The Engineering Society has been thinking about becoming a corporation for the past several years, said EngSoc Vice-President (Operations) Rob Macnamara.
In December, Macnamara released a report on Clark Hall Pub recommending new staffing, accountability and safety policies for the pub, as well as a plan for its initial re-opening.
The report also recommends EngSoc incorporate.

Teams RWS and WCW are both proposing new academic programs or certificates in their AMS campaign platforms.
RWS says it will lobby for the creation of African studies, Middle Eastern studies and aboriginal studies, while WCW wants to see a new diversity certificate put in place.
Lack of funding and lack of space are the two main factors preventing the University from adding new academic programs, said Vice-Principal (Academic) Patrick Deane.

Post-secondary students in Europe will be able to easily study and apply their degrees in different countries by 2010.
Since 1999, 40 countries have signed on to the Bologna Accord, which seeks to standardize post-secondary education across the continent.
In Canada, where higher education is a provincial responsibility, there’s little regulation over what goes into a degree program on a national or provincial level. But that’s starting to change.

This year’s executive fell short in terms of management and communication, the AMS executive candidates told the Journal’s editorial board Sunday.
WCW vice-president (university affairs) candidate Yanique Williams said CMM’s management and human resources skills are lacking, evident in the seven senior staff members they lost this year. ACH vice-president (operations) candidate Jay Collins also thinks CMM’s management was its greatest weakness.

The Engineering Society’s Science Constable services may not be re-established if EngSoc’s Clark Hall Pub Task Force’s recommendations are followed through.
All SciCons were dismissed along with the rest of the Clark Hall Pub staff when EngSoc closed the pub in June.
The report, released Dec. 15, suggests contracting AMS Student Constables for EngSoc-sanctioned events in the future. SciCons must be Engineering students, according to EngSoc’s policy manual on student services.

Inclusivity is the name of the game in this year’s Concurrent Education Student’s Association executive elections.
Both teams vying for the jobs said they’re looking to increase communications between all levels of students and open up more opportunities for students to get involved.

AMS executive candidates participated in three debates this week to get their messages and platforms out to the student body.
Monday the vice-president (university affairs) candidates debated, Tuesday featured vice-president (operations) candidates and the three presidential candidates debated Wednesday.
Turnout increased as the week went along, culminating with a vocal audience of more than 100 in the JDUC’s lower ceilidh Wednesday evening.

If next year’s AMS executive decided to withhold the money from the student fee collected to go toward the Queen’s Centre, that money would have to be made up either out of the University’s cash reserves or by incurring additional debt, said Andrew Simpson, vice-principal (operations and finance).

Caitlin Adair is in the throes of her busiest time of year. As commissioner of internal affairs (CIA), Adair oversees the AMS election.
Throughout the election, Adair supervises the election team and manages day-to-day space bookings for election-related events. She spends about three hours a week in meetings and the rest doing administrative tasks—sitting through clubs manager’s office hours to answer questions, booking advertisement spaces, putting together a guide to non-academic discipline and delegating tasks to her committee members.

AMS team RWS hopes to work with the University and the city to compost organic waste across campus. Food Services is starting a pilot composting project next week in Leonard Hall this month, but Residence and Hospitality Services Director Bruce Griffiths said it’s unlikely this will be expanded any time soon.

In next week’s AMS election you’ll vote for $58,359 worth of student government, and set in motion an two month hiring process for the $691,741 worth of commissioners, directors, managers and other AMS salaried staff.
In 2007-08, the AMS paid $494,917 in wages to all its staff; $209,511 of that went towards the executive, commissioners and directors that make up AMS council.
AMS Executive salaries have increased $3,909 since 1998-99, and increased $1,725 from the 2006-07 year.

Engineering Society presidential candidate Mitchell Curley says the situation surrounding Clark Hall Pub inspired him to enter the election. He decided to run after being inspired by Clark Hall debates at last Monday’s council meeting.
Curley, Sci ’08, said he doesn’t see the situation as a daunting responsibility.

Team WCW wants the AMS to have a longer outlook than just a 12-month term.
Vice-president (university affairs) candidate Yanique Williams said she wants AMS governments to begin to think in five or 10-year plans. The team’s slogan—“Are You Ready for Change?”—suggests they are looking to challenge the AMS’s transient nature, she said. Vice-president (operations) candidate Andrew Cameron said the team also wants to re-create the Queen’s Centre working group that existed a few years ago. The group would be made of AMS members and students-at-large.

Last Friday AMS Vice-President (Operations) John Manning handed Ban Righ Centre Director Barb Schlafer an $8,422 cheque the AMS Board of Directors decided to give either the centre or Queen’s Day Care two and a half years ago.
In July 2005, four months after the AMS Board of Directors cancelled the AMS-run After-Hours Childcare service (AHC), the Board decided to give the $7,797 collected from its opt-outable student fee—which had already been approved for that year—to either the Ban Righ Centre or Queen’s Day Care.

Jacob Mantle, ArtSci ’10, and Dominique Vanier, ArtSci ’08, share more than their office space in the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society (ASUS) Core.
“We have the same goals,” Vanier said. She and Mantle have worked in ASUS together for two years. This year, she’s the academics commissioner and he’s the internal affairs commissioner.