Im excited for debates, I hope lots of people come out

Originally Posted by ash0000

Im excited for debates, I hope lots of people come out

I will come out.

To note I'm particularly interested in seeing you. At this point I feel I'm undecided between Kieran and Mary but I'd like to see them, and yourself in the debate to see after that who I feel would be best suited for the position. I was saying in the debate thread that the debates are a good place to check out perhaps the lesser front runners, the less popular contestants. You always hear about the front runners but they aren't always the best choice all things considered and the debates give you an opportunity to see all the candidates.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by ash0000

Im excited for debates, I hope lots of people come out

It will be nice to see the prepared, knowledgeable candidates in the spotlight, with actual solutions to problems - rather than the controversies!

I still haven't made up my mind 100% yet but after seeing the debate I've shifted my view. To be cliche I now think Ash can, I didn't know too much about him before but I think he'd make an excellent choice. I'm now between Kieran and Ash, as I was much, much less impressed with a few of the other candidates at the debate.

Thank you Stefanie, I am glad to know that my performance in the debate has helped you know more about me.

Nevermind Nut Swinging for this week! lol

For this week it's "Vote Swinging!!! Just swinging the vote!!"

hahaha nice....

Originally Posted by nick1988

Nevermind Nut Swinging for this week! lol

For this week it's "Vote Swinging!!! Just swinging the vote!!"

I knew that chant was going to show up eventually!

Originally Posted by huzaifa47

I knew that chant was going to show up eventually!

We're saving it for special situations

As long as people remember we are serious, then it might come out every once in a while.

We had interesting Q/A with the IRC tonight. I look forward to more opportunities to answer questions about my platform.

There haven't been enough today, and I love answering them, so keep 'em coming!

Ask and ye shall receive: If you butter a piece of toast and drop it, it lands butter side down. If you drop a cat it always lands on it's feet. What would happen if you buttered the back of a cat and dropped that?

Its called anti-gravity, I think someone won a Nobel prize for it already, and that was his method. It was Schroedinger, he didn't know what to do with the cat once he realized it was still alive.

I just have a question about the fund for purchasing academic equipment. It sounds like a great idea, but it doesn't seem fair if students can opt-out. then it seems as if some students are paying for equipment that everyone will use. i was just wondering your thoughts on this, i think maybe a referendum on the idea would be better.

Originally Posted by brendanp

I just have a question about the fund for purchasing academic equipment. It sounds like a great idea, but it doesn't seem fair if students can opt-out. then it seems as if some students are paying for equipment that everyone will use. i was just wondering your thoughts on this, i think maybe a referendum on the idea would be better.

Thanks for the question,

It's one of the elements that is legally required for endowment funds like this. Since the "fee" is actually a donation (that you get a tax receipt for) that is charged with your fees, you get the choice to get your money back (i.e not donate) through an opt-out process. You can't force someone to donate money to a cause. Opting out isn't fair, per se, but it still makes everything better for everyone, which is what we want.

Because the accumulated money in the account is from the past, and the fact that the money is actually interest of previous years donations, the money that you "donate" is actually a donation for funding equipment for the future, as the interest that you use on equipment today is donations from the past. It's kind of a "pay it forward" type idea. So really, those who opt-out today are not helping future McMaster students out, not today's McMaster students. Today's students are enjoying the gifts of past students.

Another thing to note is that when the donation is something like $10 to $20 dollars per student (which is what I am hoping for), students would be less likely to opt out.

MACLAB, the engineering endowment fund at Mac has a donation of $50 dollars, and it varies year by year how many people opt out, but the equipment that money purchases is EVERYWHERE. I can honestly say that my education has benefited from this system existing, I use MACLAB funded equipment all the time, which is why I want to implement it at the university scale.

Also, something like this would absolutely need a referendum to implement, because it changes fee structures, creates a separate organization/entity to govern it, and would be placing responsibility on faculty societies, the University, and students. My plan is to design it, get it approved, set it up, and get initial external donations for the account so that future years would only need to operate.


Thanks for the question, and I apologize if the concept is a bit confusing, but it works, and it can do great things for McMaster students. Keep the questions coming!

Originally Posted by ash0000

Thanks for the question,

It's one of the elements that is legally required for endowment funds like this. Since the "fee" is actually a donation (that you get a tax receipt for) that is charged with your fees, you get the choice to get your money back (i.e not donate) through an opt-out process. You can't force someone to donate money to a cause. Opting out isn't fair, per se, but it still makes everything better for everyone, which is what we want.

Because the accumulated money in the account is from the past, and the fact that the money is actually interest of previous years donations, the money that you "donate" is actually a donation for funding equipment for the future, as the interest that you use on equipment today is donations from the past. It's kind of a "pay it forward" type idea. So really, those who opt-out today are not helping future McMaster students out, not today's McMaster students. Today's students are enjoying the gifts of past students.

Another thing to note is that when the donation is something like $10 to $20 dollars per student (which is what I am hoping for), students would be less likely to opt out.

that makes sense, though it doesn't seem like an actual donation. i guess if its 10-20, people would be less likely to go through hassle of getting the opt-out cheque. its a great idea though, one of the best and most attainable i've seen in the platforms.