relevance sake. If youre looking for more of a technical and precise description of the committees, I advise you to look at Bylaw 3/B - Standing Committees of the SRA. I hope you find this useful to decide which committee you may be best suited for! Standing Committees of the SRA Bylaws & Procedures Committee Outgoing Commissioner: Jean Marc Metrailler Committee Duties & Functions The Bylaws and Procedures Committees major duties are to manage the bylaws of the MSU and provide recommendations on internal MSU governance. B&PC is important to MSU members because it ensures that the MSU government is following the procedures set forth to best serve the interests of students. 2011/2012 Projects worked on: Creation of a brand-new attendance bylaw, ensuring SRA attendance requirements are fair, but also ensure SRA members are accountable to their constituents. Creation of a new policy on improving MSU access to co-op students, ensuring they get equal MSU opportunities for equal fees.

Aiding in coming up with the structure and goals of the Ad-Hoc Committee on Democratic Reform. Creation of new bylaws for the Presidents Council and the Academic Affairs Council, ensuring these meetings are accountable, transparent, and are operating within our bylaws.

Amending the elections bylaws to make them more flexible and less arbitrary, and loosening restrictions on off-campus campaigning to allow for more students to be engaged in MSU elections.

Creating a brand-new bylaw governing our relationship with all PostSecondary Lobbying Organizations, ensuring these relations are consistent, governed by concrete policy, and are democratically set by referenda Ideally suited for: People who are interested in legal philosophy, Creation of legislation, Governance systems and structures, nuances of meaning etc

External Affairs Committee Outgoing Commissioner: Huzaifa Saeed Committee Duties & Functions The External Affairs Committee oversees MSU relations with any bodies that are not located on McMasters campus. Our major work comes through our partnerships with OUSA (Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance) and CASA (Canadian Alliance of Student Associations). The External Affairs committee reviews their policy statements/lobbying agenda and makes recommendations to the VPEducation. Advocacy is handled by only two committees (External and University Affairs) yet is essential to the betterment of quality of education at McMaster. For example a large majority of funding for the education of McMaster students comes from the Federal Government via the Provincial government, as such our efforts can often have direct potential impact on the experience and investment into McMaster students in the near future. 2011/2012 Year Projects: -Platform Analysis & Promotions for the 2011 Provincial Election: http://www.scribd.com/doc/70280821/EA-Infopackageelections -MSU Tuition Policy: http://www.scribd.com/doc/89153232 -MSU Student Near Campus Neigborhoods Housing Policy: http://www.scribd.com/doc/89152735

-MSU Student Financial Aid Literacy Policy and Awareness Campaign planning: http://www.scribd.com/doc/89153067 Ideally suited for MSU members who have a knowledge of government or more importantly would like to build upon their research, survey methodology, project management & policy skills while also learning in greater detail about the Post Secondary Education(PSE) Politics as well as the work the MSU Conducts to improve student life at OUSA, CASA and Municipal Level. People from a diversity of political/ideological backgrounds as well as skill sets are welcome. Prior knowledge of PSE is definitely not mandatory. The committee usually operates as a team, however there is significant room for pursuing individual projects and ideas under the guidance of the commissioner. Finance Committee Outgoing Commissioner: Simon Granat Committee Duties & Functions The MSU Standing Committee on Finance deals with the following procedures as part of Bylaw 3B Standing Committees of the SRA: - Advise the VP Finance on matters pertaining to the budget or audited statements. - Advise any financial stakeholders on financial issues (i.e. FIT, business manager etc.) - Clubs audit - Review and approve criteria for clubs allocation - Wage reviews - Be a spokes-committee on ethical practices of the MSU - Publicize the annual budget 2010-2011 Projects: -Wage Review for various staff positions -Rewriting the MSU Investment Policy Work for future: Reworking the MSU Clubs financial processes Ideally suited forPeople with experience in human resources, budgeting, and clubs funding. Familiarity with MSU Financial Bylaws and Operating Policies are an asset. Operations Committee Outgoing Commissioner: Riaz Sayani Mulji Committee Duties & Functions The SRA Standing Committee on Operations deals with the long term infrastructural

and policy concerns of the MSU. We also handle policy statements, which outline the MSUs position on a wide variety of matters including Transit, Social Purchasing and Boycotts, Registration Technology and many other things. Also, the Operations Committee does the initial research into new technologies for the MSU (such as evoting). This committee is very, very important to the MSU and the greater student population because we look after the long term considerations of the MSU. Without long term planning now, tomorrow wont be nearly so organized! Our handling of policy statements is also critical in that these statements become the voice of the MSU and indirectly that of the student body.

