Is the term going by too fast for anyone else? It’s going to be Christmas before we know it! Luckily time hasn’t evaded us too much. Lots has been happening within EngSoc and I’d like to outline a couple things below.
The Sponsorship Committee met last weekend to see presentations from all groups and teams that applied for EngSoc Sponsorship this term. Thank you to everyone who came and made a presentation! The Committee will present their proposed allocations at the next EngSoc Council meeting, November 6th, for ratification. Once the allocations have been ratified all teams and groups that applied will be notified of this term’s allocations, and the results will be published in the following IW issue.
The ECIF Committee meeting date has been set for Wednesday, November 13th. Please submit any applications by then. I changed the URL slightly to make it easier for you – the application form can now be found at www.engsoc.uwaterloo.ca/ecif – so you have no excuse! The applications we’ve received so far don’t come anywhere close to the $9000 we’ve allocated to ECIF this term, so don’t be scared to ask for something big (think improvements that could be made to EngSoc space – Orifice, POETS, CnD – or anywhere public on campus that would benefit Engineering students).
Finally, I’d like to speak to a topic that has been coming up in EngSoc meetings but I have avoided discussing in the IW until now because I wanted to have the facts straight first. As you may or may not be aware, POETS is one of a few areas on campus that is licensed to serve alcohol. When we (as EngSoc exec) decide when POETS will be serving, it must be done through UW Bar Services and we must abide by their pricing and regulations. This term we have been notified that at events deemed “high risk” by Bar Services (for example, BOT/MOT/EOT or Semi Formal, as well as any other event at the discretion of Bar Services) that we wish to hold on campus and serve alcohol at, there will not be minors permitted in the same space as the alcohol. Yasser and I met with Bar Services recently to discuss this issue and now have information to report back to you, our readers.
The enforcement of this policy means one of two things: minors do not attend the event, or the event has a separate space for those who wish to consume alcohol. Because separating POETS into two sections poses some issues regarding space and capacity, we chose to not serve alcohol at BOT or MOT this term. We are actively looking for a solution in POETS but unfortunately right now there is no solution that is acceptable to Bar Services. Hopefully by the end of the term a system will be in place to serve alcohol at EOT.
Serving alcohol on Friday afternoons in POETS happily does not fall under the “high risk” assessment, but it does pose financial risk to the Society, which is why you may have noticed that POETS did not serve alcohol on the first few Fridays of the term. At any event where we request Bar Services to serve alcohol they maintain minimum sales requirements. If those requirements are not met (read: we don’t purchase enough alcohol) then the Society must pay the difference. Over the past 3 or 4 years sales have been noticeably dropping and in recent terms the Society has been paying upwards of $2000 as a result. This term we’ve chosen to make two changes to hopefully resolve this issue, and there is one change you as students can make as well. We will no longer have Bar Services on Thursdays, and we have extended the serving hours to 11 am – 4 pm (from 12 pm – 4 pm). Hopefully this will increase sales, but there is one way to know for sure and you can help:
Buy more beer!
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