The Board of Directors of the Student Association of George Brown College (SAGBC) decided on Monday that its director of communications and internal as well as the community service and childhood representative position will be treated as vacant. The board intends to re-elect these positions this Fall 2021.

The decision to deem both positions vacant is a result of adhering to the SAGBC by-laws. The current director of communications and internal, Urvish Patel, and the community service and early childhood representative, Sarah Anderson, have both taken a leave of absence, with news of Anderson’s student status determining their eligibility to continue in their role.

According to By-Law 5, as outlined by the meeting agenda, “the position of Director shall be deemed vacant if the Director…ceases to meet the eligibility and other mandatory requirements set out in By-Law 3, or resigns.”

The position of Community Service and Early Childhood Representative was elected in May 2021. While Anderson was recently on a leave of absence, it came to the attention of board members that they were not a full-time student, one of the only prerequisites to be a voting class member.

“We are aware that Sarah is on a leave of absence, but we have found out that they are not a full-time student and as per the bylaws, if someone as a representative is not a full-time student, they won’t be able to vote and continue to be a representative,” said Sri Krishna Rajan, the SAGBC’s director of education and equity.

It is unclear how Anderson was elected to the Board of Directors in the first place or how their part-time student status came to the attention of the SAGBC this month.

“We really thank [Anderson] for the work and efforts that they have put forwards from when they started with us in May,” said General Manager Rosalyn Miller. “[However], the position has been deemed vacant because they do not qualify for the position regarding full-time status, which is our membership requirement.”

Also discussed at the board meeting was the results of the student health benefits request for proposal that was entered by the Student Association. Currently, GBC domestic and international full-time students are eligible for extended health and dental plan coverage provided by WeSpeakStudent.

The Board of Directors moved to accept ACL’s Student Benefit Proposal and continue the college’s relationship with WeSpeakStudent as the health and dental insurance provider for both full-time international and domestic GBC students effective September 1, 2022.

The Board Members will soon move into the contract phase to ensure that the contract lines up with what was presented, according to Miller.