2012-2013

2017-01-28T02:51:39Z

50.92.66.55: /* Elimination of VP External */

==Major Milestones for EngSoc in 2012-2013==

===UTSU Fee Diversion Referendum===
Efforts to address long-standing concerns with the democratic legitimacy and efficiency of the University of Toronto Students' Union (UTSU, formerly SAC) culminated in the Engineering Society holding a referendum concurrent with its Board of Directors elections in April 2013 asking full-time engineering students whether they wished to continue paying fees to the UTSU. EngSoc proposed to take over delivery of UTSU services, including the Health & Dental Insurance Plan, at the same or lower costs. The result was an overwhelming endorsement for the so-called "fee diversion" proposal of 95% in favour with 28% turnout.

===Elimination of VP External===
President [[User:Eigenvector|Rishi Maharaj]] ran on a platform of completely disengaging from the Engineering Student Societies' Council of Ontario (ESSCO) and the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students (CFES) on the grounds that they are useless and wasteful organizations. Previous EngSoc administrations, including those of Presidents [[User:kevinpsiu|Kevin P. Siu]] and David Cheung, respectively had concluded that neither ESSCO or CFES provided substantial benefit to EngSoc or its members in return for the funds spent on membership dues and conference delegations.

In the summer of 2012, the Board of Directors approved withdrawal from ESSCO and non-payment of membership dues to CFES. EngSoc was forced to reverse course on CFES membership after it became known that CFES would block U of T students from attending the Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC) if U of T was not a member in good standing, although the Board and Officers continued to maintain that CFES membership itself provided no tangible benefit to the members of EngSoc. By spring 2013 it became evident that VP External, already the smallest Officer portfolio, was going to be left with almost zero responsibilities in the coming year. A motion was approved at the February 2013 meeting of the Board of Directors eliminating the position effective at the 2013 Joint Council Meeting, over the objections of incumbent VP External Anton Klunko. Klunko himself had been discredited after a poor appearance at the November 2012 Accountability Meeting and a subsequent article in ''The Varsity'' that aired concerns that he was unprofessional and incompetent.

===Reduction of the Temporary Special Levy and Renewal of the Endowment Fund===
Up for its 15th renewal in the 2013 Officer Elections, the [[Temporary Special Levy Fund|Temporary Special Levy]] was reduced, from $150 to $125, for the first time since its inception. $125 2013 dollars represents $57.86 in 1983 dollars, meaning that the 2013 Special Levy is only slightly more than half of the original fee as instituted in 1983. The 2013 renewal referendum question also included a provision allowing the Board of Directors to redirect surplus funds from the Special Levy Fund to the permanent Endowment Fund.

The [[Engineering Society Endowment Fund|Endowment Fund]] was renewed for the first time in 2013, amid negotiations with the Faculty over a major capital contribution to the construction of a new engineering building on the site behind Simcoe Hall. Notable milestones for the Fund in 2012-2013 including signing an agreement to donate the funds collected in the first two years of its existence to the University to form a trust to be administered jointly by EngSoc and the Faculty and approval of the first Endowment Fund Constitution.

===Renovation of Engineering Stores===
[[Engineering Stores]] Managers Matko Brunski and Laura Burget spearheaded a plan to increase the sales capacity of the Store by adding a second window and point-of-sale system. Work to create a new opening in the wall separating Stores from the Sandford Fleming Atrium was completed over the summer of 2012 at a cost of approximately $25,000.

===Resignations and Recalls===
The 1T2-1T3 year was marked by several resignations, including VP Student Life Nikola Radovanovic, Hard Hat Cafe Operations Manager Kunal Taneja and Board of Directors At-Large Representative Donnie Yee who all resigned over the summer for personal reasons. Cannon Editor Vijay Unnithan was recalled late in the fall term after failing to produce anything during his seven months in office.

Automatic removal from the Board of Directors for absenteeism was instituted midway through the year, leading to the removal of VP External Anton Klunko prior to the final Board meeting of the year.

