Hello wonderful IW reader,
If you know about the goings-on of EngSoc, you will be aware that the executive elections are coming up soon. As they close, they will give way to a new set of Executive, including, of course, a new President. As that happens, and my tenure as the President comes to an end, I will of course write the obligatory article speaking about how great of a time I had, and all of that jazz. With this article, however, I wanted to talk about something that you, as a student, should be more concerned about: what I failed to accomplish as President. I still have two months left, and will be hoping to move forward on these, but I am also being realistic in this regard. Note: the purpose of this article is exclusively to highlight where I did not succeed as president. For my accomplishments over the past 14 months, please check out past articles and updates.
At this moment, a lot of you might be thinking that you don’t care about that at all, and that you don’t really have to. I am here to tell you that you are very wrong. The moment that the engineering student body stops caring altogether about what the Engineering Society does is the moment that it stops serving them. That is why I want to let you know what goals I had that I did not meet, and the other areas that I was/am lacking as a President. Next issue I hope to talk about what I feel still needs to be done to push the Society forward, specifically talking about ongoing projects.
I will start by talking to those things I promised to you in my campaign that went unfinished. On the advocacy front, although we have gained access to the undergraduate mailing list, we have yet to take full advantage of it. A strategy for communication to the members is something that definitely needs to be created, and I was unable to do that in my term. I was also hoping to have implemented Annual General Meetings for the members, which was unsuccessful. I am happy, though that a process is currently underway that should hopefully allow those to be a reality by Fall 2014.
The services portion of my campaign is probably where I have failed the most. I had high hopes for the creation of a new style of exam bank which would see us receive exams directly from the Faculty. Although the proposal has been submitted to the Dean’s office, it is currently sitting there still. I hope that, failing its progress by the end of this term, my successor is able to apply the proper pressure to get this to the table. The Textbook library was another idea I was pushing, which has had extremely underwhelming results. It seems the skeptics were right, that it isn’t going to be well utilized. I recommend to those in charge of the Society in the future either try to focus on the first year books and expand from there, or to shut it down as a failed initiative. Finally, although there has been work put into hosting an Engineering Society Career Fair, the plan to have the first one during my term was unsuccessful. I hope that the groundwork done will enable EngSoc to host one within the next year or two.
There were some other lofty goals, regarding the Federation of Students, incorporation, and our fees. I am sad to say that in my opinion, all of these have failed, quite badly. Incorporation is being looked into currently by a committee, but my accelerated timeline was not met. I was hoping to push for our fees to be collected through the faculty, which in my opinion is still as far away as it ever was. I had campaigned on trying to forge a better relationship with the Federation of Students as well, and I can say with honesty I almost certainly made that relationship worse. Again, it is my hope that the incoming executive will be able to work with the newly elected Feds Exec to bring our two groups closer together. EngSoc only stands to benefit from a well-established and outlined relationship with Feds.
As for my other shortcomings as President, there are more than a few and this article is already well over my 500 word goal, so I will be brief. Firstly, I really pushed my vision. I came into my term knowing exactly what I wanted EngSoc to look like when I was done it, and didn’t want anyone to stand in my way. This is a problem when you are in a position to serve 6000 students. Too often would I get into arguments with our Council regarding something I wanted to accomplish. I lost sight of the fact that first and foremost I am here to serve them. Even though I may disagree completely with a decision they make, I need to move on to something else, rather than get upset over it. A message to the next set of executive: always remember that even if you disagree with Council’s vision, it comes first.
Another big problem I have had was keeping my motivation. I can provide the normal excuses, that I have six courses, other things going on, but I don’t accept those from other people, and won’t from myself. For some reason I have not been as motivated as I was for the first 12 months of my term. If you are on my executive team, council, or are informed about what I have been doing, I hope you have been underwhelmed this term. You should not accept the low amount of tangible things I have accomplished this term. Although there is still just over a month left, and I hope to significantly increase my output for the month of March, this term is currently self-recorded as a failed one.
I hope this article has enlightened you to my shortcomings as President, both generally and with executing my goals. I hope it has provided at least a little insight into my Presidency, and you can believe me when I say I am one of my own harshest critics. With that said, I do hope to be able to pick up my game for my remaining time as exec, and make my last month one that I can be proud of.
As always, if you have questions or concerns, or additional feedback, please email me at president.a@engsoc.uwaterloo.ca.
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