Levies for Black and Disabled/Neurodivergent Student Support Funds 

Whereas only 14% of youth and adults with disabilities have a Bachelor’s degree, compared to 27% of the non-disabled population in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2020);

Whereas only 51% of Black men and 33% of Black women attained a post-secondary diploma or degree, compared to 62% of non-Black men and 41% of non-Black women (Statistics Canada, 2020); 

Whereas the Disability and Neurodiversity Alliance (DNA) is a student-led constituency group and network that serves disabled and neurodivergent students by providing supportive services and working “together to create campus change, address ableism, and promote disability justice while opposing oppression in all forms” (DNA Mandate);

Whereas the Students of Caribbean & African Ancestry (SOCA) is a student-run constituency group that has provided Black student supportive services, anti-racism and BIPOC advocacy, initiating fellowship between students of Black, African and Caribbean Ancestry and wider scale community-building events at SFU since 1994;

Whereas the SFSS Issues Policy 4 (2021) affirms that the Society supports disability justice initiatives and “universally accessible post-secondary education”;

Whereas the SFSS Issues Policy 8 (2021) affirms that the Society supports anti-racism intiatives and funding “targetted resources allocated to support the various Black and Indigenous communities equitably due to their unique experiences as it relates to their histories with slavery, colonialism, and genocide”;

Whereas it is vital that peer-based services that are led by and for Black, disabled, and/or neurodivergent students are funded continually for sustainable supports;

Whereas the SFSS has established letters of agreement with each group establishing a shared commitment to long term student support, student space, staff supports, funding and autonomy;

Do you support establishing two funds, the SOCA Black Student Support Fund and the DNA Disabled and Neurodivergent Student Support Fund, for the two equity-seeking constituency groups, Disability & Neurodiversity Alliance (DNA) and Students of Caribbean & African Ancestry (SOCA), at a cost per semester of $1.00 per full-time undergraduate student per fund and $0.50 per part-time undergraduate student per fund, for the purposes of community building, cultural awareness and support services?

This will increase the Student Activity Fee by $2.00 per full-time undergraduate student per semester and $1.00 per part-time undergraduate student per semester. 

First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Student Association Fund

Whereas only 9.8% of Indigenous Peoples obtain an University Degree as compared to 26.5% of the general population (Statistics Canada, 2011); 

Whereas the First Nations, Métis & Inuit Student Association (FNMISA) is an Indigenous student-led group in which its purposes are to provide a variety of cultural and academic support and resources to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit students at SFU;

Whereas the FNMISA currently receives $0.75 from the First Nations Students Fund, which has not been increased to match inflation for 20 years; 

Whereas the FNMISA has updated their name to be more inclusive of membership, the name of this fund shall reflect that;

Whereas “The SFSS commits to working towards supporting Indigenous People(s) during and throughout their academic journeys to ensure that reconciliation is prioritized within the student union and is ongoing” (SFSS Issues Policy-7, 2021);

Do you support funding the SFU First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Student Association at a cost of $1.50 per full time student per semester and $0.75 per part-time student per semester for the purposes of community building, cultural awareness and support services?

This will increase the Student Activity Fee by $0.75 per full time student per semester and $0.38 per part-time student per semester.

Non-binding Plebiscite – Future SFSS Space Project(s) Feedback

With the Build SFU Project completed (SUB and SFU Stadium are done and open), do you think the SFSS should research a Surrey Students Union Building project, a subsidised student housing project, both, or none?

  1. Surrey SUB
  2. Subsidised Student Housing
  3. Both
  4. None”
SFSS Health and Dental Plan Fee Increase

The current Enhanced SFSS Health and Dental Plan costs $254.36/year and the Basic SFSS Health and Dental Plan costs $197.52/year and was set in 2018. Since then health, dental, vision, and prescription costs have increased above the current fees. The SFSS has been using the Health Plan Reserve Fund to cover any deficits in the plan costs. However, this fund is estimated to only cover for one or two more years of deficits without cutting benefits. We have been recommended to increase the total fee by $39.00 by our Plan administrator Studentcare, but we believe that only increasing it by $30 will allow us to stretch out the use of our Health Plan Reserve Fund for longer to save students money.

