So. Hart House is THIS WEEKEND. Needless to say it will be life changing. Here are the bullet points:

WHO: PACSers. You and all your friends.

WHAT: Forging friendships, being pretentious PACSers, enjoying the weather, eating more food than we thought was anatomically possible, having the time of our lives.

WHEN: 11 am October 15th (meet outside the real Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle) – 3 pm October 16th (back to the real Hart House)

WHERE: Hart House Farms, Caledon (about an hour away via a big old school bus)

WHY: Because you love fun

HOW: By paying an exec member $20 BEFORE THURSDAY AT NOON (Ian will be in the PACS lounge on Thursday from 10-12, find him and save your $5), after that $25 until the day of, $30 on Saturday (seriously, you’ve had forever)

BRING: Snacks if you want (might get hungry on the bus), a change of clothing essentials (but not much, you’re not there long), tooth brush, a bathing suit (there is a sauna!), sleeping essentials (sleeping bag/blanket, pillow) and beverages you may wish to indulge in (your choice, no pressure).

So there you have it. Read on for more details if you can afford too (we know you’re busy)!

We’re meeting at 11 am in from of Hart House (7 Hart House Circle) this Saturday, October 15th. It’ll take roughly an hour to get us to our destination in Caledon. A magical day of exploring, learning, and bonding will ensue, culminating in a vegan dinner prepared by yours truly, the exec (plus anyone willing to help!). In case you haven’t been paying attention, this dinner will involve perogies, garlic toast, coleslaw, and more. The real fun happens after dinner, though. We won’t give away all the details, but we will tell you that it involves a sauna. And, importantly, smores. So you won’t want to miss it. Breakfast will consist of vegan pancakes and eggs with potato hash browns. Then we will be on our merry way back to Toronto by the afternoon. We’ll be back before 3.

This trip, one of the more exciting things we do as a society all year, is only $20 if you pay soon. For the amount of food, fun, and transportation you’re getting, we can’t emphasize how much of a steal this is. You can give any one of the exec (including your class rep!) $20 at any time this week up until Thursday. On Thursday, if you drop by the lounge between 10 am – noon, Ian will be waiting patiently to accept your money. After noon on Thursday, the price goes up by $5 -so don’t delay! Someone will be waiting in the lounge until noon on Friday to accept your $25, or you can pay the morning of for $30- though this is discouraged. Pay early and save your cash!

Last, but not least, bring a bathing suit if you’re interested in hitting up the sauna at night. Also bring any beverages that you see fit to bring. Have a good week, we’ll see you at the farm!

Cheers,
Your PACS Exec

• One president and the treasurer must attend all ASSU meetings to ensure funding
• We get $1500 for both Academic and Social events (correct me if I’m wrong, maybe it’s $750 exclusively for each)
• However, we may be able to get an extra $1500 from a human rights for academic events related to human rights
• If we get this additional funding, we could divert some of the ASSU funding towards other academic events

Hart House Farms

• October 16th
• Was the price of $20/25 too high last year?

Frosh Ideas

• WE NEED AN EMAIL LIST OF THE PACS FROSH (Alex)

• Snakes and Lattes
• Provisional date: Sunday, September 11th
• Someone needs to call to see what days/times are least busy (Olivia)
• Outdoor PACSy Movie Night
• Thursday, September 15th
• Someone needs to ask Megan whether we can do this, and if so, whether we have the equipment (Alex)
• Put suggestions down here:

• Pub Night
• Friday, September 16th

• Sports/outdoor activities day
• Saturday, September 17th
• Soccer, ice-breaker games (Think wizards, giants, elves)

Other ideas

• PACS sports teams
• Maybe co-ed indoor soccer (if it exists)
• More social justice oriented events
• Soup-kitchen, group volunteering at local organisations

Hope you’re all enjoying the final dregs of summer. This is just a reminder that you have a reason to look forward to the first week of school ? PACS Frosh! The time of year is nigh, and your exec has quite the week lined up for you:

Sunday, September 11th @ 4 pm: PACS at Snakes & Lattes! (600 Bloor St. W), Come enjoy a latte (or a beer), board games, and spend some time with your fellow PACSers. If you’re new to PACS, this is a great way to get to meet your peers. And if you?re a PACS veteran, then you know how much fun Snakes & Lattes is already.

