February 10 2003

News

President of NUGSS
Impeached

By Dana Schwehr

On Wednesday, February 5,
2003, Robert MacEachern was
relieved of his Director of
University Affairs position in
the Northern Undergraduate
Student Society board. This
was a unanimous decision on
the part of the board members,
since MacEachern had been
letting his duties slide.

According to Director of
Finance and Operations, Chris
Reid, the main reason for the
decision was due _ to
MacEachern’s lack of partici-
pation in the society. Reid stat-
ed that “The terms of our
bylaws state that if a director
is absent for three consecutive
meetings, that portfolio (posi-
tion) is considered vacant”
(Bylaw 5, Section 5). Since the
Director of University Affairs
acts as a liaison between
NUGSS and the University, is
also the acting president at
board meetings, it is necessary
to have a person for the posi-

tion that can put the time into
these activities. The Director
of University Affairs is an inte-
gral part in negotiations with
the university concerning
tuition increases, and working
on the new Student Union
Building is also a priority.
Unfortunately, MacEachern
did not seem to have the time
to spare, although he was told
of the board’s dissatisfaction
with his performance. He was
given numerous chances to go
back into the position, but
since he neglected to do so, he
was given the opportunity to
resign. When, a week later, he

-had not done so, the board

had to take action, since his
lack of participation was hold-
ing the board back.

In the meantime, Chris Reid
has been appointed by the
NUGSS Board to be the Acting
Director of University Affairs,
on top of his original duties as
Director of Finance and
Operations. There will be no

by-election for the position,
since elections for next year’s
board occur in March. Reid
will relinquish the position
when the new board takes
over in May. An important
issue is how will all this affect
the services that NUGSS pro-
vides to students. According
to Reid, this will slow the
board down internally, but
students should notice no dif-
ference in the quality of ser-
vice that NUGSS provides. “It

would be nice to have another -

person on the board to deal
with the university discus-
sions over tuition increases”,
says Reid, but the board will
not have that luxury this year.
Reid also adds “I think that
Rob did a very good job for
the time he was here. He was a
valuable member of NUGSS.
It’s too bad that it came to
this.” We were not able to
reach Rob MacEachern for
comment on the situation,
however.

Beef to NUGSS About Tuition Raises

By Chris Reid, Director of
Finance and Operations
Acting Director of University
Affairs

Each year the university
undergoes an extensive bud-
get process, reviewing and
planning each of its depart-
ments and programs. The uni-
versity at this time also looks
at its sources of revenue, and
of that, tuition fees. Last year
we saw tuition fees rise just of
20%, a modest amount for the
many years of tuition freezes
that were in place. This year
however, the fact is that
tuition will again go up. Many
estimate that the lowest
increase we could experience
is 20%. However, the very real
fact is that the university is
forecasting a shortfall of sever-
al million dollars, and tuition
may rise 30% or more.

NUGSS is committed to rep-
resenting the student at
UNBC, and with that, we
want to hear what you think

about any form of tuition
increases, cuts to student ser-
vices, departments or pro-
grams. We have created a

By Kathleen De Vere
Chris Reid, Director of Finance
and interim Director of
University affairs wants to here
from you.

space on our web site where
we would like to hear from

you. This forum has been cre-
ated with the sole purpose of
voicing your opinion on the
upcoming university budget.

I encourage each and every
student at UNBC to at least
visit our web site and read the
facts about this year’s budget,
the proposed increases and
actions that are taking place. I
also encourage you to voice
your opinion. There are a
number of students that sit on
committees and Boards
throughout the university, and
they need to hear what stu-
dents think about tuition
increase and cuts to programs
and services.

If you would like to know
more information about, the
university budget, please feel
free to contact the NUGSS
office.

Please visit
www.nugss.com and let us
know what you think.

By Stuart Martinson
The Northern
Undergraduate Student

Society had their Annual
General Meeting of 2003 in the
Wintergarden at 10:00am on
Wednesday, January 29th. For
those unfamiliar with the pro-
cedures involved in such a
meeting, the society’s elected
representatives each stood up
and addressed the present stu-
dents with a synopsis of their
activities on behalf of NUGSS
thus far in their respective
terms.

The meeting was chaired by
Leanna Borden, who called
the meeting to order. After a
half an hour break, while the
society waited for quorum,
which is a 3% margin of the
student body or approximate-
ly one hundred students, they
moved on to the first speaker,
Ron Epp of KPMG. Epp, the
university’s auditor, gave a
brief rundown on the finances

Over The Edge Page 3

By David Mahoney
A heavy frost at Shane Lake gives a crisp and cold feeling to the
surrounding areas at UNBC.

NUGSS AGM Goes
Through Without a Fuss

for the last quarter. For any-
one who is interested, a full
financial report is available for
viewing at the NUGSS office.

The directors reports were
next, Susan Gill, the director
of campus activities, reported
having organised several cam-
pus based or involved events
this year. These include the
popular Kokanee V.I.P parties,
the Halloween Party, etc. She
also reported having main-
tained Labatt’s as a sponsor of
events, and has been in meet-
ings with their representatives
regularly.

Chris Reid, NUGSS’s
Director of Finances and
Operations, reported on the
university's finances. Again, a
full report may be viewed at
the NUGSS office for those
who are interested. He also
reported on the success of the
newly implemented Health

continued on page 5