Membership
Do you want to become a member of VOC? That's great, VOC welcomes new members of all abilities and experience levels. Just follow these simple instructions. The short version is: figure out which type of membership you need (student/associate), fill out the online form and waiver, come to our Clubroom when it is open to pay your membership fee in cash. It's that simple!
Contents
Types of Membership
As described in our constitution we have three main types of members: student, associate, and honorary.
Student
The VOC is a student run club constituted under the Alma Mater Society (AMS) of the University of British Columbia. If you are a student at UBC and you are a member of the AMS, (you are paying AMS fees) then you are entitled to join the Varsity Outdoor Club as a student member. This will cost you $50. This will get you a full membership with all membership privileges, such as Journal, use of Club Gear and Huts, and you get to vote for Exec people, and even be one.
Associate
If you are not eligible for student membership, you can still join VOC as an associate member. Membership in this category will cost you $70, and will get you all membership privileges except that you will not be eligible to vote at general meetings, to be elected to run the club, or be eligible for an ACC membership via the VOC. Associates need to pay more because the UBC AMS demands that non-members pay more to join their clubs, but the AMS also provides us with a clubroom in the SUB (among other things) which are paid for by AMS student fees... so it's not all that unfair.
Honorary
This category of membership is for individuals who have been in the VOC for four or more years, or have previously been VOC student members but have moved on and are no longer eligible for student membership. We like to keep these people on because they have accumulated useful knowledge about the club, such as where our huts are, how to do things safely, and they often provide leadership on our trips.
Any of the following qualifies you for Honorary Membership
1) Those who were paying members (student or associate) for roughly 4 years and are wanting to remain active with the club (active) or want to maintain access to the message board etc. when they are overseas or no longer live in Vancouver (inactive) and have contributed to the club in some way in the last four years (run a trip, exec, posts on message board, etc.) as decided on a case by case basis for new honorary members by the exec or at the AGM. Honorary members will be reviewed by exec on a case by case basis.
2) At the discretion of the Membership Chairperson, if you are temporarily away from UBC, usually in a foreign country, and not in a position to benefit from the privileges of being a fee-paying Member, but you still like to get email.
I would like to note that all this talk only involves liability insurance, not health insurance.
Active Honorary Members are welcome on club trips and often lead club trips, though they are expected to know enough that they don't take all the spots on introductory trips. Note that people eligible for honorary membership may instead join either as associate members or student members.
To apply for Active Honorary Membership we need a completed online membership application form with liability waiver (including digital signature). The easiest way to get this to us is to click on "renew membership", which will enable you to fill in any changes online (change type of membership to honorary) and sign the online waiver.
What if you are an Inactive Honorary Member and you suddenly need to go on a Club activity? Sign the liability waiver and we can change your status.
Once you have paid your membership, now you just need to sign up for trips! How many (or how few) trips you go on is up to you. Remember that final trip signup is subject to trip organizer discretion.
Refunds and Canceling of Membership
We do not give you back your membership fees if you change your mind about being a Member. This regulation appears to come from our parent organization, the Alma Mater Society. In the past ten or so years, we have had two instances of somebody trying to get their membership fees back; one was for a medical reason and the other was somebody simply changing their mind. We don't refund membership fees.
Apparently we are not allowed to kick you out of the Club once you have joined, though if your behaviour is unreasonable, or is in contravention of our code of conduct or that of the AMS , we may appeal to the AMS to kick you out. This is very rare. A reason to do this might be, for instance, if a Member used the Club's membership list to harass another Member.
Membership Expiration, Duration of Membership
Membership always expires at the end of September. If you join before May 1st, your membership expires next September 30th (Less than a year later). If you joined after May 1st, your membership expires in the September 30th of the next year.(More than a year later).
We don't do half term memberships. We sell only one membership expiry date. We do not sell special short memberships, for instance expiring in January.
How to Join
See https://www.ubc-voc.com/how-to-join
When can I join?
Whenever!
Once you have completed the application form and online waiver, the final step is to come to the clubroom during Gear Hours to pay your membership in cash. Find the current Gear Hours schedule here.
What's this about ACC Membership?
ACC stands for Alpine Club of Canada. The rumor that it stands for "Alpine Choppers Club" is untrue, but perhaps is based on the tendency of ACC trips to be a little more expensive than VOC trips. This is totally understandable when you realize that most ACC Members are over-employed, having more money than time, whereas VOC Members are mostly under-employed and have more time than money.
Anyways, the ACC offers to VOC Student Members each year, for free, something called an "ACC Student Membership". Their purpose in doing this is, they hope that when VOC Members graduate and "move on", they will think favourably of the ACC, and perhaps join the ACC.
This ACC Student Membership does not have a great deal of privileges associated with it. It does enable you to book ACC Huts three months in advance, instead of the one month in advance that you can do as a normal person. It does not get you cheaper rates at the Huts. It will give you a 15% discount if you want to stay at the ACC Clubhouse in Canmore, or buy something there. You may get a cheaper rate at the Louise Hostel; you can always ask. Perhaps the greatest advantage of ACC membership is that you can sign up for ACC trips, at least you can sign up for Vancouver Section trips, providing they are not already full of regular ACC members.
Here's a link to download the Agreement.
[[1]]ACC-VOC agreement 2015
Note that ACC Student Membership is offered to VOC Student Members, not to VOC Associate members or to VOC Honorary Members, who are supposed to buy ACC membership like everybody else
So, you call up the ACC and you say that you are a Student Member of ACC because you are a student member of VOC. They reply "You're not on our list" How can this be? First, only Student Members of VOC qualify; if you are a VOC Associate Member or a VOC Honorary Member, you are supposed to buy ACC Membership like everybody else. Second, we send in our list of eligible VOC Student Members to the ACC from time to time. In 2010 we sent it October 20. In 2013 we forgot to send it out. If you joined after this time, ACC doesn't know about you. We are planning to send in updated lists more frequently, but the details are not yet worked out.
The ACC sometimes prints membership cards for us. If you were a student member of the VOC in December 2017, you can pick up your card from our clubroom. They used to give us ACC membership numbers, so if there's no card for you they can maybe do that.
Further Clarification, ACC Membership
We received this 2012 October 19, from Toby Harper, MA, SCPM, Programs Director | Directeur des programmes Alpine Club of Canada | Club alpin du Canada
"Members of partner student outdoor clubs are not by default ACC members. They do not receive an ACC membership number through the student outdoor club. What they do receive are benefits of basic membership in the national club (especially the national Mountain Adventures program) and some benefits of their local ACC Section (in this case the opportunity to participate in Vancouver Section activities, get the newsletter…)
The objective of the Student Outdoor Club agreements that we sign on an annual basis with a dozen major university clubs across the country, is to expose students to the benefits of ACC membership, and encourage them to become a lifelong part of the Canadian mountain community. I first participated in ACC activities as an undergrad and the club has become an important part of my life (never mind my job!)"
VRCG members
If you're a due-paying member of the Vancouver Rock Climbing Group you are eligible for a $10 discount on your VOC membership. Fill out an online application form and when you come in to the club gear hours to pay for the membership show your VRCG membership card and you can claim the discount.
Note: Joining the VOC in turn allows you to join the VRCG for $10 less their annual fee in turn.
