Graduate House

The following Public Notice serves to notify the membership of an emergency second reading of GP-20 “Conflicts of Interest” approved by the Board on August 17, 2020. Pursuant to GP-13, “The Board will provide a reasonable justification for the exercise of emergency powers to the Council as expeditiously as possible.” A justification will be sent to Council this week.

The following policy actions have been approved by the Board. Please refer to Policy GP-13 for how the Board changes Policies. Approval in “first reading” is followed by feedback from Council and a Public Notice. Approval in “second reading” signifies adoption to the Policy Manual by the Board.

On August 19, 2020, changes to GP-10 and GP-16 were approved in second reading.

On August 17, 2020, changes to GP-7, GP-15, and GP-18 were approved in second reading. Minor housekeeping changes were also approved in second reading to: EL-2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15; GP-2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 12, 17, 19; and BM-5.

This notice has been posted on August 17, 2020.

The following policy actions have been approved by the Board. Please refer to Policy GP-13 for how the Board changes Policies. Approval in “first reading” is followed by feedback from Council and a Public Notice. Approval in “second reading” signifies adoption to the Policy Manual by the Board.

On August 6, the Board approved a new policy GP-20 “Conflicts of Interest” in the first reading. Council received the draft policy on August 8 and feedback from Council was collected following GP-13. This post is a late Public Notice.

Other policy actions currently under consideration by the Board include changes to GP-10 and GP-16 (first readings May 5) and to GP-7, GP-15, and GP-18 (first readings July 15).

The following policy actions have been approved by the Board. Please refer to Policy GP-13 for how the Board changes Policies. Approval in “first reading” is followed by feedback from Council and a Public Notice. Approval in “second reading” signifies adoption to the Policy Manual by the Board.

On April 21, 2020, changes to EL-12, GP-9, and GP-11 were approved in second reading.

On May 5, 2020 changes to GP-10 and GP-16 were approved in first reading. Feedback has been received from the Council.

On May 19, 2020, changes to GP-14 were approved in second reading.

On June 17, 2020, changes to GP-5 were approved in second reading.

On July 15, 2020, changes to GP-7, GP-15, and GP-18 were approved in first reading.

On July 15, 2020, following the update to GP-14 empowering the Corporate Secretary to make housekeeping changes to policies, minor changes were approved in first reading to: EL-2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15; GP-2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 12, 17, 19; and BM-5.

Things have changed rather quickly in a short amount of time. So, we wanted to reach out and answer questions you may have in regards to our services and responses to COVID-19 during these times.

We will be going live on Tuesday, March 31 from 12:00pm to 1:00pm EST on ZOOM.

A link to the ZOOM meeting will be sent to you via email and posted on social media on the morning of.

While we will be taking some questions live, we ask you to email questions to us in advance, so we can answer as many possible.  Please, email your questions for the GSA-LIVE to

gsa-comm@uwaterloo.ca  by Thursday, March 26 at 12pm EST.

On behalf of the Graduate Student Association (GSA) and Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA), we’d like to share some important information about your WUSA/GSA Health & Dental Plan as it relates to the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Using your Health and Travel Coverage

With a growing number of presumptive and confirmed cases in various provinces/states across Canada and the United States, we thought we would share answers to the most commonly asked questions for those covered by the Travel Plan. Click here for the FAQ, which will be continually updated as we monitor the situation.

Mental Health Supports through the WUSA/GSA Student Assistance Program: EmpowerMe

We have been in contact with StudentCare and our Empower Me providers to discuss how students using the service may be impacted. While Empower Me is currently experiencing higher than normal call volumes, we have been assured that any disruptions that may result from self-isolation or quarantine measures will be limited.

Despite impacts on in-person sessions, we encourage you to use video and telephone counselling sessions for any support you need!

· Call the 24/7 helpline at 1-844-741-6389 from anywhere in North America to be directly connected to a trained counsellor.

· Use the Empower Me online counselling services. Log in to the Empower Me website and use “Studentcare” as the password.

· Connect over mobile! Download additional Empower Me student assistance tools on the Optima mobile app. Enter “Studentcare” as the Login ID and select “Student” in the drop-down menu.

Empower Me is integrated with UW Campus Wellness, for more questions contact Counselling Services or visit our Empower Me: Student Assistance Program webpage.

