Thursday, May 06, 2004
Endings, Beginnings, and blah blah blah
While I endeavor to keep this space relatively non-hackish, there are times when this is not practicable. The annual Students' Council changeover meeting is one of those times. So much to tell, so few to give a shit. . .
Awards
Councilor of the Year: Heather Wallace (runner up: Steve Smith)
Gregory Harlow Award for Non-Excellence in Robert's Rules of Order: Zita Dubé (runner up: Gregory Harlow)
Media Whore Award: Steve Smith (runner up: Mat Brechtel)
Hypocrisy Award for Self-Contradiction: Zita Dubé (runner up: Nobody even close)
Thanks for Coming Out Award: Science Councilors collectively (runner up: Chris Bolivar)
Volunteerism Award: Allison Ekdahl and Zita Dubé
My prize - presented with touching words of derision by 2004-2005 Gateway Editor-in-Chief Adam Rozenhart - was an autographed copy of Sue Paulson's "Tips & Tools to Speak with Confidence." Ha! The shrinking violet edition of Steve Smith that Council knew last year will be no more once I finish with that book.
Joke Motions
First up was my motion to impeach Mssrs. Jones and Hirji from the Internal Review Board, which was not actually intended as a joke motion. It was amended to include me, and then re-amended (by Mr. Brechtel himself, who said he'd been waiting to remove himself from the committee all year) to include Mat. An amendment to banish us to the University of Calgary was defeated after Mat (clearly relishing the end of the necessity for diplomacy) argued that, given the state of the U of C S.U., the Jones-Hirji-Smith bloc may well be able to take over. The motion was eventually carried, despite it being out of order (the removal of the President from IRB is clearly in contravention of Bylaw 4400).
Second was my motion calling for the adoption of a Multi-Year Tuition Policy. Despite the fact that it was brilliant (Roman's complaints that it just made me appear bitter notwithstanding), there seemed to be little debate on it, and it passed uneventfully.
Third was again my motion:
SMITH/BAZIN MOVED THAT Students' Council, upon the recommendation of the Internal Review Board, adopt a proposal that:
(a) nobody but the Internal Review Board cares about;
(b) would in no way affect the typical U of A student;
(c) would completely overhaul the way the S.U. works for no apparently good reason; and
(d) is mostly just an excuse for the motion's mover to hear the sound of his own voice.
Unsurprisingly, Duncan Taylor spoke strongly against this motion, though at least this time he had the decency to admit that he didn't entirely understand why he was doing so (beyond simply that it was a SMITH/BAZIN motion). This seemed to be good enough for a majority of Council, though, which promptly rejected it.
Finally a motion moved by Councilor Pandya to replace the existing twenty-four hour clock with a thirty-six hour clock was carried after it was amended to fifty hours and to include a resolution calling for non-stop pop. Speaker Gregory Harlow, showing admirably restraint, called it a joke motion all the same.
The Best Motion I've Ever Moved
Since we were lacking quorum at this point, I successfully moved for the creation of a quorum posse, which was eventually able to round up enough delinquent councilors from the SUB food court to get the meeting back on track.
Some observations on the incoming Council
1. The Science benches have seemed a lot less useless since Duncan's departure from them.
2. Apparently, political capital is replenished every May 1.
3. Who are all of these people, and why are they professing a desire to be my bitches?
4. It turns out that the secret to passing SMITH/BAZIN motions is just to have SMITH and BAZIN trade places.
Committees to Which I Have Been Appointed
Audit Committee
Internal Review Board
Committees to Which I Still Hope to be Appointed
Access Fund Board
Committee for Council Reform And Progress
External Affairs Board
Financial Affairs Board
Gateway Student Journalism Society Board of Directors
Tribune Nomination Committee
In Other, Less Hackish News
Still not a single job interview thus far, but today I was promised (by the guy at Atlantis Marine) that he'd call me for one.
The four worst men I know - Matt Bolding, Chris Henderson, Dan Kaszor, and Aaron Levin - have started up a blog, appropriately called Four Bad Men. Bolding, Henderson, and Levin are the creative genii behind the Tom Selleck and Pepsi for President campaigns, while Kaszor is entering his second term as Gateway Production Editor. Henderson, it's worth noting, is both awesome and, by his own account, extremely well-endowed.
