Constituency and education representative roles restructured, executive term limits extended
After two bumpy Student Association (SA) general meetings in a row, one which saw heated exchanges over part-time staff pay, and the other which failed to make quorum, Tuesday’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) was relatively well-attended and smooth.
The SA funds The Dialog.
All of the board’s proposed bylaw changes were passed at the AGM, including restructuring the constituency and education representative roles, extending terms limits for executives and moving the duties of the board from the bylaws to the SA’s voting directors accountability manual.
Two students members asked questions during the meeting and the bylaws passed quickly.
Kushagra Manchanda, the SA’s director of operations, said that he was hoping for more discussion about the bylaw changes from students and employees at the meeting, but was happy that the meeting had quorum.
He added since the bylaws had already been passed through the board, the meeting was “more about making students and employees of the SA understand the bylaws changes and how those changes are particularly affecting them personally.”
While the board can change the bylaws, students at a meeting of members have the final say in if they are ratified or not.
The changes to the roles of constituency and educational representatives had previously drawn criticism when it was proposed prior to the Nov. 30, 2017 AGM which failed to make quorum. The constituency roles represent marginalized students, while the educational positions represent students from the college’s seven education centres.
Under the new bylaws, the positions will no longer have an hourly requirement of five-hours a week. They will also be receiving a remuneration of $2,000 a year, down from around $3,705 a year for five-hour work weeks.
Mercedes Burrowes, the SA’s director of campus life, said that board was responding to difficulties with ensuring that students in the roles fulfilled their responsibilities and that it’s important to the board that the voices of the constituency and education representatives are still heard.
SA executives will now be able to serve for three terms within a five-year period, instead of two under the previous bylaws.
“I think that’s a great change that we made that, just for the longevity of the SA,” Burrowes said. “If an executive wants to stay for that long then we have somebody who will have known the association and the ins of it for a long time to help guide other members.”
Other bylaw changes successfully passed by students include:
- Only executives will need to maintain a minimum 2.0. grade point average to be on the board.
- Campus directors and education representatives will again need to be registered at their respective campus and centres during their term.
- Board meeting minutes will now be published 10 days after approval.
- Rank-and-file students can now place a motion for a meeting of members on the agenda of the board, if they can submit 15 members’ signatures in support of the motion 10 business days prior to a board meeting.
- Certified candidates who are running unopposed will be on the elections ballot with a “yes” or “no” question; if they get 50 per cent valid “no” votes the candidate will not be elected.
