1. REFORM COMMITTEE REPORT
Presented:
3rd
meeting of the Assembly of Representatives
March 24th
, 2016 at 8:30pm
Chair:
Candace Blake
Members:
Justin Turcotte
Sarah Nguyen
Gabrielle Read
Selina Emmanuel
Courtney Guy

2. REPORT SUMMARY
At the second Assembly of Representatives meeting of the year on November 24th
, 2015, it was voted
upon to create an ad-hoc committee to evaluate the structure and organization of the RAUO and to
propose improvements. We evaluated the current structure and how it currently serves two of our
three pillars of representation and social activities. In particular, we examined the current function and
organization of the Assembly of Representatives, in hopes of discovering how the Executive can
facilitate a body of interested and engaged representatives. We looked to the structure of the Student
Federation (SFUO), to provide a more seamless transition to representatives to continue to be engaged
on campus after they leave residence.
PROCESS and VISION
Between February and March, the Reform Committee met 8 times to discuss different aspects of the
RAUO’s structure. At the meeting of February 9th
in particular, we determined three guiding principles of
how we would approach the reform: teamwork, communication, and permanence. Permanence refers
to having instantly recognizable features, such as uniform signs for the Floor Representatives and for
Building Representatives. Therefore we kept these principles in mind as we developed a vision for the
future of the association, one in which members are interested in the operations of the association and
in the product their $27 residence fees buys.
STRUCTURE
Our first potential structure evolved out of the February 9th
meeting. It was similar to our final proposal
below although it had split the buildings into four groups: Apartment style, Off-Campus, Residence
Complex, and the remaining three of LeBlanc, Thompson, and Henderson (nameless group). However, it
was deemed too complicated on a representational level, so we decided to propose splitting them into
just two halves of Apartment/Off-Campus, and Traditional/Suite Style.

3. Here is the final proposed structure:
REPRESENTATION
This new structure has five representational bodies:
The General Assembly structure has remained untouched, therefore remains as mandated to
occur once a year in March, open to all to attend.
Currently, the Assembly of Representatives hosts 75-90 Floor (and cluster) Representatives as
voting members. In the experience of the committee members, amendments are often passed
without discussion. This is a result of there being many motions to pass at each meeting due to
only having three meetings a year and motions needing to be passed at two consecutive
meetings. Therefore, to speed through the meetings and ensure it finishes in a timely manner,
motions do not received a proper review. Therefore, following the change in structure, the
Assembly would now be comprised of elected members of the Executive and Building
Representatives as voting members, and occur once a month instead of just three times a year.
This largely follows the structure of the Board of Administration of the Student Federation
Executive
Hall Council #1
BRKS (N)
BRKS (S)
MANN
HYSO
RDU
FRL
Hall Council #2
90U
STN
MRD
THM
LBC
HND

4. (SFUO), which we found produces more engaged members, leading to better discussion of
proposed constitutional amendments.
The Executive has been restructured to only include the President, Vice-President Social and
Vice-President of Residents’ Affairs as voting members. Meetings remain weekly. Other
Executive members who must attend are the Director of Marketing and Finance, Director of
Communications and Bilingualism, and Secretary (all to be hired in August / September). The
Committee also saw value in creating the two hired director positions, to ensure they are hired
based on merit and possess the appropriate qualifications as deemed by a hiring committee. As
well, we evaluated the creation of an advisory position titled the Housing Advisor:
Director of Communications and Bilingualism is responsible for all promotional material,
including posters, social media, and updating the website’s content. As well, any
complaints of English-only posting or lack of francophone representation in residence
will be directed to her.
Formerly the Vice-President Finance, the Director of Marketing and Finance manages
the Association’s budget and secures sponsorship opportunities.
Housing Advisor duties include ensuring more communication and logistical
coordination between Housing Services and the RAUO (ie. Reducing frequency of events
on the same day and increasing partnerships).
Due to reallocating tasks and responsibilities, the Executive Coordinator position is no
longer necessary and will be removed.
Building Representatives are to be no longer considered as members of the Executive
and will no longer be mandated to attend the Executive meetings.
The Hall Council level is a new body comprised of the Building Representatives of one half of the
buildings, therefore two Hall Councils, meeting every other week.
And the Building Council structure of a Building Representative and respective Floor
Representatives remains the same; however the frequency of meetings increase to being weekly
instead of monthly.

