I definitely found the same with the Horizons Leadership Conference. Other than the three leaders I was with for the whole conference, I think Ash was the only other one I knew because he made an effort to get to know everyone at the conference - and 4 years later he still remembers who I am and says hi when we see each other. I can't speak to Ash's skills for other aspects of the role of President because I don't know him that well, but for the MSU who has been criticizing for not reaching out to students, Ash would definitely be a good fit.

Thanks for the comments guys

I have a couple questions about your platform.

So for starters you said you will ensure smooth operation of all services. That is more the job of the VP Administration who is the direc manager of most of the services provided by the MSU. Would you let him do his job or would you want to work with him or do more then him?

Getting any 'failing' business to become profitable is not as easy as just writing it down. There are so many underlying issues with a failing business and making them profitable is not as easy as you make it seem. You also mention 1280 should be a money maker but it's not. There are very few University bars that make money so to see that it should be a money maker is not exactly true. It would be great but probably not feasible (especially with minimum wage increasing again, such a problem for all of our services where wage is already the key problem)

Clubs have something called club grants and special project funding. Those total over $78,000 already that can be allocated to clubs for special purposes or events. Do we really need more when those funds aren't even being half utilized yet?

And how much will this endowment fund be? What faculties will it be allocated to? Where is this money coming from?

If you could answer those questions that would be appreciated

So for starters you said you will ensure smooth operation of all services. That is more the job of the VP Administration who is the direc manager of most of the services provided by the MSU. Would you let him do his job or would you want to work with him or do more then him?

I am well aware that it is the job of VP Admin, and I do not intend to micromanage, but I do plan to have a set of goals for the BoD as a whole, and some of these goals would require collaboration from multiple members of the BoD. So in short, I plan to work with him/her, but if more effort is needed on my part, I will provide it. I will only put my foot down if it is necessary to do so though.

Getting any 'failing' business to become profitable is not as easy as just writing it down. There are so many underlying issues with a failing business and making them profitable is not as easy as you make it seem. You also mention 1280 should be a money maker but it's not. There are very few University bars that make money so to see that it should be a money maker is not exactly true. It would be great but probably not feasible (especially with minimum wage increasing again, such a problem for all of our services where wage is already the key problem)

It definitely is not as easy as it sounds, and it definitely is not a short term activity. I want to hold managers accountable when they aren't meeting goals or doing significantly worse than last year. I hope to ensure they have the momentum to do better and better in succeeding years, rather than stagnating or performing less than the year before. As for the 1280 issue, by money maker I did not mean significant amounts. It has had years in the green, and the current trend has been getting exceedingly worse. I only hope to put it back to where it was before. I would be okay with such a service/business operating at a loss, but not at a loss that is the equivalent value of a house, and not when it has performed successfully in the past. It should be a pride of the MSU, not a burden.

Clubs have something called club grants and special project funding. Those total over $78,000 already that can be allocated to clubs for special purposes or events. Do we really need more when those funds aren't even being half utilized yet?

The key element is that it isn't utilized, likely because clubs don't know about it, or the requirements are too stringent. There is absolutely no shortage of clubs that can use more more funding, I could say for sure the engineering teams like McMaster Racing Club, Concrete Toboggan, Mini Baja, all have difficulties accessing that sort of money. Solar Car in the past had money shortages before the referendum they had. Im sure there are dozens of clubs outside of eng that could use it too, but its too inaccessible or they simply dont know about it.

And how much will this endowment fund be? What faculties will it be allocated to? Where is this money coming from?
The way I envision the endowment fund is $10 to $20 taken through student fees (a referendum would be needed), in which students can opt out of. This would put ~$200k to ~$400k per year into the account (not including internal and external funding I would also be seeking/building relationships for), in a few years the fund would grow to a few million, which means that tens of thousands of dollars per year in interest could be applied to undergraduate equipment and facilities, and that would only go up as time progresses.

The fund would be accessible to all faculties through an application process, selected by members from each faculty. I hope to use faculty societies for this in the process I have envisioned. It is based on MACLAB, the endowment fund that exists already in engineering, which has $50 donations per student, and dishes out ~$40k - $60k depending on the year, and is about 15-ish years old.


