As you may or may not be aware, FedS, the Federation of Students, is the official representative of the undergraduate students of the University of Waterloo. They also act as the umbrella body for all of the societies on campus, including our very own Engineering Society.
FedS has many policies and by-laws that govern how the societies work with FedS in order to accomplish common goals. However, in the last few years, the FedS VP Internals have been working with the presidents of each campus society (officially known as the Council of Presidents, or COPs) to draft and sign a “Societies’ Agreement”. This agreement will act as a document over and above the current FedS policies and by-laws. The goal of the agreement is to give societies better resources, coverage and also tangible expectations for what to expect from each other.
What does this mean for EngSoc? EngSoc gains security in that they are essentially protected from liability due to another society. Due to the way the university recognizes student societies, all of the societies are liable together for the financial fault of any one society. The agreement protects EngSoc from liability for another society’s actions by pre-emptive courses of action on the part of FedS. For example, if another student society were to use their funds in a way that breached Canada Revenue Agency standards, the agreement allows FedS to withhold the fees of a that society, pending approval by their Board of Directors, and of course, an audit. The society in question would then have to work to correct the error before the fees were allocated to them again. By withholding the fees until the error is resolved, any non-profit status that FedS, and therefore EngSoc, holds is not lost because the society at fault could not continue to misappropriate their funds.
There is some responsibility on the part of EngSoc that results from this agreement as well. One new course of action that EngSoc didn’t follow before was submitting event forms to FedS for each of our events. This task will be taken on by EngSoc Staff, and FedS has even offered to customize the form for EngSoc. Mary Bland, the business manager of the Engineering Society, will also be checking these forms. Though the forms are tedious, they make sure that an event is well thought out and properly planned. This should in turn increase the overall quality of events offered by EngSoc in the long run, as it gives directors a guideline for what type of information they should have considered in the planning and execution process of their event.
The agreement itself is yet to be signed. I am working with the other student society presidents and the VP Internal of FedS, Luke Burke, to ensure that the agreement meets its needs without being too overarching. I am personally looking into adding a rigourous process for having fees withheld. I am also working on a timeline for the agreement that better aligns with the active terms of our presidents and the FedS executive. Overall, I am trying to better protect the interests of EngSoc. I think a strong relationship between EngSoc and FedS in important. However, I acknowledge our specific needs, and I will work to make sure they are reflected in the final terms of this agreement.
Finally, I invite you to discuss this agreement with me at any time. You can email me at president.b@engsoc.uwaterloo.ca, or come visit me during regular business hours in the EngSoc office. I know final exam time is coming up, but if you are interested in this conversation, I invite you to start it. I am always willing to listen to new perspectives, and I would love for you to share yours with me.
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