Do you agree to increase the Health and Dental Plan by $30 for September 2022-August 2023?

  • Basic Plan: $197.52 -> $227.52
  • Enhanced Plan: $254.36 -> $284.36

FAQ

SFSS Health and Dental Plan Fee Adjustment Power Renewal

Students gave the SFSS Board of Directors, at the 2017 Spring Referendum, the power to adjust the SFSS Health and Dental Plan fee by +/- 5% each year until Spring 2022. The SFSS has changed their accounting model for the plan to better allow for fee negotiations. Renewing the power for the SFSS Board of Directors (now the SFSS Council) to be able to adjust the fee by +/- 5% each year until Spring 2025 will allow them more flexibility to match fee changes. 

Do you agree to give the SFSS Council the power to adjust the SFSS Health and Dental Plan fee by +/- 5% under Spring 2025?

SFSS PROPOSED REFERENDA FOR SPRING 2021:

Bylaw Update

RESOLUTION:

Do you agree to make the following changes to the SFSS By-Laws:

  • Change all references to “Society Act” with “Societies Act”
  • Change By-Law 4(10)(b) to read “Be an ex-officio voting member of all Committees of Council.”
  • Add a clause to By-Law 4(11) that reads “Shall train and advise the incoming Vice-President Internal and Organizational Development.”
  • Amend By-Law 6(16)(d) to read “Act as a liaison between their Student Union, Constituency Group, or Affiliated Student Group, and Council,”
  • Add a subsection under By-Law 6(24) that reads “If a Councillor represents an Affiliated Student Group, their Alternates must be a member of their respective Affiliated Student Group.”
  • In By-Law 10, replace “If the members of a proposed Student Union” with “If members of a faculty or department unrecognized by Council”
  • Create a subsection under By-Law 15(23) that reads “if the voting period is set to fall during the University’s reading break, the voting period shall be postponed to the next week of regularly scheduled classes”
  • Add a section under By-Law 16 that reads “By-elections shall not be scheduled during the University’s reading break”
  • Add “In accordance with By-Law 16,” at the beginning of By-Law 16(8)(b)
  • Amend By-Law 17(5)(b) to read “in accordance with the Constitution and ByLaws of the Student Union, Constituency Group, or Affiliated Student Group the Councillor represents.”
  • Replace the word “by-laws” in By-Law 19(1)(b) with “constitution”.

Yes/No

 

Bylaw Order Update

BACKGROUND:

The current SFSS By-Laws has many gaps in numbering, and the sequential order of the By-Laws could be improved to increase readability and better help students understand the By-Laws.

RESOLUTION:

Do you agree with changing the current order of the SFSS By-Laws to the following:

  • By-Law 1: Interpretations
  • By-Law 2: Membership
  • By-Law 3: Powers, Duties and Obligations of Members
  • By-Law 4: Powers, Duties and Obligations of Members’ Meetings
  • By-Law 5: Council
  • By-Law 6: Powers, Duties and Obligations of Council
  • By-Law 7: Powers, Duties and Obligations of the Executive Committee
  • By-Law 8: Student Unions
  • By-Law 9: Student Union Levies
  • By-Law 10: Constituency Group
  • By-Law 11: Auditors
  • By-Law 12: Amendments
  • By-Law 13: Elections
  • By-Law 14: By-Elections
  • By-Law 15: Resignation, Impeachment, or Abandonment
  • By-Law 16: Referenda
  • By-Law 17: Accountability in External Provincial and National Student Organizations
  • By-Law 18: The Seal of the Society
  • By-Law 19: Dissolution
  • By-Law 20: Records
  • By-Law 21: Prohibitions on Discrimination
  • By-Law 22: Primacy of By-Laws

Yes/No

 

Administrator Wage Restriction

RESOLUTION:

Do you agree to add the following bylaws?

