The University of Victoria Students' Society (UVSS) is a student union that represents undergraduate students at the University of Victoria. The students' society was founded in 1921 and incorporated in 1964. It provides services and operates business for students through the Student Union Building (SUB), and historically has advocated for special interests on campus.
Governance
Board of directors
The Board of Directors is the decision-making body for the Society and directs all work of the Society. The board is composed of student representatives elected from the student body. The board is made up of:
Five salaried executives: Director of Outreach & University Relations, Director of Student Affairs, Director of Finance & Operations, Director of Events, and; Director of Campaigns & Community Relations A Director of International Student Relations, 2 Directors at-large, 9 Faculty Directors; and, Five advocacy group representatives: The Native Students' Union, Pride Collective, The Students of Colour Collective, The Society for Students with a Disability, and; Gender Empowerment Centre (GEM)
Elections
Board members are elected annually in March and advocacy representatives are nominated by their groups and approved by the board.
Up until 2009, the elections to the UVSS Board of Directors were run internally by a committee of the Society and staff members. Since that time, the UVSS has changed its by-laws and has given much of its authority to run the elections away to externally hired individuals. Policy for the elections is still determined by the Board of Directors.
History
Founding
The Students' Society was first incorporated in 1964, just one year after the creation of the University of Victoria (UVic) itself, as the Alma Mater Society of the University of Victoria (AMS). The AMS took its name from student associations like the University of British Columbia and McGill University, to which Victoria College (UVic's predecessor) was affiliated. The name was changed in 1989 to make clearer what the organization actually is, a student society.
Students at the newly founded UVic already had their own building and a ready-made students' society, as students at Victoria College (now the home of Camosun College) were organized well before the UVic campus opened. As early as 1957, students at Victoria College began levying a building fee in anticipation of their new home at UVic. Consequently, the Student Union Building (SUB) was one of the first buildings built on campus. The SUB opened in 1963, built with matching funds made available by the provincial government's building fund program. The building itself only consisted of the SUB Upper Lounge, the wing where the General Office is now located, and a downstairs section which housed the original Felicita's Pub.
Between 1963 and 1970, membership in the Society was around two thousand students. There were only four buildings on campus and in 1967, when the residence buildings went up, only 300 students lived on campus. The Society at that time was mostly operated by volunteers and a very small staff. However, towards the end of the sixties, the Society began to grow more sophisticated. By the seventies, the cafeteria (previously more of a kiosk) began operating regularly, the Society got a liquor license, and the pub increased its hours. What is now Cinecenta got its start with students, working out of an office in the SUB, showing movies using a 16mm projector in the MacLaurin and Elliot buildings.
In 1976 the building expanded, again financed through students. This time, however, the fee referendum to finance the additional 30 000 square feet failed. The Society's operating budget could only finance a smaller addition of 13 000 square feet, which meant that many of the architectural features originally designed for the expansion were lost. The 1976 addition saw the wing where Cinecenta and the Munchie Bar, Medicine Centre Pharmacy, Chiropractor, and On the Fringe are now located. Also the third floor was added as the home of CFUV (now located in the SUB's lower level).
1980s and 1990s
The Society’s organizational structure changed significantly in 1989. At this point, the Society began employing its own general manager. In the fall of 1989, the entire structure of the Society was reorganized into the divisional structure, which exists with some modifications today.