I'm not trying to be sarcastic, in the case that it seems like it.

But I've been in the residence, and there is only one bedroom, with a common area that is much smaller than the majority of bates rooms, and the common area includes the kitchen and a dining table.

How are the rooms above situated? I also am aware that the room next to the President's room actually winds behind the president's room with a bedroom in what could be considered parallel. Are you perhaps mistaken because of that room?

Originally Posted by owenadam

What about defending the Sil article as opposed to picking it apart? are we allowed to do that?

Adam, by 'picking apart' I didn't mean it in a positive or negative way, I simply meant discussing the points/facts that were brought up in the article bit by bit. You can defend the points, or counter the points. Everyone is more than welcome to defend the Sil article.

Originally Posted by fullsmash26

Floor plan on each floor is the same. The rooms above the MSU president with the exact same layout house two students.

The University would rent the space to house two students.

I lived in Bates first year and my buddy lived in a 2 student apartment. I've been in the MSU President's room and as Deadpool said, the MSU President's room is smaller than that of a 2-student apartment. It's much smaller in fact.

I have yet to hear anything factually wrong with my article.

Don't worry, "real world" politics is the same. Politicians whine and complain, claim things are taken out of context but never actually provide evidence that a story is false.

Jeff,
This isn't an argument as much as simple questioning.

First off, can you reiterate the calculations you used, mainly in terms of how you reached the 22.4%.

Secondly, I heard that the interview done with Ian was recorded. Can you release the dialogue of that? Ian claims that his quotes were taken far out of context, so if you could shed some light of that, it would be appreciated.

Thirdly, what is your stance on the disclosure of the salary/wages of ALL employees of the MSU, especially including the Silhouette Executive Editor and Union Market manager?

Adam, or Joey if you would like to comment on these, it would be extremely beneficial. SRA members, please refrain from commenting or anything on these questions, or the responses. I am a little overwhelmed with all the competing ideas, and having heard all of yours (and having initially defended it) I would like to hear the dialogue from the Sil in a civil manner as opposed to in a story.

While I can't speak for The Silhouette, when dealing with politicians I've been known to post full audio when necessary.

A good example my questioning of the Minister of Labour on the York strike prior to Christmas: http://oncampus.macleans.ca/educatio...n-york-strike/

I was not involved in the creation of this article and did not know in advance it was being published. During my sessions at the conference of the Canadian University Press, I did offer advice to other papers covering similar student union stories. I cannot state if anyone from The Silhouette was present during those times as the rooms were packed.

The financial records of the McMaster Students Union should be an open book. We should know the exact salaries of all jobs and why they are compensated at that rate.

The Silhouette is one of the last remaining non-independent student newspapers in the country.

I believe all organizations collecting a mandatory fee should be full transparent.

Also, my apologies to all the people who have emailed or private messaged me. I'm behind on a few Maclean's stories and haven't got back to them yet.

Thread's been fully smashed.

Another note for the MSU, the last General Assembly to meet quorum was not "20 years ago."

The following information was provided to me by the MSU Alumni Association a few years ago and is part of the transition guide the MSU executives receive.



On Tuesday, March 21, 1995 a general assembly was held that met quorum. The GA met quorum as supporters of OPIRG turned out to create the fee which students pay to support the PIRG.

The 1995 GA approved the OPIRG fee, a one-year $12 student placement office fee, defeated a proposed $15 fee increase for Ath & Rec, and voted against holding a referendum to leave the Canadian Federation of Students.

Monday, March 14, 1994.

Motion to revive joke-issue of the Silhouette was defeated. (Joke-issues were banned by the SRA in 1992), motion to discontinue "guest-list" for MSU volunteers defeated, and quorum was lost before a motion to make the MSU bars all-ages could be considered. (The SRA later implemented all-ages access after seeing the support for it at GA)

The next GA to meet quorum in history was 1987, 22 years ago. The GA in 1988/1989 did not make quorum.

So have they gotten a bigger room yet?

So this thread is about a General Assembly, where us students can come out and make bylaws like the MSU does?

And there needs to be a quorom which is a set number of people for the bylaws or whatever to be official?

So if I wanted to make the MSU give up some of the services I don't use (like the radio station) I would have to make a motion at the General Assembly and it would be done?

If it passes, yes. You've got only 5 days to get enough signatures and submit it, then get enough support for it.

Originally Posted by FireDragoonX

So this thread is about a General Assembly, where us students can come out and make bylaws like the MSU does?

And there needs to be a quorom which is a set number of people for the bylaws or whatever to be official?

So if I wanted to make the MSU give up some of the services I don't use (like the radio station) I would have to make a motion at the General Assembly and it would be done?

If you want to come out and make bylaws or policies, you can at any time by participating on one of the SRA committees. Operations, Services, or the Bylaws and Procedures committees all take part in doing this sort of thing on a regular basis. I'm working on one right now! I think you'd be most interested in contacting the Services committee in this case: [email protected] ter.ca I believe this one is held at 1:30 on Thursdays in the MSU committee room, musc 201.


There does need to be a certain amount of msu membership present in order to have anything be binding.


If you made a motion at a quorate GA, such as the one you suggested, and it passed there, it would be done. If there isn't quorum, you can still make your sentiments known and maybe even discuss the merits of a motion which you could then collaborate with someone later to put to the SRA where it also could be binding.

Under the MSU's Constitution, the authority to make MSU bylaws is exclusively held by the SRA.

A General Assembly meeting that has met quorum (3% of MSU membership, thus about 600 students) has the power to make decisions that are binding direction to the SRA. There are a few exceptions, such as changes to the MSU Constitution, which would have to have gone through a notice and review process prior to the General Assembly meeting.

There have been CFMU referenda in the past that have approved the targetted fee (1987, 1995)and explicitly rejected closure of the radio station (1979, 1984). The SRA would not have the authority to unilaterally close CFMU without consent of the MSU membership through either a quorate General Assembly or a quorate referendum.

No. And you noticed that they confuse location information on their MSU page in The Silhouette.

So, not only are their "facts" about GA wrong, they didn't even bother to proofread the page before publishing it.

Their most important method of communicating with students and it looks like it was a seventeenth thought for them.

At last it's an improvement from past weeks when they wanted the entire page saying how great they were to each other.