5. The motivation behind creating new bodies and modifying the frequency of certain meetings are to
encourage more communication within buildings and at the building level, also projected to build more
community within the buildings.
We discussed and found that a solution to a lack of involvement and number of cluster representatives
in Brooks would be to have a Brooks Building Representative for each half of the building, therefore
Brooks North and Brooks South, which mirrors the change Housing Services - Residence Life made in
2014.
SOCIAL
We examined the amount and quality of events that the Building Representatives of past years have
held. Some have noticeably been planned last minute with little support from the Executive, but have
also been competing with an increasing number of events from Community Advisors and external
bodies.
Therefore, we propose that the Building Representatives only be mandated to organize and execute two
events per semester, therefore four events per year instead of the current six mandated events;
however it is encouraged to promote other campus-wide events to build external relations and greater
integration with SFUO clubs or services.
FINANCES
To ensure that floors with no Floor Representatives can still host community-building events, the Floor
Funds will be a designated pool of money given at the beginning of the year and overseen by the
Building Representative and the Director of Finance. All residents will have access to the fund, with prior
approval of spending from the Building Representative.
After reviewing the organization of Building Funds, it was found that each building, regardless of amount
of residents, was given $500 to plan six building events. However, it seemed unfair to give the same
amount of money to a building with 200 residents as with 650 residents. Therefore, we propose that
Building Funds are created with a proportional amount of money per building. See budget for more
information.
FLOOR REPRESENTATIVES

6. Together, we reviewed the current role of Floor Representative. This includes reviewing the amount of
dedication and commitment required of Floor Representatives for the current versus the new proposed
structure. Currently, there is a $15 allotment per representative to be put towards an appreciation
event. We found that this lack of appreciation leads to a lack of dedication to the role. To make the
position more attractive and to build a better sense of community and belonging amongst Floor
Representatives themselves, the committee proposes an increase in the appreciation fund and the VP
Social hosting events specifically for Floor Representatives to increase the feeling of community.
Inspiration for this appreciation program was taken from the Foot Patrol service of the SFUO.
It has been brought to the attention of the VP Residents’ Affairs throughout this past year from various
members of the association that one does not know exactly what the role of Floor Representative is.
With this in mind, the Committee proposes a group training of all Floor Representatives be conducted in
September, as well have more information online regarding these roles. More promotion over the
summer would aid in getting interested, engaged residents into these roles when they enter residence.
CONCLUSION
"The reform committee envisions an RAUO which students can be proud of; a residents’
association that engages its students to become the leaders of today. This report aims to create
an association which is in the minds of residents, one that will engage students to become
involved, to have fun, and to become peer leaders. These structural changes are an important
step in that evolution, a necessary step, but not a sufficient one. To further grow as a successful
association, the Reform Committee recognizes the importance of promoting a sense of
community, teamwork, and responsibility amongst residents, as well as offering opportunities
for personal development, further involvement, and to make everyone's stay in residence a
memorable experience."
- Justin Turcotte, Reform Committee Member, 628 Brooks Cluster Representative
Therefore, the Reform Committee puts forth the following recommendations:
1. Modify the structure to separate the buildings into two councils of similar representation
interests (Apartment/off-campus and traditional/suite style);
a. Each council’s representatives are to meet bi-weekly (twice a month) as a Hall Council,
to ensure building-level communication and co-operation.

7. b. At the first Hall Council meeting of the year, a chair and vice-chair are to be elected from
within.
2. Add position titled Housing Advisor as a special member of the Executive;
a. Recommended to be a Housing Services Residence Life Building Coordinator;
b. Non-voting member;
3. Change in title and duties of Vice-President, Finance.
a. New title to be Director of Marketing and Finance;
b. To be hired instead of elected;
c. Non-voting member of the Executive;
d. Exact duties to be added to the Executive Policy Manual;
4. Create a position titled Director of Communications and Bilingualism.
a. To be hired by appropriate hiring committee in August, instead of elected in March;
b. Non-voting member of the Executive;
c. Exact duties to be added to the Executive Policy Manual.
5. Reorganize the Assembly of Representatives to replace Floor Representatives with Building
Representatives as voting members.
a. Increase frequency of Assembly of Representatives meetings to be monthly.
6. Split Brooks Residence into Brooks North and Brooks South, to match previous actions of
Residence Life.
7. Increase frequency of Building Councils to be weekly (minus Reading Week and exam periods).
a. Floor Representatives must attend at least 75% of all meetings (or else have valid reason
for absences) to remain in their position.
8. Create a general floor fund for each building, proportional to that building’s residents of the
total residents in residence.