Thanks for the questions. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss my plans. I will be out for the next few hours, but if you wish to ask more tonight email me!

Originally Posted by ash0000

I am well aware that it is the job of VP Admin, and I do not intend to micromanage, but I do plan to have a set of goals for the BoD as a whole, and some of these goals would require collaboration from multiple members of the BoD. So in short, I plan to work with him, but if more effort is needed on my part, I will provide it. I will only put my foot down if it is necessary to do so though.

Work with him? As much as I support you from what I've seen...that seems a bit presumptuous.

Originally Posted by McIntyre

Work with him? As much as I support you from what I've seen...that seems a bit presumptuous.

Are you serious?

Originally Posted by McIntyre

Work with him? As much as I support you from what I've seen...that seems a bit presumptuous.

I apologize, I did not mean to assume VP Admin would be male, I was writing my response in a short time frame as I had to leave.

Even then, you know what I mean. Don't pick at things like that please, there are legitimate things we could be talking about rather than a minor slip like that.

Edit: I'd like to also mention that the person who asked the question also presumed they would be male, which might have been what got me on that track of thinking, and considering I responded in a rush, I did not notice.

I have known Ash before my first year at Mac. Even then he was very inviting and got to know me. Once I came to Mac he made an effort to come over and say hi to me even though I wasn't in engineering. I could tell that he had a huge passion for what he did and still does and is very dedicated. Once I heard that he was running for MSU President I became very excited and after reading his platform I realized that he has been one of the only candidates that I've known over the years to have reasonable platform points. With his knowledge of the school and so much experience I know for a fact that he will do a great job. When he says he's going to do something he will do it. Ash will stand up for the students and will listen to what needs to be done and will get it done, no doubt.

Hey Ash!

I have a quick question for you regarding one of the platform points on your website.

You mentioned that as President (and chair of the Executive Board) you'd like to hold more "open and inviting Executive Board meetings" and "actively avoid closed sessions." I agree with you that the MSU needs to be transparent and accountable, and I know that the MSU is often criticized for its use of closed session. However, since the Executive Board frequently deals with human resources issues at the part-time level, closed session is often necessary in order for the EB to be productive (and to legally conduct its business).

My question is, what changes would you make to the way that EB meetings are held, and how would you balance the importance of transparency with the importance of having an Executive Board that can fulfill its mandate?

Thanks!

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for the question. It is certainly true that in certain cases closed session is necessary for legal purposes, and they must happen to maintain the privacy of paid employees. That being said, this is still the body that makes decisions the most often in the MSU, and the primary stakeholders (the students) should be allowed to observe or know what is going on.

I don't think that closed session is necessary for productivity, in my experience with the SRA, it was not "outsiders" that slowed down meetings or held things up, it was lack of preparation on the part of the reps themselves. Although I have not sat on EB, I think that the body can be productive in open session. The EB goes through more decisions than just HR ones, and those dont need to be closed session. EB meetings should only be closed session when legally required to do so.

In terms of cases where employees are discussed and privacy must be maintained legally, I would seek to lump them all together, preferably one meeting a month, or every third week, except for emergencies, and even in those cases, I would express the reason closed session was held, in order to maintain some degree of transparency.

Keep the questions coming!

Hey Ash,

I am not a fan of how the EB has run this year, however, not for the same reasons. The EB only has gone into closed session for HR matters and this always occurs at the end of the meeting so individuals can observe the rest of it first. Unfortunately we have no control of the rate at which these HR matters present themselves and so sometimes they will have to go into closed session every week and other times maybe once a month. I don't suggest that we try to set it at every 3 weeks, because generally HR issues are significantly pressing and I don't think the VP Admin would appreciate having to wait until the next set "closed session meeting" before they can act.

The idea is that I would like to minimize their frequency, and the extent they are used, I have only offered one possibility, and not one that would be strict. If it turns out to be impractical then there may need to be another way. The organization needs to be dynamic enough to handle issues that pop up.

I just don't want to have many EB meetings fall into an unplanned closed session without an explanation. Transparency doesn't need to mean discussing private matters in public, it can mean providing sufficient information that the stakeholders continually have faith in the performance of their elected representatives.

