Position vacated two months prior to the fall elections.
With less than a month to go until the fall by-election, the Student Association (SA) has an interim director of communications & internal.
After an emergency meeting of the board of directors, held Oct. 11, the board opted to appoint Max Davidson, health sciences representative, to the position on a temporary basis.
Six members of the board attended the meeting with five voting in favour of accepting Davidson’s appointment. Only Hadja Bah, director of operations, chose not to cast a vote.
Davidson’s appointment comes under bylaw 5, section 6, subsection a(i).
The resignation of Mohammedshadabkhan ‘Sid’ Pathan from the position of director of communications and internal was officially announced on Sept. 18 during the monthly Board of Directors meeting.
Rosalyn Miller, general manager of the SA announced that the office of the director of communications and internal would be vacated from Sept. 27.
The way forward for the board of directors was presented by Charles Wilson, CRO with the SA.
“Under bylaw five section three, there’s a requirement to fill the position within 60 days, however, under bylaw five section seven that provision is superseded because the normally scheduled date of the election for that office is 60 days from the vacancy. As a result, the recommended path forward for the board is to appoint someone to perform the duties of that office from within the membership of the board,” said Wilson.
In response to the recommendations from the CRO, board members expressed the need for time to discuss the matter.
Members of the board said that the decision to appoint someone for the position of director of communications and internal is an important one, and also, one that requires a timely decision.
A motion to have a special meeting regarding the appointment was put forward and passed. The meeting was decided to be held before the next monthly board meeting, but the date was not decided at the time.
The CRO mentioned that the course load requirements for the position would not apply to the appointee. However, the appointee would have to be available to perform all duties related to the position and be available during office hours.
“They would have to be in good academic standing as the director of communication and internal would be in the normal process, but the courseload requirement is explicitly waived,” said Wilson.
The appointed board member will perform the duties of the director of communications and internal in addition to their existing duties. However, the member will only have one vote in the meetings.
Davidson expressed his excitement at the appointment, noting he hopes to do well in the role and bring everyone together.
He will hold the office until the fall elections in November.