Originally Posted by lightka

This is making me angry. Perhaps bothering enough to talk to the candidate is your first bet. If you disagree, make a different vote. But for the love of God, at least don't take down your school. You should have just enrolled somewhere else.

Anyhow, I talked to Jacob in the student centre yesterday and he seemed to be an alright fellow. Definately highly approachable, quite businesslike, yet casual, and from the couple obscure yet challenging questions I had, he definately had the one quality I like best in a candidate: the will to engage.

Even if he won't do everything right, we're all human aren't we? He seems to be quite willing to work his best and get back up if, say, I had no classes when it was -40 out.

nice shill, did you just register an account to post this?

The level of inaccuracies and assumptions in your post make it very difficult for me to want to respond to you but I'll address some of them just to demonstrate that. At this point I'm not sure if you're just trolling or in a serious argument here.

Firstly, I think you misunderstand the mandate of a Students Union. These services and business are all created with a direct intended benefit for the student body. Many of these were created back in the day when the University wasn't providing certain services, are some of them arguably redundant today? Perhaps. But there is never a consequence to having a student run alternative to relying entirely on the University to provide every single need. As for CFMU, it is a separately incorporated entity that was a centre piece of campus life before the advent of the internet, any student is free to file a referendum to entirely shut down the service, get rid of all it's employees and dismantle the infrastructure.

Where I thought you were seriously trolling was when you implied CEO's sit on their back all day, are unqualified and somehow just happen to land a job by rubbing a genie lamp. Feel free to inform me about your first hand experiences with these CEO's you speak off and what you think the process is to get hired for one of these amazing do nothing jobs.

The equations I spoke of since you didn't properly read my post were real world HR calculations and algorithms. I didn't once suggest that this is what I feel BOD members should be paid, it was just an example to demonstrate how misunderstood the roles are.

As for communications, there are a variety of channels open to any student. Email, Phone, Social Media, In person and for certain special projects surveys (eg: Fall Break), online chats and so on. It's not like the MSU office is hidden in a secret bunker somewhere, it's on the second floor of MUSC you should go pay them a visit if you have an opinion on something. I can't speak for others but in my time we would generally respond within 24 hours to any student queries, heck we looked forward to it because they were generally actionable items we could directly affect as opposed to the generally long term policy and project work that was the day to day. If the BOD is unavailable the SRA Office is just down the hall on the 2nd floor of MUSC. It is also the role of SRA members to engage with their constituents at a more personal on the ground level, some of them do a good job of it some of them were MIA, but that's between them and the people who elected them...SRA members don't have a direct boss.

There isn't much that can be done if you feign ignorance for information actively available online.

As for "how long does it take"; again that's a very simplistic way of putting it. Some issues require just an email or phone call or quick meeting with an administrator, others like long term provincial education policies take anywhere from one budget cycle to several years. For example I'm sure you've noticed your Google Student email, that was something I was personally involved in. It started with a meeting I had with the CIO of McMaster in early 2010, needed a policy endorsement from the assembly in spring 2010, a survey of the student body in fall 2010 to choose between Microsoft and Google and then a year of legal wrangling between University and Google before the email was finally implemented. How outsiders saw it as was another instance of MSU promising stuff and not delivering yada yada.

When it comes to the long term advocacy, That's the reality of public policy in Canada for any advocacy organization, there aren't many barring say the Big Industrial lobbyists who can arrange quicker turnaround time. Many commentators would argue that relative to their resources student advocacy organizations have been incredibly effective at getting incremental changes to PSE. The 30 day conferences was cumulative, there are some meetings solely focused on policy and strategy, but other meetings that are direct 30 minute lobby meetings with members of parliament. Last year the MSU met with every Hamilton area MPP and MP at least once or twice apart from a few presentations to City Council. The travel to Ottawa was for a concentrated week of meetings with MP's.

The level of my innacuracies is easy to fix.

Post every single thing MSU staff does on our money. We need to see their daily job done and earnings. If the secretary in MSU office chills on MacInsiders most of the time, I want to know why she gets what she gets.

We also need to see every single topic being not only discussed, but also the timeline of what has been done so far.

That will be a start.

Jacob Brodka

I got to see your so called resume, which doesn't really matter anyway. Looks like you will get my vote, simply because you bothered to post something on MacInsiders. Well that and the fact that half of the other candidates look like tween-age hipsters. Yuk.

Uhh, what? A stock market?
Revenue is associated with merit? Uhh, what?

What? Who said that? What are you talking about? What?

No, they get paid to run a "stock market", remember? You already said that.

Oh you mean all the businesses that MSU runs. Here's the question. Why do they need our money if they run all those businesses. Oh wait, maybe those don't bring any profit. Then why run a business that loses money?

