Poll: SFSS Best Looking Director

Who do you think is the best looking MALE director?

  • Graham Hiscocks - Applied Science Representative (28%, 19 Votes)
  • Joe Zelezny - Treasurer (22%, 15 Votes)
  • Karan Cheema - Business Representative (15%, 10 Votes)
  • Jonathan Brockman - At-Large Representative (12%, 8 Votes)
  • Andrew Fergusson - Internal Relations Officer (10%, 7 Votes)
  • Anton Bezglasnyy - Arts Representative (10%, 7 Votes)
  • Todd McDonald - Education Representative (1%, 1 Votes)
  • James McNish - Environment Representative (2%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 68

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Who do you think is the best looking FEMALE director?

  • Ada Nadison - President (28%, 24 Votes)
  • Hannah Yoshime - FCAT Representative (22%, 19 Votes)
  • Shara Lee - University Relations Officer (12%, 10 Votes)
  • Chantelle Chand - Science Representative (11%, 9 Votes)
  • Alysia MacGrotty - External Relations Officer (9%, 8 Votes)
  • Mona Law - Member Services Officer (9%, 8 Votes)
  • Winnie Chung - At-Large Representative (9%, 7 Votes)

Total Voters: 85

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The Peak has done interviews with each of the individual directors that were elected in 2009 March and you can find them below:

Male Directors

Andrew Fergusson – Internal Relations Officer
Anton Bezglasnyy – Arts Representative
Graham Hiscocks – Applied Science Representative
James McNish – Environment Representative
Joe Zelezny – Treasurer
Jonathan Brockman – At-Large Representative
Karan Cheema – Business Representative
Todd McDonald – Education Representative

Female Directors

SFSS means Simon Fraser Student Society.  It is a lobbying organization registered under the Society Act in British Columbia.  You are a member if you are taking an undergraduate course at Simon Fraser University.  You may find the contact information of your directors online on the SFSS website.  The Simon Fraser Student Society is responsible for programs such as the U-Pass, Health Care Plan, and almost anything that has to do with students on campus excluding academics.

Each year in March, new executives are voted in through a General Election conducted by the SFSS Independent Electoral Commission.  Since 2009 March, the Board of Directors of the Simon Fraser Student Society decided to conduct all elections online.  You may vote for all executive positions (President, Treasurer, Officer positions).  You may only vote for faculty positions only if you are (a) taking a course in that faculty, (b) declared major, minor, honours, extended minor, (c) currently declared as “general studies” in the faculty.  You may vote in more than one faculty, as long as you fulfill the requirements.  If you wish to run for a position, you must be a registered student and be in the faculty that you are running in (the latter applies to faculty positions).

The polls will close on Friday, December 11, 2009 at 11:59 pm!

Poll: Your Favourite BC University

Which university in British Columbia is your favourite?

  • Simon Fraser University (64%, 18 Votes)
  • University of British Columbia (29%, 8 Votes)
  • University of Victoria (7%, 2 Votes)
  • University of Northern British Columbia (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 28

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Poll: Cellphone Companies for Students

International students will be coming to universities in British Columbia in a few weeks. There are many cellphone carriers out there that advertise student plans. Which cellphone carrier would you

  • Rogers (38%, 8 Votes)
  • Fido (29%, 6 Votes)
  • Koodo (29%, 6 Votes)
  • Solo (5%, 1 Votes)
  • Bell (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Telus (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Virgin (-1%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 21

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Poll: BC Graduation

Is your BC graduation being delayed due to the lack of rooms in the courses or lack of course offering?

  • Yes (50%, 11 Votes)
  • No (36%, 8 Votes)
  • No Opinion (14%, 3 Votes)

Total Voters: 22

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Poll: SFU UPASS Program

Poll: Currently Simon Fraser University students pay $104.36 per semester for their 4-month upass.  Do you think that the upass program should be offered as a year-round program allowing students to pay for their 12-month upass in September with lower costs.

Do you think that the UPASS program should be extended from semesterly to yearly?

