At the Innis College Town Hall on April 19, ICSS President Brianne Katz-Griffin and Vice President, Finance Troy Peschke shared the ICSS’ findings regarding the Cinema Studies Students’ Union (CINSSU) budget and, more specifically, the allocation of the ICSS student levy for the organization. Currently, at 2/45 of the ICSS budget, CINSSU is the only student group affiliated with the College that has an automatic levy allocated directly from the ICSS budget annually.

Originally a direct part of Innis College’s identity, the Cinema Studies program has since distinguished itself from Innis and become the Cinema Studies Institute, remaining affiliated with, but not a part of, the College itself. Although the ICSS provides a levy amounting to about 4.4 per cent (2/45) of its budget, with 40 per cent of that intended to be allocated towards Innis-oriented events, the ICSS has approximated that only 3 per cent of its students are enrolled in the Cinema Studies program. This raises the question of whether the levy should be reduced and redistributed to other clubs or not.

All other student groups affiliated with Innis College must make an annual request in order to gain funding from the ICSS, designating the groups as technically non-permanent. At the 2016 ICSS Annual General Meeting, a motion, put forward by Khrystyna Zhuk and seconded by James Chapman, was passed that called for a report detailing the financial relationship between CINSSU and ICSS, with a town hall to be held to present the findings.

The report, although neutral in intent, was meant to highlight the potential areas of concern that would need to be addressed for the 2017-18 academic year by the incoming ICSS executive and Innis College students. Three areas of concern that must be addressed in deciding whether to change the present system or not are: the automatic nature of the levy, its size, and the portion allocated to Innis-oriented events.

At the conclusion of the discussion, the President-Elect of CINSSU, Sharif Wehbe, stated that he is aiming to revamp the CINSSU constitution for the following academic year, taking the ICSS’ report into consideration.

See the full report on the ICSS’ findings here.

Editor’s Note: Khrystyna Zhuk is the current Managing Editor for the Innis Herald and the former President of the ICSS. James Chapman is the current Creative Director for the Herald and acting ICSS Clubs and Merchandise Director. Jess Stewart-Lee is the current Layout Editor for the Herald and acting member of the CINSSU executive team.