SASSex Year Plan

2019-2020 EXECUTIVE YEAR PLAN

There are guiding principles that SASSex will strive to uphold, major priorities of the Executive as a whole, a brief overview of finance, an explainer for how advocacy works, and a list of the major events that we are running this year.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

This year, the SASS Executive (SASSex) voted to adopt guiding principles for SASSex members to keep in mind when making day-to-day decisions; these are principles that each SASSex member will strive to uphold.

The student body is the highest political authority of SASS. In other words, the student body has the final say on all political decisions, and SASSex derives its legitimacy from the democratic mandate received from students. SASSex will keep this in mind when making decisions, so that we are democratic and always act
in line with students’ wishes.

ACCOUNTABILITY

In order to let students hold
SASSex accountable, there will be
extensive documentation of
every decision that is made,
including through traditional
meeting minutes, as well as plans
and reports (like the one that you
are reading right now). SASSex
will also proactively engage with
students, solicit feedback, and
ensure clear communication.

TRANSPARENCY

Every Arts & Science student
should feel like a valued member
of our community, but this isn’t
always the case. SASSex plans to
address barriers that students
face by proactively working to
center and support the voices of
marginalized people when
making decisions, improving our
advocacy, and making events as
accessible as possible.

EQUITY & INCLUSION

Finally, SASSex will improve
financial, environmental, and
institutional sustainability by
choosing more sustainable
options wherever possible and
always considering the impact of
our decisions on future Artscis.
We want to be able to achieve all
of our goals while empowering,
rather than hindering, future
Artscis in doing the same.

SUSTAINABILITY

MAJOR PRIORITIES

These are the main priorities of the SASS Executive as a whole (individual members may still have individual priorities). These may change depending on student feedback and what happens during the year.

1) IMPLEMENT SASS BURSARY
In January, SASS voted to increase our society fee to $33.11
starting September 2019, contingent on the creation of a SASS
bursary. Implementing this General Meeting decision by the
student body will be the top priority of the current SASSex.

2) MORE FEEDBACK OPPORTUNITIES
Based on election platforms and feedback results, students are
eager for more feedback opportunities. SASSex will create
multiple new channels for feedback, including anonymous ones.

3) IMPROVING COMMUNICATION
In addition to the work on feedback, SASSex will also improve
communication (and thus transparency) by overhauling Sassweb,
ramping up social media, improving documentation, and more.

4) GREAT EVENTS WITHIN OUR BUDGET
The SASS Executive will aim to deliver all of our annual events —
plus a few new ones — while simultaneously staying on budget
and not compromising quality.

5) CAPACITY BUILDING
Finally, we want to improve SASSex’s ability to achieve its goals by
normalizing sustainability, improving transitions, formalizing
policies, and becoming more professional. This way, next year’s
SASSex will start in the best possible position to succeed.

FINANCE

Each year, every Artsci is asked to pay a small fee so that SASS can be funded. The 2019-20 fee, as determined by student vote, is $33.11 per student. However, the provincial government’s new Student Choice Initiative now requires that this fee be optional rather than mandatory.

SASS is officially opposed to this policy because it goes against the democratic decisions made by students, undermines solidarity by encouraging people to defund the services that others rely upon, and will hinder the ability of students to organize and defend their rights.

Artscis are encouraged to stay in the fee, so that SASS can continue to exist and provide for students. Although our exact 2019-20 budget is still in the works, based on last year’s numbers you can expect your $33.11 to approximately go towards:

ADVOCACY

One of SASSex’s key responsibilities of is representing Artscis to other bodies. In other words, SASS acts as a student union for Arts & Science — by organizing our individual voices into one, SASS can collectively protect and advance the rights and interests of Arts & Science students.

EVENTS & PROGRAMMING

This is a rough outline* of the events that we have planned for the year!

Download the full 2019-2020 SASSex Year Plan document here.

Society of Arts & Science Students