Items on the docket include replacing faculty representatives with directors at large, a new decolonization policy, and a proposal to rename the board positions to ‘president’ and ‘vice-presidents’
Photo via uvss.ca
The upcoming UVSS annual general meeting (AGM) on Oct. 28 has five special resolutions and two financial motions that could affect the student body.
The AGM is a yearly meeting where all undergraduate students get to vote on motions that affect the UVSS, which differs from Board of Director meetings, where the board of directors vote.
In recent years, the UVSS has struggled to meet quorum — the number of people needed in attendance for a vote to occur. To hit quorum, the UVSS needs 0.6 per cent of undergraduate students to attend.
Students who wish to see these policies come to fruition, or make their concerns with them heard, should attend the AGM. The meeting begins at 4 p.m. and will be held on Zoom.
UVSS President and Vice-Presidents
On Sept. 22, UVSS held a lengthy board of directors meeting, which touched on motions for the upcoming annual general meeting (AGM).
One motion in the meeting was to add to the AGM agenda a vote on renaming the UVSS Board of Directors positions from “director” to “vice-president” instead, with the chair position being renamed to “president.” The motion passed after almost an hour of debate, meaning a vote on whether to proceed with this change will be on the agenda at the AGM.
During the meeting, some members of the board had concerns with renaming the positions, citing hierarchical language, concerns over changing the roles of elected representatives mid year, and the immediate implementation of the policy if adopted, specifically citing the amount of policy changes this may require.
Roven Brooks-Stephenson, UVSS board representative for the Students of Colour Collective (SOCC), told the Martlet that changing the titles of the board of directors would not address any issues within the UVSS, and said that she was concerned with the potential costs of the title changes.
Brooks-Stephenson said she had talked to other student unions, and said many told her they wanted to follow the UVSS’ example of collective leadership, rather than continuing with hierarchical presidential and vice presidential roles. She also said she had concerns with the immediate implementation of the motion, if passed.
Griffin Foster — Director of Outreach and University Relations — introduced this motion. Foster told the Martlet that the change would help improve coordination between the board members, and said that not having a president role causes complications when coordinating with other schools.
Foster noted that many meetings between different student union groups are broken down into role-specific meetings, such as a presidents meeting. Without having a direct parallel, Foster said it is hard for the UVSS to coordinate with other student unions.
Foster also said he had been told by management that the cost of the title changes are within the UVSS’ capabilities. According to Foster, the bylaw amendment does not entail any other policy changes, beyond changing the names of the positions.
Decolonization and Anti-Racism
Katie King — Director of Student Affairs — brought forward a motion to add a decolonization policy, which would commit the UVSS to ongoing actions to address the harms experienced by Indigenous peoples, and would direct the UVSS to advocate for decolonization in “all official acts.”
The policy would include a commitment for the UVSS to lobby the university administration, Senate, and Board of Governors to promote decolonization as well. Decolonization, as defined by the policy, is the process of dismantling “colonial ways of thinking, being, and governing,” and working toward Indigenous self-determination and governance.
In a statement to the Martlet, King said that a survey conducted by the UVSS showed decolonization as one of the top priorities of UVSS members. King emphasized the importance of not only talking about decolonization, but having a policy to back it up. “One of the core values of the UVSS is decolonization, and this is a value that I also share. It is important that when the UVSS talks about decolonization, we also have policy backing it up.
“This motion was brought to the SAGM (semi-annual general meeting), but we failed to meet quorum, and it wasn’t able to be voted on. This AGM, we’re bringing it back, and I encourage students to come and vote on this policy.”
Foster also added a motion to update the anti-racism policy, citing out of date language. If passed, the policy would add statements opposing apartheid, genocide, slavery, colonial expansion, and ethnic cleansing.
For-Credit Courses and Board of Director Changes
The AGM agenda also has a motion to amend the composition of the UVSS board, which would get rid of the board representatives of academic faculties (i.e. the directors of social sciences student relations, business student relations, etc.) and replace them with directors at large (DALs).
Foster said this motion was introduced due to the lack of faculty representatives running for board positions. He said that this past year, only one person ran to be a faculty representative, and they have since stepped down. According to Foster, the jobs of faculty representatives are essentially the same as DALs, and that faculty positions that go unfilled become DALs anyway, but the process of converting faculty representative positions to DAL positions causes the election period to be extended. This change is intended to limit redundancy.
Foster brought forward a motion to amend the bylaws for for-credit course coverage, which he says is just a small housekeeping item, aimed to improve the clarity of an already existing policy.
The amendment would clarify that students who are enrolled in for-credit certificate and diploma programs would be able to access UVSS benefits, such as health and dental, as well as affiliate and advocacy groups.
Finances
Jonah Arnold — the interim Director of Finance and Operations — is bringing two motions to the AGM. One to adopt the 2025-2026 budget, and another to receive audited financial statements.
Arnold told the Martlet, “Our annual budget is the backbone of this organization, without which we would cease to function. I believe that by bringing it to the AGM, we are acknowledging its importance as well as giving UVic students complete financial transparency.”
Arnold also stressed the importance of approving the audit, which would allow for a third party to check the UVSS’ finances, ensuring spending is transparent and every cost is accounted for.
Students who want to view the agenda in full can find it at uvss.ca/agm