Thanks for the feedback John. I appreciate it.

Hey Ash, I have a few questions regarding some of your platform points:

You mentioned the following as one of your platform points under visibility:
"I will make SRA office hours work. Currently, they are not inviting enough, and I will work to change that. I will motivate SRA reps to be open and visible as well. I will work with them and their faculty societies to ensure they are visible, and are listening to constituents."

I am just wondering what strategies you plan on using to motivate SRA representatives to be open and visible. Would you be working with the House Leader or how would you go about it? Also, when you said that office hours are not inviting enough, what are some things you think could be done to make them more inviting?


You also mentioned the following as one of your platform points under productivity:
"Some of the services of the MSU purposefully operate at a loss, some of them should be cash cows, yet are not. I will do my best to turn around failing business units over my term so that they can be profitable. If necessary, I will seek external consulting organizations to help us, as their cost may be less than the cost of some of the losses the MSU faces."

I am really curious as to how you plan to "turn around these failed business units so that they can be profitable". Now I am not a Business student or anything (though I am planning on switching into Business) but I'm pretty sure there is a lot of research that must be done and multiple audits to go through for this to happen. It won't be turned around just within a year so for the most part, a long term plan is definitely required. You can set the direction but this really falls under the job description of the VP Finance. For the MSU to start making profits, the VP Finance needs consult financial advisers or others that are knowledgeable about making businesses successful.


Thanks!

I am just wondering what strategies you plan on using to motivate SRA representatives to be open and visible. Would you be working with the House Leader or how would you go about it?

I dont have many discrete strategies written down as to how I plan to motivate them, but by building relationships with the faculty societies, by pointing out guidelines, providing some sort of incentives, and by leading by example, I will make it easier for the reps to to be open and visible. I would definitely seek help from the house leader, but I think I would have it more along the lines of me paving the way for the reps, and the house leader reminding them to take the path.

Also, when you said that office hours are not inviting enough, what are some things you think could be done to make them more inviting?

There are a couple things I have been pondering since I was on SRA. The name itself isn't terribly inviting, and the physical location could be changed as well, making it more relevant to the individual faculties. For example, there is no point in engineering office hours being held in MUSC when majority of engineering traffic does not pass through there. In general I plan rethinking how they're conducted and the purpose they're meant to serve. Some reps dont even go to their office hours and that can't happen. Some don't show because no one comes by. When I was on SRA, I maybe missed one or two office hour, but I only had visits three times. Office hours need to be re-invented.

I am really curious as to how you plan to "turn around these failed business units so that they can be profitable". Now I am not a Business student or anything (though I am planning on switching into Business) but I'm pretty sure there is a lot of research that must be done and multiple audits to go through for this to happen. It won't be turned around just within a year so for the most part, a long term plan is definitely required. You can set the direction but this really falls under the job description of the VP Finance. For the MSU to start making profits, the VP Finance needs consult financial advisers or others that are knowledgeable about making businesses successful.

You'd be surprised what a small team of fresh eyes with even a little bit of business background can catch when they evaluate a business. There are a number of resources I hope to use, starting with evaluating them myself with the BoD. I have enough experience between extracurriculars and academics to at least understand what is going on. I will not be a fish out of the water so to speak. I hope to be setting up ad-hoc committees for each revenue generating service in general, to make sure things are up to date and in order. If external consulting is needed for the major services, I will seek that.

I am absolutely sure they wont be fixed in a year. But trends can be turned around, improvements can be made, and momentum can be achieved in that time frame for sure. I am mostly looking to make sure things are okay in the future.

As for the VP Finance, the BoD will be a team, and the president leads the team. This includes doing some of the work they need to be doing. I will be setting direction for their work, but I will also be participating in the work, as it will be my job to as the president. In all companies, the CEO is selected by the shareholders to ensure they are getting their money's worth from the company. Seeing as this is the only position that can be elected by all MSU membership, it is the presidents responsibility to ensure everything is in the best interest of the shareholders (the students). This may mean crossing through some of the lines drawn by the VP job descriptions.


Thanks again for the questions, Nino. I'm enjoying defending my platform.