On Thursday, May 18th, 2017, the Science Society Board of Directors voted to conditionally lift the Declaration of Censure against the Department of Co-operative Education & Career Action. This decision was predicated on tangible changes in the promotion of student well-being by the organization and implementation of additional policy measures coming soon to further address student malcontent.
The meeting's agenda items included a summary of last term's decisions, outstanding issues on CECA censure and an address by CECA representatives Rocco Fondacaro and Franco Solimano, and the election of a new Speaker of the Board to replace Seneca Velling while he is off campus for co-op.
The Board heard from the CECA's representatives regarding progress made in addressing vehement student concerns raised by both the censure and survey data. The CECA presented and took questions from directors on the Board, including the price of WaterlooWorks (considering its functionality) and the timeline for implementation (a question CECA remains slow to address). However, the Board did feel that the CECA had sufficiently addressed some student concerns to conditionally lift the censure provided the timely implementation of policy changes to reflect the publication of employment statistics, greater financial transparency, and an anonymous concerns/complaints reporting mechanism.
The Board also called for the publication of wages with any job postings and the implementation of better employment statistics for public access, akin to the easily navigable headcount data for the University. The Board resolved that the actions taken thus far by the CECA represent steps in the right direction, but stipulated that greater action must be taken to remedy continued student malcontent. The Board's Speaker, Seneca Velling, said in regard to the matter, "I am very excited about the prospect of future cooperation and look forward to the disclosure of a complete implementation timeline for policy, services, and information changes [discussed with the Board]." The Board reiterated the necessity of an important highlight from the original censure: a verified anonymous reporting system for concerns over CECA and its employees.
Correction does much but encouragement does more. Encouragement after Censure is as the sun after a shower.
The Science Society President Rithika Beena Kumary and Speaker of the Board Seneca Velling both noted that the continuation of the Censure prevented effective cooperation and was prohibitive to constructive dialogue that was needed to address outstanding student concerns.
As noted by Speaker Velling, "Without the censure I do not believe we would have gotten in the door, but now it's preventing us from really helping students; the CECA sees it as rude and the Faculty sees it as aggressive. We have to cooperate and work with people constructively now that we are at the table." President Beena Kumary reflected this sentiment as well, that lifting this censure, even conditionally, would allow more dialogue and increase engagement from the Faculty-side to address issues. It is the belief of the Science Society that it is in the best interests of students to work closely and positively with the CECA.
Yet some on the Board felt the CECA has not gone far enough. Some directors noted, after a heated exchange of views with CECA representatives, that little concrete action has been taken, thus far only planning. Board members demanded a rigorous and thorough timeline of implementation and called on the CECA to truly reaffirm its commitment to students. MNS was no exception, as Kristin Buttenhoff, Vice President of MNS explained, "[the] Society feels that the CECA has not been fulfilling their duty to the student body both in financial and statistical disclosure and in quality of service provided... That being said, the degree of hostility that some parties feel is implied by the Censure could potentially hinder progress... I didn't want to vote to maintain the Censure due to this possibility but also did not feel confident that progress would be made at all without the pressure of the Censure... Thus, I saw it fit to abstain and allow the votes of others who felt more certain to dictate the outcome." This majority opinion led to the unfriendly amendments of the CECA Declaration of Censure lifting resolution to require timely implementation for total censure reversal.
Read the full letter from the Board and Executive.
Read the resolution passed by the Board as amended.
Read the CECA's SciSoc Board presentation.