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While I endeavor to keep this space relatively non-hackish, there are times when this is not practicable. The annual Students' Council changeover meeting is one of those times. So much to tell, so few to give a shit. . .
Awards
Councilor of the Year: Heather Wallace (runner up: Steve Smith)
Gregory Harlow Award for Non-Excellence in Robert's Rules of Order: Zita Dubé (runner up: Gregory Harlow)
Media Whore Award: Steve Smith (runner up: Mat Brechtel)
Hypocrisy Award for Self-Contradiction: Zita Dubé (runner up: Nobody even close)
Thanks for Coming Out Award: Science Councilors collectively (runner up: Chris Bolivar)
Volunteerism Award: Allison Ekdahl and Zita Dubé
My prize - presented with touching words of derision by 2004-2005 Gateway Editor-in-Chief Adam Rozenhart - was an autographed copy of Sue Paulson's "Tips & Tools to Speak with Confidence." Ha! The shrinking violet edition of Steve Smith that Council knew last year will be no more once I finish with that book.
Joke Motions
First up was my motion to impeach Mssrs. Jones and Hirji from the Internal Review Board, which was not actually intended as a joke motion. It was amended to include me, and then re-amended (by Mr. Brechtel himself, who said he'd been waiting to remove himself from the committee all year) to include Mat. An amendment to banish us to the University of Calgary was defeated after Mat (clearly relishing the end of the necessity for diplomacy) argued that, given the state of the U of C S.U., the Jones-Hirji-Smith bloc may well be able to take over. The motion was eventually carried, despite it being out of order (the removal of the President from IRB is clearly in contravention of Bylaw 4400).
Second was my motion calling for the adoption of a Multi-Year Tuition Policy. Despite the fact that it was brilliant (Roman's complaints that it just made me appear bitter notwithstanding), there seemed to be little debate on it, and it passed uneventfully.
Third was again my motion:
SMITH/BAZIN MOVED THAT Students' Council, upon the recommendation of the Internal Review Board, adopt a proposal that:
(a) nobody but the Internal Review Board cares about;
(b) would in no way affect the typical U of A student;
(c) would completely overhaul the way the S.U. works for no apparently good reason; and
(d) is mostly just an excuse for the motion's mover to hear the sound of his own voice.
Unsurprisingly, Duncan Taylor spoke strongly against this motion, though at least this time he had the decency to admit that he didn't entirely understand why he was doing so (beyond simply that it was a SMITH/BAZIN motion). This seemed to be good enough for a majority of Council, though, which promptly rejected it.
Finally a motion moved by Councilor Pandya to replace the existing twenty-four hour clock with a thirty-six hour clock was carried after it was amended to fifty hours and to include a resolution calling for non-stop pop. Speaker Gregory Harlow, showing admirably restraint, called it a joke motion all the same.
The Best Motion I've Ever Moved
Since we were lacking quorum at this point, I successfully moved for the creation of a quorum posse, which was eventually able to round up enough delinquent councilors from the SUB food court to get the meeting back on track.
Some observations on the incoming Council
1. The Science benches have seemed a lot less useless since Duncan's departure from them.
2. Apparently, political capital is replenished every May 1.
3. Who are all of these people, and why are they professing a desire to be my bitches?
4. It turns out that the secret to passing SMITH/BAZIN motions is just to have SMITH and BAZIN trade places.
Committees to Which I Have Been Appointed
Audit Committee
Internal Review Board
Committees to Which I Still Hope to be Appointed
Access Fund Board
Committee for Council Reform And Progress
External Affairs Board
Financial Affairs Board
Gateway Student Journalism Society Board of Directors
Tribune Nomination Committee
In Other, Less Hackish News
Still not a single job interview thus far, but today I was promised (by the guy at Atlantis Marine) that he'd call me for one.
The four worst men I know - Matt Bolding, Chris Henderson, Dan Kaszor, and Aaron Levin - have started up a blog, appropriately called Four Bad Men. Bolding, Henderson, and Levin are the creative genii behind the Tom Selleck and Pepsi for President campaigns, while Kaszor is entering his second term as Gateway Production Editor. Henderson, it's worth noting, is both awesome and, by his own account, extremely well-endowed.