Thursday, September 15th @ 2pm (until 4pm): PCS Welcome Back Reception (South House Lounge, Munk School of Global Affairs). Always a good time, the Welcome Back Reception is a place to mingle with professors, listen to Ron talk a whole lot (oh, how we love him), and hang out with your fellows. Also, there?s always free food.

Friday, September 16th @ 8 pm: PACS Pool/Pub Night! We’ll be going to the Annex Billiards Hall (on Bloor between Spadina and Bathurst). All ages are welcome there and we’ll order some food and play pool! But, if you have any other suggestions for places, feel free to let us know!

Saturday, September 17th @ 2 pm: PACSnic! A PACS picnic, cleverly enough. Come to the backfield (the one off of harbord) to enjoy an afternoon of outdoor food, fun, and sports – on what will probably be one of the last days of nice weather. Take advantage of it!

Anyhow, that’s it for now. Stay tuned for info on class-representative elections that will be happening in a few weeks time!

If you?re an avid facebook user, you can stay posted on all the PACS news here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peace-and-Conflict-Society-2011-2012/213837892006508. We also have all this information up on our website: peaceandconflict.ca

We are looking forward to seeing all of your lovely faces at our frosh events! Enjoy the rest of the week!

Cheers,

Olivia, Sima, Hillary, Alex, Ian and Nessa

We hope you’ve all had an amazing summer! Your Peace and Conflict Studies exec has already been working hard and we’re excited to meet all the new 260s and hear about everyone’s summer adventures!

So, we have some really exciting things planned for this year – from socials, to human rights events, free breakfasts to pacs volunteering, but you’ll hear more about all of this in a few weeks. We also have a really fun PACS froshweek starting with a night at Snakes and Lattes on September 11th, a welcome back reception at the Munk Center and movie night on September 15th, and a pub-night September 16th.

But we’ll send out an exciting email about all of this soon and update the events page. For now, we just wanted to introduce you to this website. We’ll be using it a lot more this year to keep everyone updated with PACS, U of T, and Toronto events, internship opportunities, information about the program, class discussions, and just other cool stories.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in less than two weeks!
- PACS Exec

ps – some highlights from last year’s events

I still remember being contacted by our esteemed conference directors – Zannah Matson, Aaron Kates Rose and Peter Wills – almost 10 months ago. At that time, the message was clear: “We have a great idea.” What is most impressive, is that the ensuing days, weeks, and months of preparation, have paid off in the most spectacular of ways.

Overheard conversations, animated discussions and the sense of participant satisfaction made it clear that participants were impressed, intrigued and inspired by this weekend’s events; the lack of complaints owed surely to the tireless efforts of volunteers and the ever-capable trifecta of triumph (ZAP – I’m talking about you).

Most importantly, this year has lived up to – and arguably exceeded – the calibre, professionalism and preparation witnessed in conferences past, and a most deserved congratulations goes out to the directors, staff and the carriers of boundless energy that made this event such a phenomenal success.

So, it is my pleasure, on behalf of the 2010-2011 PACS Executive – and myself in particular – to thank everyone for the incredible work done over the past 10 months. Your success will remain a testament to our program and creed. Indeed, great ideas, passionately pursued, motivate change.

Today, once again, I am proud to be a member of this ‘radically interdisciplinary’ community.

Get some sleep!

Adam McCauley

Meeting Location: PCS Society Lounge, UC

1. Regular Meeting Space
   • Keys for PCS Lounge
   • Alternative meeting spaces
2. Process of Agenda Setting
   • Email to Secretary by Saturday night
3. Process of Minutes Distribution
   • Class Representatives bring copies to class
4. Student Mailing Lists
   • From Class Representatives
   • Frequency of e-Announcements to students
   • Alternate mailing list received from Megan Ball
   • Executive Accounts
   • Training Session
   • Full Contact List
   • Executive Bios for Website
   • Level of interest by students
   • Fee Collection
   • Possibility of moving assignments back one week to accommodate Hart House Farm trip
   • Details and event information
5. Peace and Conflict.ca
6. Executive Information
7. Hart House Farm Trip
8. Assignments for 260 and 360
9. ASSU Budget
10. NGO Fair
11. Clothing Information

2. Academic Counselling Sessions
• October 29th Counselling session
• Should we continue?
• Special budget from ASSU?

3. Student Mailing Lists
• From Class Representatives

4. Clothing
• Design – need to have shirt design before cost estimate can be made
• Options to explore

5. Open Session for Executives

6. Open Session for Non-Executives

Time/Location of Departure:

Arrive by 11AM, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010
Leaving from: 15 Kings College Circle (that’s right in front of University College – we’ll be the ones with the bus)

Lunch! We will be serving Dinner on Saturday, and perhaps light snacks, but you should bring your own food. Any additional snacks you want to bring to share is would be delightful.