The MSU: The organization that apparently decides when school is on or off...

MSU is supposed to fight for their rights. In this case, they should have had negotiated for a better school closure policy. Which they didn't. They didn't do that all those years back for which MSU existed, and they are still not doing it.

To all the readers of this thread, it doesn't matter what Plinkett's profile says: Please do not associate this being with the profession of engineering --- ever.

At least I'm facing the innefficiencies in MSU's job, pointing out the bad work they do, instead of just pretending everything is fine and that the next elected official will do a better job.

Engineering is problem solving, not problem avoiding.

Originally Posted by MrPlinkett

Post every single thing MSU staff does on our money. We need to see their daily job done and earnings. If the secretary in MSU office chills on MacInsiders most of the time, I want to know why she gets what she gets.
We also need to see every single topic being not only discussed, but also the timeline of what has been done so far.

See here:

Originally Posted by huzaifa47

This covers it: https://www.msumcmaster.ca/governance/your-money There are others links nearby with the full audited statements and this year's budget.

Between that link and the SRA meeting minutes you should be pretty much up to speed.

Originally Posted by MrPlinkett

Oh you mean all the businesses that MSU runs. Here's the question. Why do they need our money if they run all those businesses. Oh wait, maybe those don't bring any profit. Then why run a business that loses money?

The MSU only funds a small number of businesses (I can only think of 2 or 3). These businesses (I'm thinking of 1280 and Union Market) are not investments and are not meant to bring in profits, it's more about having student interests represented in the marketplace.

Originally Posted by MrPlinkett

MSU is supposed to fight for their rights. In this case, they should have had negotiated for a better school closure policy. Which they didn't. They didn't do that all those years back for which MSU existed, and they are still not doing it.

Unfortunately the MSU has no bargaining power with the university. In order to have bargaining power a union needs to be able to strike. The MSU cannot strike because most of its members are paying to attend classes (and are passionate about their education), and because an MSU strike would have almost zero negative impact on the university. This has nothing to do with choices made by MSU execs, it's just the way student unions work.
Also, consider that if campus was open those days it means that support staff had to work too, and they're supported by CUPE, one of Canada's largest and most powerful unions. Also, consider that pretty much everyone worked those days because that's how things work in the real world. Also, consider that your classes are indoors.

Originally Posted by MrPlinkett

At least I'm facing the innefficiencies in MSU's job, pointing out the bad work they do, instead of just pretending everything is fine and that the next elected official will do a better job.

Engineering is problem solving, not problem avoiding.

Posting on Macinsiders doesn't mean you're "facing" anything and the fact that you're not actually running indicates that you are avoiding the very problems that you're talking about. You're clearly the smartest man on campus and you clearly know everything that's wrong with everyone else, so it's truly a disservice that you aren't running. Maybe you're just hoping that the next elected official will do a better job...

Jacob, will you bring the heat gyal while Teddy brings the fiya?

Originally Posted by mike_302

To all the readers of this thread, it doesn't matter what Plinkett's profile says: Please do not associate this being with the profession of engineering --- ever.

I'd rather associate his posts with the "profession" of being dissatisfied with his experience here.

He's not the only average student on campus that feels like there is little to no value from paying into a number of MSU services.

Originally Posted by MrPlinkett

MSU is supposed to fight for their rights. In this case, they should have had negotiated for a better school closure policy. Which they didn't. They didn't do that all those years back for which MSU existed, and they are still not doing it.

Let me suggest this to my union. Hell why don't I also suggest no-work days for when it gets too hot, or even all Mondays off.

Originally Posted by Watoko

Let me suggest this to my union. Hell why don't I also suggest no-work days for when it gets too hot, or even all Mondays off.

Actually, MrPlinkett once again is ill informed as ever, as an Engineering student he should know that the accreditation board requires a certain # of Contact hours which means the University is pretty restricted in terms of how many snow days it can hand out. Some other schools might have a bit more wiggle room than us because of three things holding McMaster back 1) Our class start on the Thursday of Welcome week as opposed to the Tuesday, in our campus culture Welcome Week is deemed too important for class to be moved up compared to say York or Ryerson who are commuter campuses with low emphasis on spirit/culture. 2) Because we have a landlocked campus with limited physical facilities our exam period has to be a bit longer than other schools unless we want to force more folks into lecture halls for exams 3) The Fall break instituted this year put additional pressure on the calender 4) Calender's are announced in advance so once they are set in the previous term the University by practice can't change them.

So no, it would be a difficult case to make to announce as many snow days and cold days as folks on social media seem to demand every time the weather goes south.

@huzaifa yes we are aware of the minimum class hours required. However, don't you think -40 is abit ridiculous?

