Club constitutions, moving sub occupants, and pancakes discussed
While many students were curled up in the library to study for their finals, the UVSS Board of Directors met in the Vertigo Lounge to pass a handful of motions that included getting rid of the need for club constitutions and spending $32 000 on updating the point-of-sale systems in the SUB.
The meeting started with a passionate territory acknowledgment from Natalie Blecha, the Society for Students with Disability Representative.
After Blecha’s territory acknowledgement, the Board of Directors heard reports from committees, councils, constituency organizations, and the NSU.
The motions discussed took up the bulk of the meeting, with 13 total motions on the packed agenda. First, Director of Finance Dakota McGovern spoke to a motion regarding how an incoming board is trained.
In previous years, McGovern said, directors could wipe all of their files if they so choose. This motion gets rid of that option and requires a training manual to be compiled by the Administration and Services Manager.
After that motion passed, McGovern promoted another motion regarding SUB occupants. Earlier in the semester, the Victoria Public Interest Research Group (VIPIRG) terminated their lease with the SUB — this space will now be filled by the Students of Colour Collective.
Next, McGovern announced plans to update point-of-sale systems in the SUB — he noted how old and inadequate these systems are currently. This will cost the UVSS $32 000 from the Major Capital Fund.
An important motion was brought forward by Victoria Eaton, the Director for Clubs and Course Unions. This motion erased the requirement for clubs to create club constitutions in line with the UVSS policy. Eaton stressed that club constitutions make it difficult for people unfamiliar with club processes to create a club. Clubs will remain bound to UVSS policy, along with federal and provincial policy and can have or create constitutions if they would like but they will still have to line up with UVSS policies.
The Director of Outreach, Johnathan Granirer, passed a motion to donate $3 000 from the UVSS Grant and Donations budget to help fund UVic’s Open Educational Resources Grants. Instructors can apply for one of these grants in January to help them fund the creation or use of an open educational resource — or a free, unlicensed learning resource like a textbook — in their classroom.
The last motion, also by Granirer, sparked a long discussion around accessibility and livestreaming UVSS meetings. Other board members, including Blecha and Director-at-Large Hannah Ahluwalia, voiced their concerns and moved to have this specific motion sent back to committee for further discussion.
With the 13 motions discussed and 12 of the original motions passed, the board moved to in camera and one of the last UVSS meetings of the decade concluded.