Add to Bylaw 1 – Interpretations:

  • “Administrator” means a person who is employed by the Society on a permanent or temporary contract and who is union-excluded
  • “Hourly wage equivalent” means an annual salary divided by 70 biweekly hours divided by 26 pay periods
  • “Legacy employment contracts” means employment contracts entered into by the SFSS before May 1, 2021
  • “General Fund” means the Society fund that receives the Student Society Membership Fee

Create a By-Law titled “SFSS Administrator Cost Restrictions”

  1. An administrator’s “hourly wage equivalent” cannot be more than 2.5 times the hourly wage of a “student staff” as defined and established in the most recent Collective Agreement for the SFSS’s unionized employees
  2. The combined salaries of all administrators, excluding the cost of benefits, shall be no greater than 10% of the total revenue from the General Fund or $300,000, whichever is larger.
  3. Legacy employment contracts for administrators are excluded from the wage caps established in subitems (1) and (2)

Yes/No

 

SFSS Divestment
RESOLUTION:

Do you agree to add the following bylaw?

SFSS Investment Restrictions 

 

  1. All direct investments made by the Society shall be fossil fuel free, which includes oil, gas and coal producers, pipeline companies, natural gas distribution utilities, and liquefied natural gas operations.
  2. All Indirect investment is limited to equities whose company only derives at most 5% of their gross revenue from fossil fuel investments
Yes/No

SFSS PROPOSED REFERENDA FOR SPRING 2020:

WUSC Fee Increase

BACKGROUND

World University Services Canada SFU (WUSC SFU) is a student-led club to support education for refugee youth whose goals are to increase awareness about forced migration and the impact of education on the lives of those affected among youth refugee students and supports re-settling the refugee students that SFU students sponsor through a partnership with WUSC Canada.

The program gives displaced students between the ages of 18 – 25 yrs the opportunity to complete their education in Canada. Refugee students are sponsored (books, tuition, and some living costs) by from over 90 universities across Canada. The financial support comes from students levy once per term across all participant Canadian universities/colleges. The total number of students sponsored from 1981 to 2019 is 71 students. 

At SFU, undergraduate students currently contribute $2.50 per semester except undergraduate students taking 3 credits or fewer who currently contribute $1.25 per semester. SFU WUSC needs additional revenue to be sustained and to continue supporting refugee youth, and without there being an increase WUSC SFU would not be able to continue sponsoring refugee students at SFU.

QUESTION:

Are you in favour of increasing the student levy for the SFU WUSC – World University Services Canada to $5.00 per semester for students, except student taking 3 credits or fewer who would contribute $2.50 per semester, adjusted annually for inflation according to the Canadian Consumer Price Index (CPI)?

Yes/No

SFPIRG Fee Increase

BACKGROUND:

The Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group (SFPIRG) is an independent student society at SFU that engages students in social and environmental justice, through education, action, research, and community-building. Established in 1981, SFPIRG provides a wide range of programming, resources, services, and volunteer and employment opportunities to students.

Visit www.sfpirg.ca to learn more about SFPIRG.

All SFU students are members of SFPIRG, and contribute a member fee every semester as part of their Activity Fee. All SFU students currently contribute $3 per semester, except students taking 3 credits or fewer who currently contribute $1.50 per semester. This member fee was last set by referendum in 1994. The inflation rate in BC from 1994 to 2019 was 45.03%, meaning that something that cost $3 in 1994 would now cost $4.35 significantly impacting SFPIRG’s operating budget.

SFPIRG needs additional revenue to maintain current levels of programming and services, to expand and enhance the organization’s scope and capacity, and to adjust for the inflation that has occurred over the last 25+ years. Without there being an increase, SFPIRG would not be able to continue operating at current levels, nor continue growing and developing new programs, services and opportunities for students. 

RESOLUTION:

Be it resolved to increase the student levy for SFPIRG to $5.50 per semester for students, except students taking 3 credits or fewer who would contribute $2.75 per semester, adjusted annually for inflation according to the Vancouver Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Yes/No

SFSS PROPOSED REFERENDA FOR SPRING 2019:

U-Pass Referendum Question

BACKGROUND:

The cost of a current monthly adult transit pass for the Metro Vancouver region is $95 for one zone, $128 for two zones, and $174 for three zones.

The Universal Transit Pass (U-Pass) BC program represents a discounted transit fare for students in Metro Vancouver and has existed since 2011.

The current U-Pass BC program price is $41.00 per month and has not changed in 2 years, and the current contract is set to expire at the end of December 2019.