2010-2011 Year Projects: Creation: SRA Office usage Guidelines Creation: Anti-Oppression Policy & Helping MSU Services and clubs with salient campaigns. Creation: MSU Sustainability Policy Creation: Board of Directors Feedback Form Revised: Exam and Term Work Scheduling Policy Revised: Elections Plan Revised: The Role of the MSU in a Labour Disruption Projects to be continued: Ethical Purchasing and Prayer Space Policy Ideally suited for Big, macro-scale thinkers with lots and lots of patience and an ability to do in-depth and thorough research and consultations. Services Committee Outgoing Commissioner: Alasdair Rathbone Committee Duties & Functions Services deals with, well, all of the services of the MSU! Its a fun committee designed to improve the services through their operating policies, along with other suggestions for their improvement.

2011/2012 Year Projects: 1) MacBread Bin Summer Operations: Worked towards evaluating the possibility of Breadbin being open during the summer 2) PAC and BreadBin Operating Policy: Helped changed the structure of Poster and Advertisment Committee in its switch over from Poster Monkeys 3) Services Review & Survey: Launched in Term 2, Garnered over 400 responses and was structured to gauge student usage and experiences with various MSU Services. 4) Womens Center Project: Conducted Background research on the history and future prospects of a need for an MSU Womens Center. Ideally suited for People who have interest in the services of the MSU and collaborating with managers to help improve their service delivery. This committee is interesting because it allows you to look at MSU Services in various capacity and still have the freedom to implement new ideas all the time. It is also a good forum for researching any new ideas you had for our current and potentially new MSU Services. University Affairs Committee Outgoing Commissioner: Tanya Kuzman Committee Duties & Functions The University Affairs Committee is essentially tasked with: - Gathering Student Opinion on life at McMaster - Policymaking in regards to University - Advising the Vice President (Education) - Strategically planning intra-university lobbying strategies - Working on projects that positively improve student life and experience at McMaster 2011/2012 Year Projects: - MSU Communications & Vlog Policy - Teaching Evaluation Open Forum(To gain student feedback on effectiveness of existing evals) & MSU Course Evaluations Project(An MSU hosted Course Evaluation Project) - Helped the MSU Tailor McMaster specific questions for the 2011 OUSA Quality of Education Survey Projects almost completed/ongoing - Nutritional Information at 1280

- CFMU Radios in Residence Lobbies - Moving Course packs to MSU Underground for student cost saving -MSU Quality of Student Life Survey -MSU Student Leader Introductory Manual: Catalogue of all the stakeholders at McMaster -Creating an MSU response to Dr Patrick Deanes forward with integrity letter Ideally suited for People with initiative and vision, more than any other committee. Since the committees mandate is so wide-open, and there are no year-to-year responsibilities, you really need people around the table with concrete ideas, work-ethic, and selfmotivation. The self-motivation part is the most key. Having an understanding of student life at McMaster through other extracurricular positions also helps guide your vision and knowledge of campus life. Other Committees: Clubs Executive Council (1): Is a committee that oversees the operations of MSU Clubs and their governing policies. Teaching Awards (4 spots): Teaching Awards committee is responsible for soliciting and promoting nominations for the Bi Annual Teaching Awards and helping the Teaching Awards Co-Ordinator organize Teaching Awards Ceremonies each term. Elections (5 spots): The Elections committee oversees all elections bylaws governing FYC, SRA and Presidential Elections. They are also responsible for monitoring and upholding adherence to the said bylaws. On occasion that we have paper ballots the EC is responsible for helping the CRO/DRO count ballots. Faculty Cup Award (1): A Welcome Week only position that helps the committee award points for the faculty wide welcome week cup. The committee member will be required to attend various events and judge them with the rest of the committee. Residence Cup Award Committee (1): Same as above, except for the Residence Cup. (For both WW cup positions it is generally recommended that the candidate not have a conflict of interest, for example being a rep for one of the welcome week teams competing for the cups)