  • Yes (84%, 31 Votes)
  • No (16%, 6 Votes)

Total Voters: 37

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Please note that this is not a referendum question and has no legal effect and is not affiliated with Translink, Simon Fraser University or Simon Fraser Student Society.

Average Canadian Tuition

The following are the average Canadian Undergraduate Tuition fees listed by province and then by academic year (2009 means the year from fall 2009 to summer 2010).  The statistics are taken from Statistics Canada (link).

Continue reading ‘Average Canadian Tuition’

2009 Referendum Questions

The following questions have been put to ballot by the SFSS Forum, a representative body consisting of members from every Faculty and Departmental Student Union as well as the recognized constituency groups of the SFSS (Residence Hall Association, Out on Campus and the Women’s Centre being active members).

These questions are placed concurrently on the online ballot with the SFSS Election period, set for 17-19 March 2009.

Active Undergraduate students who wish to register a “yes” or “no” side have until Thursday Noon, 26 February 2009. For more information on registering a campaign please contact the Independent Electoral Commission: elections@sfss.ca or through their website, http://elections.sfss.ca

Continue reading ‘2009 Referendum Questions’

Top 50 Universities in the World

The top 50 Universities in 2008 are published on October 9 in THE and they are listed below:

Continue reading ‘Top 50 Universities in the World’

Current Transit Situation

The morning rush hour deposits more than 14,000 students at the University of B.C. alone with a bus arriving about every 42 seconds. Add in Simon Fraser University, the B.C. Institute of Technology and Vancouver Community College, all with multiple campuses, and you have a flood of youngsters with bulky backpacks joining the morning commute.

Source: The Vancouver Sun

Coast Mountain was only able to make minor adjustments yesterday, putting on some extra buses from Production Way to Simon Fraser University and from Metrotown to Capilano University.

Source: The Vancouver Sun

But there were still passups, particularly on the No. 143 from Coquitlam to SFU, on the No. 25 from Brentwood to UBC and on the No. 44 from downtown to UBC.

Source: The Vancouver Sun

September 1: No Credit Cards

When you try to pay your tuition on http://go.sfu.ca/, it will not let you.

That’s Right! For those of you who are currently registered as an undergraduate student or are coming into Simon Fraser University, you will realize a message that says “We regret to inform you that effective September 1st, 2008, the University will no longer be accepting credit cards for tuition and ancillary fees.” on your enrollment appointment email.

Simon Fraser University is currently facing (estimated) $15 million deficit. This is because the Government of British Columbia put a maximum on how much universities can increase their tuitions by, which is 2%. Also, due to the inflation, the amount that the Government of British Columbia funded a few years ago is not as much as the amount funded now because they have not kept in pace with the inflation. The University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria are also in the same situation.

Currently, the University is spending too much money on Credit Card payments for tuition. When you pay by credit card anywhere, the credit card company (such as VISA or Mastercard) takes a percentage as processing fee. In this case, the credit card company is taking a percentage of your tuition to use as processing fee. The credit card company also charges the university for other fees. There are around 25,000 students at Simon Fraser University and if more than half of the students are taking more than 4 courses and are paying by credit card, then that would put the numbers in 7 figures).

In order to make up for the deficit, the University has decided to cut the credit card payment option for tuition (you can still use your credit card in the bookstore).

Not only are credit cards being removed from the University but tutorials, professor hours, amount of teaching assistants are being decreased. This is why Psychology doesn’t have anymore tutorial blocks.

Simon Fraser University is not the only university that is cutting the credit card processing feature. University of Alberta is doing it too [source] and they started on July 1, 2008.

If I remember correctly, a university in Alberta removed their credit card processing feature and a student paid their tuition at the school registrar using pennies.

This is bad news for those who are trying to get AirMiles :P .

Edit: I just received a message from Stephen Price from the Dean of Science office that “everyone still has the option of adding Simon Fraser University as a bill payee to their telephone or online banking account and paying that way (which is way better – no lines!).” He also provided a link for more information and that link can be reached here: http://students.sfu.ca/fees/howtopay/#tuition