UMSU council notes
Election bylaws eliminated
Chelse McKee, staff
The meeting began later than usual due to the council’s inability to make quorum. Normally, the UMSU meetings require 18 members of the council to be presence in order to proceed. Things were finally put under way close to 6:30 p.m., after Rachel Gotthilf, the representative for the faculty of music, arrived, making quorum. President Garry Sran attributed the struggle for quorum to the rescheduling of the meeting and its conflicts with other councils’ meetings.
Once the meeting was underway, Sran announced in his president’s report that he and Matt McLean, president of the U of M’s Graduate Students’ Association, made a presentation to the Council on Post-Secondary Education for more money to be given to the university for infrastructure repairs. Sran said that they believed they were successful because a larger portion of money was given for the maintenance in the next round of provincial budget.
As well, Sran explained that at the Board of Governors meeting there was a new staircase being built in the Continuing Education building. The new construction project will cost the university about $1.5 million. Sran said that UMSU and GSA voiced their opposition to the project but that the project would be going through regardless.
“I can’t wait to use it,” said Mike Einarson, vice-president (internal) with a laugh.
Sran also mentioned his and Amanda Johnson’s participation in the national annual general meeting of the Canadian Federation of Students held in Gatineau, Que. Travis Friesen, a representative from the faculty of engineering, asked about UMSU’s stance on the recent conflict between CFS and the Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU). The conflict between the two groups focuses around a recent decision by the CFS rejecting SSMU’s prospective membership.
“We decided to abstain because we weren’t sure of the inner workings of the Quebec components,” Sran said about UMSU’s decision.
Einarson said in his report that UMSU has chosen its three charities to support for the upcoming year. The three charities, international, local, and university-based, are Little Travelers, Ndinawe, and U of M Food Bank respectively.
Einarson also spoke about the recent audit for UMSU’s 2006-07 financial year. He said that the auditors, BDO Dunwoody, “Gave us a clear report.” As well, BDO Dunwoody also suggested that UMSU form an audit subcommittee which Einarson says he is currently looking into.
Two motions were introduced at the meeting to eliminate past UMSU election bylaws.
The first one put on the table was the eradication of policy 2017, which states that “In UMSU general elections, byelections, and referenda, polling stations shall be placed in all faculties, residence, and colleges.”
Sran says that this policy conflicts with current UMSU bylaw that the placement of polling stations is up to the decision of the chief returning officer. Sran moved to eliminate the policy to avoid future conflicts.
Friesen, who later voted against the eradication, said that the polling stations’ location need to be defined and that they couldn’t be “whatever the CRO feels like at the time.”
Despite his objections, the motion was passed.
The second motion brought to the table was to give UMSU the ability to appoint members to vacant positions, if they are still empty after the annual general election.
Friesen once again voiced his objection, saying that if he was vehemently against the previous motion, “This one, I will flat-out go against.”
Some members said that it was an issue of democracy and that the vacant positions should be voted in by the students.
Christian Roos, representative for the faculty of human ecology, said that she’d “rather seem them filled then spending time and money [on another election].”
After much discussion over the proposal, the motion was passed.
