Minutes for EGSS General Meeting on Wednesday, Nov.

2nd, 2016
Meeting opened at 17:00 by Janice.
Territorial Acknowledgment
The EGSS acknowledges with respect the history, customs, and culture of the Coast Salish and Straits
Salish peoples in particular the Lekwungen and WSNE peoples on whose lands we at the
University of Victoria are grateful to have the opportunity to work.
Updates/ News
1. GSS Update
- Wednesday mornings there is free coffee, tea, and snacks from 9-10am in Grad
House for grad students
- Draft of UVics sexual violence policy has been made public; we believe it to be
inadequate for situations especially relevant to grad students; UVic needs the policy
to be in place by the end of the year
- Library funding crisis: options seem to be large corporate donations, getting top up
money, and/or increasing base funding
2. Graduate Course Proposals for Winter 2017-18
- Alison looking for feedback: all grad students (especially first-year MAs and PhDs)
encouraged to send feedback about grad course offerings at the end of fall term to
Angie or Bassam; lack of variety has already been noted
3. Colleens Retirement
- A card is in the graduate lounge for students to sign for Colleens retirement in
December.
4. November Department Meeting updates
- Teaching allocations potentially changing for AWR courses to increase efficiency,
which could affect number of upper-year and graduate course offerings
5. GSS funding
- Each department gets two applications per year, we are maxed out for fall and will
apply for $200 more in January
- Executive will talk to Alison about the possibility of extra funding from the
department
- Full EGSS budget will be posted soon
6. Webmaster update
a. Student posts (thanks Natalie, Heidi, and Catriona)
- All grad students are encouraged to send items to post to Tiffany and posts can
include, but should not be limited to, the following: information about talks, papers,
other skillsets; sharing experiences youve had; good news; promotions for non-EGSS
activities that our grad students are involved in

b. Monthly newsletter?
Get info to Tiffany by EGSS meeting and she will send out monthly newsletter to
everyone

Events
1. October social event: Halloween party debrief (to be led by the Social Committee?)
- Event cost $70
2. Plan for November events (Academic Committee?)
a. Previous suggestions included a Web Presence Photo/ Pizza day, Pomodoro
Writing Session/Follow-up Peer Editing Night, and End of Term/ Works-inProgress Colloquium
- EGSS fundraiser: open mic night on Dec. 1, planned by Catriona and Conrad, details
to follow
- Academic co-chairs (Natalie and Heidi): final two Mondays in November, from 58pm, will be writing workshops (Pomodoro and peer editing); looking into planning
a writing group for next term
3. Suggestion from Tiffany: Academia-themed Room Escape puzzle game
4. Another suggestion from Tiffany: Archery tag
5. Thinking ahead to December (from Janice): Holiday party ideas
- Janice will look into possible venues for holiday party, we hope to include both
students and faculty and have event during the first week of December
- Colloquium planned for 2nd week of January, theme: transgression; Conrad will draft
CFP
- Possible Valentines Day idea/fundraiser: date with a book
Meeting closed at 18:00 by Janice.

Approval of minutes:
President: Bassam Chiblak
Vice President: Angie Park
Secretary: Janice Niemann