Tele-healthcare Resources

In partnership with Dialogue, a virtual platform that provides progressive tele-healthcare online and via your mobile phone, Studentcare (our Waterloo Student Health Plan administrators) have announced access to Chloe by Dialogue.

We encourage all WUSA/GSA Student Health Plan members to consult Chloe, a free, automated online medical assistance tool created by Dialogue to provide the latest public health-care information to help reduce the risks of COVID-19 infection.

Additional Information

Here are some additional recommended sources of information:

Government of Canada

World Health Organization

Global Affairs Canada

UWaterloo’s Coronavirus Webpage

WUSA’s COVID-19 Response Page

Given the University’s Work-from-Home directive, the on-campus StudentCare office in the Health Services Building has been closed until further notice. We encourage you to contact the StudentCare team for any inquiries about your coverage on their online chatting tool or by phone at 1-866-369-8794.

Stay safe and healthy!

Kind regards,

Naima

President | GSA

&

Seneca                                                      

VP Operations & Finance | WUSA

While face-to-face activities on university campus have been suspended as a safety precaution to managing the COVID-19 pandemic, the GSA-UW is working on creating alternative service access points for UWaterloo graduate students during this time.

Office Hours: Our office is closed. In-person office hours are suspended for the time being. Our team is working remotely this week. Please, email us to arrange remote appointments or for any questions you may have:
Kevin McKay, GSA Executive Manager

gsa-gm@uwaterloo.ca

David Billedeau, GSA Vice-President

gsa-vp@uwaterloo.ca

Legal Aid Clinic: Our in-person Legal Aid Clinic service has been cancelled until the end of April. Alternatively, emergency consultations of up to 15 minutes will be provided over the phone by our lawyer. We will provide a voucher to students who have paid their fees for this service. Please email gsa-gm@uwaterloo.ca to arrange an appointment, and provide a contact number.

Tax Aid Clinic and Personal Consultations: Our in-person Tax Aid Clinic has been cancelled. Individual one-on-one consultations will continue and be provided over the phone by our accountant. For those who have registered for individual consultations, please email us gsa-gm@uwaterloo.ca with a contact number, so our accountant can contact you at the time of your booked appointment.

Empower Me: Should you wish to talk to someone about how you’re feeling or coping during this time, we encourage you to call Empower Me, a mental health and wellness service that offers confidential and accessible support. With Empower Me, you are able to connect with trained counsellors, consultants, and life coaches who are available 24/7, 365 days/year. Learn more at www.studentcare.ca or call 1-844-741-6389.

The GSA-UW will continue to provide updates regarding our services and operations.

Please note that the campaign period for the Director Elections 2020 is currently on hold. More details will be shared soon.

As announced by the University of Waterloo, there will be disruptions to courses due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. All graduate students are encouraged to review the recent email from administration, as well as the following website: uwaterloo.ca/coronavirus.

Please note that the University of Waterloo has noted that funding for graduate students (TAs, RAs) will not be impacted by this closure.

The GSA will be temporarily closing the Graduate House in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.

We encourage all graduate students and members of our campus community to exercise caution in the weeks ahead, and to prioritize your well-being during this time of uncertainty.

The GSA will be issuing supporting communications on this issue on an ongoing basis.

On March 4, 2020, the GSA Council had the opportunity to hear from candidates seeking to serve as graduate representatives on the University of Waterloo Senate.

The Senate has the power to enact bylaws and establish committees and councils that impact the strategic direction of campus. In other words, this governance body significantly influences the all aspects of campus life – and ensuring that graduate student interests are effectively advocated within the Senate chambers, is important to all members of our community.

After careful consideration of each candidate, the GSA Council voted to endorse Sara Marsh and Twesh Upadhyaya for the upcoming Senate elections.

Council is confident in the ability of Sara and Twesh to advance graduate student interests at the University of Waterloo as graduate student representatives on Senate. We encourage all graduate students to consider supporting these candidates in the upcoming senate election.

Communications pertaining to the ambitions and qualifications of the endorsed candidates will be distributed to the graduate student community in the coming days.

The voting period for full-time and part-time graduate students will run from THURSDAY, MARCH 12^th to WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18^th by electronic ballot. Each graduate student will receive an email from UWaterloo administration with a direct link to the ballot.

Candidate statements are available here.