Instead of talking about where money goes, let's talk about where money SHOULDN'T go. If I were running in your position, I would build part of my platform on removing expensive services that only benefit a tiny portion of the student body. There are more services on campus that the average student pays for but will never use in four years than there needs to be.

Have you looked for ways to shift money for the benefit of the average student? How much control do you actually have?

Originally Posted by Jacob Brodka

Student Life: Students put in such a great amount of time and effort into this University and into this community. One of the jobs of the MSU is to help give back to students by making their student experience the best it possibly can be. With my platform I want to help celebrate you while continuing to foster and build a strong sense of school spirit and pride.

McMaster's Community Advisors make about $6,000 for the year, but they still have to pay for the cost of a single room (or single with washroom, or apartment, or suite). The MSU President gets a suite in Edwards Hall paid for by the student body. Since the MSU President position is better paying, I see that as a place to start saving money by shifting the burden off of students. You'd impress me with your character if you advocated to have to pay for your own room.

What can you do about reducing the costs of co-op for students who don't use OscarPlus to find a job and still want to count it towards their co-op degree? There's no reason to pay the co-op office the same amount that students who actually use their services do. I'd also like to point out that a recent email said that only 120 students were connected with a job through OscarPlus. The average person pays a lot of money for a service that benefits a small fraction of students.

Originally Posted by Jacob Brodka

Academics: The main reason we as students are all here at McMaster is to get a high quality education. I wanted to push the envelope on what the MSU is currently doing by making Academics a central part of my platform. I want to help encourage you to expand the horizons of your learning; while making sure that the MSU is there to help support you as you go.

I'm going to move away from saving money to changing things I'm dissatisfied with.

What can you do to engender change in the classroom? Perhaps the biggest disappointment of attending this school is the number of classes I've had that were taught by professors who don't have any developed English speaking or writing skills. These people cannot understand questions from the audience nor answer them, and teach from convoluted slides with no explanation of why it's useful to understand the content of their course. Not interesting, not useful, not worth my money. Some of these professors are so disinterested with teaching that they seem there to just make it through the semester, reusing old midterms and finals so that marks seem to offset how poor of a job they did.

The problem extends to teaching assistants. Most tutorials are taught by TA's who are overpaid to be a resource for students and bridge the gap between the professor and class. Their spoken and written English is often just as bad, if not worse, than the professors they represent. When I've asked for help during office hours, I've almost always been redirected to pre-written solutions from the publisher. Once, I had to pronounce a TA's name in staggered syllables and wave my finger in the air to show pinyin tones just to find the right person in a room. When I finally found them and asked for help with a project, they had no idea there was a project in the course. They are not a resource, they are an expensive impediment to learning. It's no wonder that barely anyone goes to office hours or tutorials.

How can you help eliminate language barriers at McMaster?

Originally Posted by Jacob Brodka

Communication: Ideas are the backbone of creating meaningful change and progress. I believe that more needs to be invested in your ideas and therefore wanted to create a platform that gives you the power to decide on the changes you want to see. As MSU President, I will make it my responsibility to ensure that you as a student feel engaged with the MSU and the decision-making process.

Students in residence need a more influential representation in Residence Life. During an uncharacteristic month-long heat wave in March 2012, the building I lived in continued to run its furnaces all month, despite a building-wide petition to turn on the air conditioning. The petition made its way to Residence Life and was ignored by the Residence Manager, and students dealt with the double-blow of 30-degree weather and hot, dry air pumping in through every vent for an entire month. It was so dry and dusty that my guitar started developing a crack. Since residence can directly cost around $800/month and there are far cheaper options available that allow you to control your living conditions, someone has to be able to effectively advocate for those needs. The Community Advisor -> Residence Manager -> Residence Life chain is no good.



This is more or less a summary of some things I'm not happy with at McMaster. It's far from exhaustive. You can have my vote if you can change them (if the MSU President position has any influence on them at all).

Originally Posted by Leeoku

@huzaifa yes we are aware of the minimum class hours required. However, don't you think -40 is abit ridiculous?

Oh absolutely, what I was trying to convey was that the University has a limited number of options and if I were them from a risk management perspective I'd save it for the super snow days where staff and faculty driving in are unable to get in which would jeopardize operations more than low temperatures which are a breeze if you own a car. So in a way yes, students probably suffer more during their transit/walk to work during cold vortexes than they do during a snow day (If I'm not wrong the temperature is relatively comfortable during snow). What would you do as an administrator?

^Is the school allowed to schedule class for a weekend day

Is there any particular reason why, when I went on a 16 month internship, I was told I had to beg the MSU Board of Directors to allow me to purchase health insurance? Heaven forbid a student paying fees to ECCS, and returning for one more year afterwards, gets treated like anything other than a second-class citizen at the toilet bowl of a school I had attended for four years at the time.