Packing List

• Toiletries for overnight
• Personal Medication
• Change of clothes [?]
• [please note: there is no shower, and it's only one night anyways. Embrace it]
• Sleeping Bag/Pillow – mattresses are provided but there is no bedding.
• Additional treats:
• Swimsuit for Sauna
• Cards/Games (ideas for games or physical games, both welcome)
• Flashlight
• Ipod/Music (there will be a loud i-dock speaker system courtesy of Kerry)
• Warm Clothes/Layers (weather may get cold in evening)
• Rain Jacket? (may rain occasionally on Saturday)
• Alcohol

Additional notes:

PACS folk are pretty much the most exciting people around. As a result, please come prepared to share any group game/activity ideas you might have. We’ve got a few in mind – one including, but not limited to, giants, wizards and elves (face-meltingly incredible, despite the sophomoric undertones) – but any new additions are more than welcome.

Regarding Process of Agenda Setting
The agenda will be set according to the minutes from the past meeting. New announcements or topics that require discussion must be forwarded to Reina Clarete, at secretary@peaceandconflict.ca by Saturday evening at the latest. Items that are not included in the Agenda can be discussed towards the end of the meeting during open sessions for executives and non-executives. The agenda will be ordered as follows: executive issues, non-executive issues, open sessions of executives, open sessions of non-executives. Non-executive members are welcome to attend the meetings and raise any issues they wish to bring up formally (by sending the topic to the Secretary) or during the open session.

Regarding the Process of Minutes Distribution:
Minutes will not be distributed to the core classes, but class representatives will make weekly announcements in class to discuss any major issues brought up in the meetings.

Regarding Student Mailing Lists:
Class lists will be completed by class representatives. Students can opt to receive either weekly emails (which would include the minutes from the previous meeting), or a monthly newsletter regarding past and future events run by the Society. Students can also opt not to receive emails from the executives.

Regarding PeaceandConflict.ca:
The intention of the Society website is to be the default source of information for students wishing to know more about society activities. Facebook will be utilized minimally. Minutes and agendas will be linked to on the Trudeau Center Facebook group, and execs will share these posts on their own accounts. Increased emphasis will be placed by the executives on utilizing to the fullest extent the tools that are available at their disposable for distributing information. There will be an increased emphasis on the web and an improvement on student connectivity. This includes providing information and photos of the executives on the website to ensure their visibility to PACS students. Executive are also looking for a platform through which they can receive feedback from students.

Regarding Hart House Farm Trip and Class Assignments:
Regretfully, there has been very little publicity for the Hart House Farm Trip. This is an issue that the executive is looking to improve through a publicity campaign for the trip. The week of October 25-31st is the last week for the $20 fee for the trip. Executives must emphasize to students that it is that the trip will not take up a whole weekend. At the same time, since neither the 260 or 360 Representatives have been to the farm, the Social Coordinator will also be making an appearance to classes and hopefully will be able to inform students about the possibility of moving assignment due dates back to accommodate the trip.

Regarding Academic Counselling Sessions & ASSU Budget
PACS society will be providing weekly academic counselling sessions. These sessions are scheduled for Fridays. Students can drop into the PACS Lounge and speak to an executive or an upper year student about the academic and social aspects of the program. Breakfast will be served from 8-10am, but the event will take place all day. The executive will apply to ASSU for special funding. The first session will take place on October 29th in order to encourage students to attend the Hart House Farm trip and provide students with an opportunity to pay, as it will be the last day to pay the $20 fee.

Regarding the NGO Fair:
The NGO fair will be postponed until January. The postponement is due to needing more NGO’s to take part in the fair, and needing to promote the event to more students.

Regarding Clothing Information:
The possibility explored during the meeting was too expensive to be practical. In order to lower the costs of the clothing, more students need to be interested in purchasing PACS Apparel. Other options are now being considered, as well as other means to increase student interest. It was suggested that clothes can either be subsidized by PACS society, or to continue looking for cheaper option.