Elections Top MathSoc Agenda

President, VPAS elections for first time in years

The Math Society Council met on Monday, January 5^th to discuss matters related to the election of executive officers for the Winter term, as well as to approve funding for activities happening early this term.

Chief Returning Officer Jeremy Labrie reported that elections will be held for the positions of President and Vice President, Activities and Services (VPAS), as two nominations were received for each of these positions.

President

Lino Demasi and Daniel Redelmeier are both vying for the office of President. In interviews after the Council meeting, they presented their goals for their terms of office.

Mr. Demasi wants to ensure that students know enough about what MathSoc does, and what it is. When asked how he can increase student involvement in the society, he pointed out that for a number of Mathsoc events, most of the people who participate are those who volunteer with MathSoc. "Most of the things MathSoc does are not mass appeal events," he commented. "We need to expand the things we do to encompass more of what people are looking for."

The top issue for Mr. Redelmeier is securing more space in the MC for student use. "Students need more space for study and recreation," he said. "The C&D and Comfy Lounge are too crowded." He also stressed the importance of involving more people in MathSoc, and suggested that a good way to do this is to give volunteers more interesting jobs, such as working with directors.

Vice President, Activities and Services

The position of VPAS is contested by Soo Go and Eric Logan. The VPAS is the executive responsible for the day-to-day operation of the society — things like running the MathSoc office and social events.

Ms. Go would work on making things more organized in order to make it easier for "non-traditional" people to become involved in MathSoc. "People always have to ask around to find out what's going on," she commented. She would also work on smoothing the transition between the executives of different terms. "Things go missing as the term changes," she said. "Having a four month turnover is difficult."

Mr. Logan is running because he believe the Math Society needs "a refresher," and is lacking in real innovation. He suggested that people stay away from MathSoc because of the perception that it is a clique, and he would work to change that. "The society exists to serve its members, not just the members who happen to be most active at one point in time," he said. "It's important that people don't lose sight of this, and the policies and services have to reflect this."

Candidates have also submitted statements to mathNEWS, which you can read for more detailed descriptions of their platforms.

All undergraduate math students who did not request a MathSoc fee refund are entitled to vote in this election. Voting will take place Thursday, January 15^th and Friday, January 16^th (that's TODAY) from 8:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The polling station is in front of the Math C&D on the third floor of the MC. Students who are voting must bring their Watcards to prove they are eligible to vote.

Other MathSoc News

Diana Chisholm was acclaimed to the position of Vice President, Academic. No nominations had been received for the position of Vice President, Finances, so the nomination period has been reopened until Monday, January 19. Students interested in this position can obtain nomination forms from the MathSoc office.

In order to ensure the smooth operation of the Math Society until the election process is completed, Council appointed Albert O'Connor as interim VPAS and Phil Weiner as interim VPF. Catherine Moore, the Spring term president, is acting as interim President. Various interim directors have since been appointed to assist with the operation of the society until the elections are complete.

Council also approved two funding requests for activities that happen early in the term. $380 was approved to be spent registering teams of Math students in Campus Rec teams. Signups for these teams took place in the first week of classes. The money spent on these teams will be refunded if the teams show up for all their games. Teams that are registered include waterpolo, basketball, indoor soccer, broomball and volleyball teams. Those who are still interested in signing up can e-mail Interim Mathletics Director Chris Alexander at cialexan@uwaterloo.ca with their name and student number.

$850 was approved for the Social Director to spend on running a night of free play at the Campus Cove. $600 will go to renting the Cove and ensuring that math students can enter for free, and $250 will go to providing refreshments at the event. Interim Social Director Greg Hines commented on the value of this expenditure. "Cove night has one of the highest turnout rates of any event MathSoc runs," he said. "It's a great way to kick off the semester and it's a lot of fun." The event is expected to happen some time after the VPAS elections are finished.

The next meeting of MathSoc Council will take place January 20, 2004 at 5:30 pm in MC 4061.

Craig Sloss