Simply degrading. I went the year without health and dental insurance because I didn't want to have to beg for something that should have been set up automatically, either by ECCS or the dipshits in the MSU's Administrative Office. Oh yeah-- my email was ignored and I only got this information by calling in. So much for people doing their jobs.

Originally Posted by eullwm

treated like anything other than a second-class citizen at the toilet bowl of a school.

Can confirm - also in electrical and management.

Between that link and the SRA meeting minutes you should be pretty much up to speed.

It's not what I meant, it's too general.

The MSU only funds a small number of businesses (I can only think of 2 or 3). These businesses (I'm thinking of 1280 and Union Market) are not investments and are not meant to bring in profits, it's more about having student interests represented in the marketplace.

Alright. Really? How about we run a university wide voting, on how many people go to 1280 and buy stuff in the marketplace regularly. Marketplace for example, has a lot of alternatives on campus, so why should students pay for this so called business that uses their money to buy items, and then resell them back to the students?

1) Our class start on the Thursday of Welcome week as opposed to the Tuesday, in our campus culture Welcome Week is deemed too important for class to be moved up compared to say York or Ryerson who are commuter campuses with low emphasis on spirit/culture. 2) Because we have a landlocked campus with limited physical facilities our exam period has to be a bit longer than other schools unless we want to force more folks into lecture halls for exams 3) The Fall break instituted this year put additional pressure on the calender 4) Calender's are announced in advance so once they are set in the previous term the University by practice can't change them.

1) try shifting the welcome week even more, maybe have it start 3 days before the end of august.
2) alright so, its 2014, maybe its time MSU asks mcmaster to improve.
3) was there really a need for a fall break? did i miss the voting on the subject? did we have one? did i miss the crowds, rioting outside, demanding a 3 day break? was the idea to cramp the fall break into the already established schedule, or do it properly and consider it for the following year? also again, shift the schedule into august if needed, entire months is missing.
4) so they announced the schedule in advance, yet they somehow they are capable to cramp in 3 days of fall break.

Also hey, if you can't cancel it, at least move all the academic submission crap by 1 day ahead. They did it for us when the avenue went down, but somehow get shafted when the temperature outside gets deadly.

Oh absolutely, what I was trying to convey was that the University has a limited number of options and if I were them from a risk management perspective I'd save it for the super snow days where staff and faculty driving in are unable to get in which would jeopardize operations more than low temperatures which are a breeze if you own a car. So in a way yes, students probably suffer more during their transit/walk to work during cold vortexes than they do during a snow day (If I'm not wrong the temperature is relatively comfortable during snow). What would you do as an administrator?

Again, at least move all the academic submission crap by 1 day ahead.

Unfortunately the MSU has no bargaining power with the university. In order to have bargaining power a union needs to be able to strike. The MSU cannot strike because most of its members are paying to attend classes (and are passionate about their education), and because an MSU strike would have almost zero negative impact on the university. This has nothing to do with choices made by MSU execs, it's just the way student unions work.
Also, consider that if campus was open those days it means that support staff had to work too, and they're supported by CUPE, one of Canada's largest and most powerful unions. Also, consider that pretty much everyone worked those days because that's how things work in the real world. Also, consider that your classes are indoors.

So if MSU doesn't have any power, or any leverage to even negotiate what it wants, what's the poing of keeping them around?

I've said it before, MSU isn't doing anything McMaster people wouldn't do on their own. Like you think MSU is the reason why we suddenly had WiFi network extended, or was it McMaster that decided to cheap in and overhaul in order to look a bit better on the market of universities?

Posting on Macinsiders doesn't mean you're "facing" anything and the fact that you're not actually running indicates that you are avoiding the very problems that you're talking about. You're clearly the smartest man on campus and you clearly know everything that's wrong with everyone else, so it's truly a disservice that you aren't running. Maybe you're just hoping that the next elected official will do a better job...

I'm stirring shit up by actually speaking about what I don't like, people listen to me and that's the first step on the way to change. And I can do it the way I prefer, using the language I want. MacInsiders gives me right to be a faceless hero. The hero this university needs, but not the hero that it deserves.... or something along those lines.

McMaster is a top down hierarchical organization. If there is any change it will only ever come down from the top. The hierarchy is as strict as anywhere.

MSU - can almost exist as a threat, if the university starts fucking us too hard, they know something might happen, as we are moderately pre-organized in the event we need to mobilize against the administration. Check out places like The New School or more active unions that will act if a line is crossed. I think columbia and even harvard's unions had to act in recent years when they felt lines were crossed.

Mcmaster admin generally stays in line though. And mac students don't really seem to care that our retirement age was moved to 67 recently - so the line is pretty far, but I'm sure still exists somwehre, in terms of challenging the state as students, with its historical precedent as an active group already in everyone's minds.