===Electoral Reform===
Major changes to the Elections Bylaw limited the authority of the Chief Returning Officer (CRO) to unilaterally set election campaigning rules and placed them under the oversight of a special committee of the Board of Directors. Officer Elections were reverted back to their historic timeline over concerns that moving them up by a month resulted in the outgoing Officers effectively quitting their jobs early and leaving the Society in disarray during the transition period.
{{Engineering Society by Year 2011


|president = [[User:Eigenvector|Rishi Maharaj]]
|vp_finance = [[User:Pierroil|Pierre Harfouche]]
|vp_communications = Yerusha Nuh
|vp_academic = Matthew Lattavo
|vp_external = Anton Klunko***
|vp_student_life = Nikola Radovanovic*/Ishan Gupta

|archivist = Stephanie Fata
|cannon_editor = Vijay Unnithan**/Luke Household
|cannonball = Amy Hu
|community_outreach = Aishwarya Saxena
|compsys_admin = Yannick How Wong
|stores_finance = Laura Burget
|stores_ops = Matko Brunski
|f!rosh_handbook = Fionna Gan
|gradball = Nicole Cyhelka
|caf_finance = Maggie Cai
|caf_ops = Kunal Taneja*/Matthew Marji
|hi-skule = Kenny Wong
|ombudsman = ''vacant''
|orientation = Maegan Chang
|skulebook = Jenny Yao
|skule_kup = Raymond Luu
|sponsorship = Felipe Richards
|suds_finance = Gordon Tattle
|suds_ops = Andrew Barolet
|toike_editor = Evan Boyce
|utek = Marissa Wu
|webmaster = Brian To
|cro = Evangelos Staikos

|speaker = Mauricio Curbelo
|bod_chem = Bo Zhang
|bod_civ = Guillaume Bence-Hebert
|bod_comp = Kimberly Shen
|bod_elec = Judith Chan
|bod_engsci = Patrick Zerr
|bod_indy = Gordon Tang
|bod_mse = Vinson Quoc Truong
|bod_mech = Shamail Rizwan
|bod_min = ''vacant''
|bod_al1 = Praneet Bagga
|bod_al2 = Aidan Muller
|bod_al3 = Teresa Nguyen
|bod_al4 = Donnie Yee*/Hollis Milroy
|bod_f!1 = Stephanie Gaglione
|bod_f!2 = Shubham Manchanda
|bod_f!3 = Vuk Svilaric

|chem_club = Ajay Kochhar
|civ_club = Jessica Lam
|comp_club = Rachit Tyagi
|elec_club = Mihajlo Bojic
|engsci_club = Christopher Sun
|indy_club = Florencia Herrera
|min_club = Sebastien Balda
|mech_club = Ryan Persaud
|mse_club = Jacquelyn MacCoon

|1 = 1T6
|2 = 1T5
|3 = 1T4
|4 = 1T3

|chem1 = Krithika Sugavanam
|chem2 = Jerry Fung
|civ1 = Peter Lu
|civ2 = Elissar El-Hage
|civ3 = Bo Wen
|comp1 = Mark Ye
|comp2 = Laura Shen
|elec1 = Nicholas Chin
|elec2 = Maged Ahmed
|engsci1 = John Yeung
|engsci2 = Sharon Ravindran
|indy1 = Anitha Jeremiah
|indy2 = Judy Zhu
|mech1 = Brandon Chu
|mech2 = Steve Lu
|mech3 = Nancy Ho
|mech4 = Michael Stranges
|min1 = Humbert Sin
|mse1 = Anastasia Alksnis
|mse2 = Michael Sabatini
|t1 = Tabish Gilani

|firstyearchair = Kenny Kim

|lgmb_bl = Mauricio Curbelo
|lgmb_dm = Adam Fontana
|cannon_ca = Hollis Milroy
|bg_chair = Gabriel Stavros & Tejas Manjunath
|skulenite_director = Christopher Sun & Scott Whitty
|skulenite_producer = Ian Parker, Amanda Bell, & Chunkei Tang
|eaa = Alessandro Zavatti

|godivas_quest = Ryan Wills
|mr_bg = David Belvedere
|godivas_crown = Pinky Chan
|ultimate_frosh = Colin Playle
|chariot_race = Mech

|utsu1 = Mo Delwar
|utsu2 = Sanchit Mathur
|utsu3 = Will Zhang
|gc1 = James Bateman

}}

==Conferences Hosted==

{{Engineering Society Navbox}}

Skulepedia - User contributions [en]

2012-2013