There is a proposed five-year agreement between the Province of BC and TransLink to continue offering the U-Pass BC program starting January 2020 at all Metro Vancouver public post-secondary institutions.

The proposed structure extends the current rate of $41.00 per month until April 30, 2020, then adjusts the rate to $42.50 per month beginning May 1, 2020. Thereafter, the rate would increase by up to 2% per year rounded to the nearest $0.05 (see the proposed fee schedule below). This structure could continue past April 30, 2025, upon renegotiation or renewal of the agreement.

The U-Pass BC program will be discontinued for SFU undergraduate students if a majority of SFU undergraduate students vote “No”.

QUESTION:

Are you in favour of continued participation in the U-Pass BC program beginning January 1, 2020, at the following monthly rates?

January 1, 2020 – April 30, 2020 – $41.00
May 1, 2020 – April 30, 2021 – $42.50
May 1, 2021 – April 30, 2022 – $43.35
May 1, 2022 – April 30, 2023 – $44.20
May 1, 2023 – April 30, 2024 – $45.10
May 1, 2024 – April 30, 2025 – $46.00
May 1, 2025 onwards: annual increases of up to 2% per year rounded to the nearest $0.05

Yes/No 

Student Union Building Naming Referendum Question

BACKGROUND:

The new SFSS building is under construction between the AQ and MBC and is currently known as the Student Union Building. The building will be devoted to student activities and will include lounges, game rooms, and indoor and outdoor spaces for independent and group study, as well as all SFSS programs and services.
The SFSS Board of Directors would like to survey students to determine whether the name “Student Union Building” should stay or if a new name should be chosen instead.

The following options were shortlisted from a list of student submissions:

Student Union Building (Building code: SUB)
“Student Union Building” is the name traditionally used for this type of building on Canadian campuses.

The Den (Building code: DEN)
This name is meant to evoke a cozy feeling where you can sit by the fire after class, hold a study session in a team room, or unwind in the gaming lounge. “The Den” is where you can kick back and hang out.

The Hive (Building code: HIVE)
This name suggests a building alive with activity – whether you’re in a club, student union, or with a group of friends, “The Hive” is filled with ideas, events, and people who make this campus their home away from home.

The Treehouse (Building code: TREE)

This name reflects SFU’s natural environment and elements of the building’s design: wood, scenic views, outdoor patios, and a focus on sustainability. “The Treehouse” is your place to escape, right here on the mountain.

QUESTION:

Select your preferred name for the new SFSS building:

  • Student Union Building (SUB)
  • The Den (DEN)
  • The Hive (HIVE)
  • The Treehouse (TREE)

SFSS PROPOSED REFERENDA FOR FALL 2017:

U-Pass BC Referendum:

Whereas the current Universal Transit Pass Agreement expires in April 2018;

Whereas the terms of the current Universal Transit Pass Agreement may be extended until December 31, 2019 at the existing rate of $41.00, per undergraduate student, per month of study;

Whereas a “no” result to this referendum would result in SFU undergraduate students no longer having access to the Universal Transit Pass after the Spring 2018 semester;

Be it resolved to authorize the Simon Fraser Student Society to continue to collect the mandatory fee of $41.00 per month of study from each undergraduate student as detailed in the agreement, as a prescribed, program Student Society Fee until December31, 2019, effective November 24th, 2017, after the results of the referendum are finalized.

REFERENDUM QUESTION SUBMISSION AND REVIEW:

All members of the SFSS will be given a reasonable opportunity to submit referendum question for consideration on the upcoming ballot.

Prior to the Notice of Election, at least one month’s notice must be provided of an election or referenda to ensure the appointment of a full Independent Electoral Commissioner (IEC).

Referendum Questions will be deemed to have been duly submitted and slated for inclusion on a ballot where the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) receives a complete Referendum Question Submission Package.

A Referendum Question, including an Ordinary Resolution or Special Resolution, may be submitted to the IEC for inclusion in one of three (3) ways:

  1. a simple majority vote of the Board of Directors,
  2. a simple majority vote of Council, and
  3. a petition submitted to the Board that contains the text of the proposed resolution and the signatures of five (5) percent of the members in good standing of the Society.

Referendum questions submitted to Board by petition must use the template provided by the Society, found here.