In the meeting, the Board heard a presentation from the Chief Electoral Officer and voted to accept the 2026 General Election results.
Photo by Belle White.
On March 23, the UVSS Board of Directors met to discuss the results of the 2026 UVSS Election, and policy suggestions for the incoming board members.
The meeting opened with a land acknowledgement given by Michael Caryk, interim director of campaigns & community relations. The board amended the agenda to add Students of Colour Collective (SOCC) Representative Roven Brooks-Stephenson’s report. The previous meeting minutes were adopted.
Electoral Officer presentation
John Morrison, the chief electoral officer of UVSS Elections, gave a presentation on his Electoral Report following the recent UVSS election. Morrison said that according to his records going back to 2011, this was the election in which every position on the board was contested by two or more separate candidates, and that the election had a very high candidate turnout, though there was a drop in voter turnout from 22.3 per cent to 11.9 per cent.
Morrison said he requested demographic data from the Office of the University Secretary, but because there are no longer Faculty Representative directors, the faculties of the voters were not collected anonymously. Morrison said he will request such data be collected in the future.
Siena Jones withdrew from her elected position as a Director-at-Large (DAL), highlighting that the UVSS does not have a withdrawing deadline, which Morrison recommends establishing in policy.
According to the UVSS Electoral Policy, when someone withdraws, all of their votes are no longer counted. The Office of the University Secretary recalculated the vote for the DAL position. Emily Jobbins was the next winner, but she declined the position, meaning the Board will begin the term short one DAL.
All four referendum questions passed in the Election.
Morrison pointed out a number of recommended changes he included in his report, including that the Electoral Policy currently does not have anything on preferred names and photos. After liaising with the Electoral Committee, it was agreed to have candidates only use legal names or preferred names as reflected in UVic records.
In the case of someone transitioning, Morrison said, it could be self reported and up to the discretion of the Chief Electoral Officer.
Heavily edited candidate photos are recommended to be disallowed, as well as facial coverings with exceptions for religious and cultural reasons.
Morrison also recommended that candidates should not be able to run “anti-endorsements” of other candidates. His belief is that it creates a barrier to future candidates and creates a negative environment.
When it comes to advocacy group endorsements, Morrison recommends that such endorsements should be limited to sides of referendum questions and disallow staff endorsements of candidates to avoid individuals being placed in difficult situations.
The Gender Empowerment Centre (GEM) representative Cecilia Bulbrook said that the GEM decides candidate endorsements by a collective vote, an approach that Morrison approves of.
All these recommendations are suggestions, and can be decided on by board members in future board meetings.
Returning to the recalculation of votes of the DAL position, Morrison clarified that they were notified of Jones’ withdrawal on Thursday, giving the Electoral Office enough time to notify the Office of the University Secretary, who recalculated the votes before Morrison submitted his report.
Morrison also said he contacted all the winners of the election, and heard back from all but three DALs. Jobbins declined from being a DAL after Morrison submitted his report, leaving the decision of how to proceed up to the board. .
Incoming Director of Outreach and University Relations Matthew Allen Curtis asked that the board, when voting on ratification, consider voting in a way that sets the next board up as best they can.
Social Media policy
Moving onto main motions, Katie King, director of student affairs, put forward a motion to update the UVSS’ social media policy. A UVSS staff member speaking on the policy said the update is to enforce what is already in practice.
Given that the Board currently does not have a Director of Outreach and University Relations, this new policy gives more freedom for the UVSS and advocacy groups to repost and share on social media, the staff member said, and puts those practices in writing. The motion was then voted on and passed unanimously.
Board of Directors policy updates
King then put forward a motion to update the Board of Directors Policy to “enhance organizational efficiency and accountability within the UVSS.” UVSS General Manager Dale Robertson said the intent of the policy was to help the board and executives ensure that the lead directors are completing their responsibilities and to hold them accountable.
Robertson recommended further discussion before taking the motion to a vote.
Jonah Arnold, interim director of finance and operations, who was absent from the board meeting, submitted an objection letter in his absence, expressing concern that the policy would violate the bylaws of the UVSS and the B.C. Societies Act, SVC 2015 C18 S53, and carries the possibility of personal liability for Board Members.
Robertson clarified that there is some potential liability with the new proposed policy. Brooks-Stephenson asked if it was standard practice to send out objection letters. Robertson said that while this doesn’t usually happen, it doesn’t mean it can’t.
He said discussion usually happens at committee meetings, and that while Arnold is the chair of that particular committee, but he didn’t attend that meeting and missed his chance to address his concern at that time.
Laila Casado, human resources and administrative services manager, said that the changes are needed, and “99 per cent” of the policy change regards performance management and has nothing that she would consider a risk or illegal, but merits further discussion including with the board member who raised the concerns.
Lindsey Andrew, director of events, said that the policy was needed, as accountability has been raised as an issue over the years, that updating the policy will hopefully give future boards the tools to better navigate performance management, and that board members cannot be sued individually.
Casado said that, overall, the policy change means to address effectiveness in addressing the performance of elected board members, as currently the UVSS finds it difficult to address performance issues given the short terms of board members.
Robertson recommended that the motion be tabled given the concerns raised in the discussion, and to be referred back to policy development. Cecilia Bulbrook, the GEM representative, asked to discuss the policy further once the meeting moved to in-camera, and the request was approved.
Society for Students with a Disability representative Dacian Filipescu requested that the vote to table be held following the in-camera discussion, which was also approved.
King put forward a motion to align the Peer Support Centre Terms of Reference with the AVP policy to “improve organizational efficiency and clarity” within the Peer Support Centre. The motion was passed unanimously.
General Election Report
Andrew put forward a motion to accept the 2026 General Election Report. Caryk gave his speaking rights to Incoming Director of Outreach and University Relations Matthew Allen Curtis, who again asked to amend the motion in order to reshuffle the final vote of DALs to fill the current vacancies.
Bulbrook asked how it would look if the votes were recounted, and if there was a person to fill the position. Morrison said that nobody knows who would be next yet, as the votes would be redistributed to other candidates according to how ballots were ranked. He also strongly discouraged anyone from filling the empty position based on who the winner might be.
Robertson expressed concern that postponing the ratification results may affect the referenda questions, as they need to give the University notice of the new student fees, and for this reason, the ratification should not be delayed.
Robertson also said that even with the loss of one DAL, the Board still meets quorum, and would like the referendum questions ratified as soon as possible.
Casado said that waiting for a recount to ensure the position is filled may result in another candidate turning down the position. The motion to ratify the electoral report was passed unanimously.
There were no questions during the question period.
Reports
During the reports from Excluded Managers, Robertson said he was excited to have results ratified, and Casado announced that a new payroll software was implemented, using electronic timesheets. She said the second phase of implementation is underway, which will centralize HR and payroll into one software.
During the reports from lead directors, Michael Caryk reported meetings with Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry Karim Bardeesy, and Victoria Liberal MP Will Greaves. Caryk also reported the next Campaigns Director, Tam Aljundi, was present for the meeting with Greaves.
Director of Student Affairs Katie King reported working on the Course Union Training Manual that will be ready to launch, and has begun work on the Clubs Manual.
Lindsey Andrew reported, and getting acquainted with the next events director, Mohan Selvarajan and meeting with Greaves.
Abhee Senthilkumaran, the director of international student relations, said she has been getting acquainted with her successor, Cherop Lyoba, and has been preparing training manuals as well.
Caryk then reported the Executive Committee is preparing their annual report as well as working on their training manuals.
Bulbrook thanked everyone who came out to support FEM-EXPO.
The meeting moved in camera at 7:12 pm, and the public portion of the meeting was adjourned.
