I hope midterms and papers aren’t getting y’all down! I’ll keep this short and sweet (at least by my verbose standards), but please check out my November 12th Council Report or shoot me an email if you’d liked to learn more about what I’ve been up to.
Arts Student Employment Fund Allocations
The ASEF Committee met last week to make decisions on allocations to some exciting employment projects. These will be posted on the website shortly, and include positions with the Social Equity and Diversity Education Office (SEDE), Teaching and Learning Services, the McGill Visual Arts Collection, and more! I have also submitted a motion to this Wednesday’s Legislative Council to create a “Yes” Committee for the ASEF renewal referendum, so look forward to more on that.
Libraries
You may have heard some buzz this past week while the SSMU Library Improvement Fund Committee has been soliciting feedback from undergraduate students across campus. At the same time, our AUS–Library Partnership Committee has been meeting to begin developing proposals for the Arts Undergraduate Improvement Fund (this fund contributes approximately $100 000 towards the McLennan-Redpath Library each year). We’ve identified several areas to add in-fill seating such as armchairs, benches and study carrels; possible additions to new or existing group study rooms; and ways to re-develop the now-defunct Cyberthèque service desk. I hope to post more information on these ideas once we receive some quotes.
AUS Reading Groups
Finally, I’m excited to share that we are working on a pilot project for undergraduate-led reading groups for the Winter semester. These groups are generally led by graduate students or Faculty members and involve structured reading and discussion around a particular topic. However, we see this as an opportunity for undergraduate students to gain experience developing and facilitating academic discussion, as well as to explore areas of interest that they might not otherwise encounter or examine in-depth through their programs. If you are interested in getting involved, please email bianca.waked@mail.mcgill.ca.
Cheers,
Erin
