Hi everyone,
Welcome to my blog! This is my first post on the AUS website since assuming my role on May 1st as your President of the Arts Undergraduate Society. To those of you for whom my name rings familiar, you may remember me as the pesky entity sending weekly AUS newsletters (listservs) to your inbox when I was VP Communications 2013 – 2014. For those of you who may not know me, well hello, nice to meet you, my name is Ava, and I am your most loyal public servant. Seriously! The truth is that student government, far from being glamorous, is really about answering to your needs as efficiently and promptly as possible.As President, my job is about being prepared to deal with the craziness that hits the fan so the AUS can best provide the representation, events and services that we conduct on your behalf.
For an update, here are some of the things I’ve done since my election to get the AUS in shape for our year together:
- Renewed and updated our corporate registry with the government of Quebec. The AUS is a legal entity accredited by Quebec. Officially, we are a non-profit corporation. This means that we are legally recognized by the government as your official student representatives of the Faculty of Arts. We exist as a separate legal entity from McGill the university, although we are highly affiliated with them and negotiate a Memorandum of Agreement which we must answer to.
- Speaking of which, I have begun looking into our Memorandum of Agreement with McGill University as it is up for renewal and renegotiation this year during my term. -gulp- Every five years, the AUS must renegotiate the terms of its building lease, including student spaces such as the Arts Lounge, with McGill. I and the rest of the AUS team will keep you updated on this throughout the year!
- Made business cards for the AUS Executive.
- Started updating the AUS website.
- Booked AUS Legislative Council dates and rooms for the year. AUS Council is your legislative governing body consisting of over 40 councillors including your executives, your Arts reps, and representatives from each of your departmental associations. We meet every two weeks to make decisions which we pass in the form of motions.
And those are just some of the things that I’ve done! Your other executives have doubtlessly been busy as well. Hopefully you will hear from them, whether they’ve been collecting contacts from each departmental association, familiarizing themselves with financial accounting, and/or chairing the committee that plans Arts Frosh!
As for me, I am currently in Vietnam working on an internship through the Faculty of Arts Internship Office. I will be back in Montreal in August! If you are interested in follow my winding travels on a more intimate basis, feel free to visit my personaltravel blog. This year, I hope to use this AUS blog as an outlet to share information and connect with you. There is a lot that goes on in the AUS which students should know about! If you have any questions, never hesitate to email me at president@ausmcgill.com at any time.
Speak to you soon!
