Financial allocation, student space, and increasing levy fees formed the hot topics of the final Victoria University Student Caucus of the 2015-2016 school year, held on March 2nd.
The Vic Caucus is a semi-annual public forum open to all Vic Students, held to engage in a discussion of issues pertaining to student life. This was the third caucus of the school year.
Students at the caucus voted for forthcoming referendums to be held on increasing student levy fees, and to ratify VISA (Vic International Students Association) as a levy.
Co-Presidents Ben Atkins and Gabriel Zoltan-Johan discussed the idea of Victoria College promoting a mandatory Indigenous Studies credit, an idea proposed in Canada’s recent Truth and Reconciliation Commission. A Vic fundraising initiative to support Syrian refugees was also discussed. No concrete conclusion was arrived at during either of these discussions, but they will be returned to at future caucuses.
Atkins and Zoltan-Johan re-capped on the current status of VUSAC’s focus groups on sexual violence, which will be expanding to include feedback from UofT at large. The written report from these focus groups is not yet available on VUSAC’s website, but Zoltan-Johan expressed hope that it will be available before the end of the semester.
Vic Dean of Students Kelley Castle commented on updating current codes of conduct at Victoria College, including revisiting and rewriting policy related to sexual assault. One meeting has been held with Dean Castle and VUSAC members to work on this policy, and Dean Castle emphasized that the new policy will not put the burden of reporting sexual assault onto the victims. The Dean left the caucus immediately following her five-minute presentation.
Regarding financial allotment, the first vote of the evening was presented by VISA, requesting that the student group receive levy status and office space. The student organization offers programming and mentorship to international students, who make up 15% of the Vic student body. VISA campaigns on issues like international student tuition, as international students pay between $11,000 and $42,000 in fees per year. There is currently no chair or commission dedicated to representing international student issues on VUSAC. The motion to vote on awarding levy status to VISA was passed, and the next step for the group is to hold a Vic-wide referendum on increasing student levy fees by 40 cents per student.
The topic of a referendum to increase student life fees was raised during the discussion period. A forthcoming referendum will ask to increase VUSAC fees by $2 for the 2016-2017 school year, and later increase yearly student life fees by a maximum of the CPI (or, yearly Consumer Price Index). This plan of action does not include any immediate plans to increase levy funding for the 2016-2017 year.
Zoltan-Johan stated that levy fees have not increased in recent years to keep up with inflation. As a result, fees are approximately $8 less per student than they should be in the current economy, resulting in tighter financial restrictions for student groups that rely on levy funding. In order to counteract this, Zoltan-Johan proposed raising levy fees by the current Consumer Price Index, plus 2% per year, to eventually adjust for inflation. This suggestion was countered by VUSAC Finance Chair Shannon Brown, who proposed increasing VUSAC fees by $2 for the 2016-2017 year, with an annual increase to a maximum of the CPI in following years, to avoid over-charging Vic Students.
Caucus chair and Vice-President External Alex Martinborough proposed a straw poll to vote between the two levy fee increase plans. UTSU Vic Director Auni Ahsan suggested that the numbers were confusing to students in attendance who were not familiar with budgetary planning. The vote was shelved until a breakdown of fee increases over future years could be written on the projector screen. Brown and Zoltan-Johan calculated these projections on the spot, as no visual aid had been prepared. The eventual straw poll resulted in a majority vote for Brown’s proposal.
Ahsan later presented a motion to have the caucus “support the Cat’s Eye student management to independently investigate creating a policy [that will allow the Cat’s Eye] to autonomously book external groups.” Currently, only Vic groups are able to book the Cat’s Eye space to host events, while other groups can partner with a Vic group to book the space.
In speaking against Ahsan’s motion, Campus Life Coordinator Bergita Petro emphasized the lack of knowledge that students at the caucus had of the financial implications of allowing external groups to book the Cat’s Eye, and that Vic students pay high “hidden fees” to fund the Cat’s Eye’s programming. The specifics of these hidden fees were not given. Ms. Petro remained silent during discussion leading up to the straw poll that determined the referendum question on levy fee increases, the results of which will impact Victoria College Student fees and levy funding for the next several years.
The vote to allow the Cat’s Eye managers to investigate a policy to allow external bookings passed with a wide majority. After the vote, Martinborough commented, “I look forward to seeing what you come up with in the one month of school I have left before graduating.”
The meeting extended beyond the scheduled three hours, adjourning at 10 p.m. Agenda discussion topics “Accessibility of VUSAC Meetings” and “VUSAC Office as a Public Space” were not addressed.
The minutes for the previous two VUSAC meetings, held on February 12th and 26th, had not yet been posted to VUSAC’s website at the time of the caucus. Co-President Benjamin Atkins mentioned that they would be posted “soon.”
