File photo by Belle White.
The UVSS’s new Board of Directors kicked off the 2026-2027 term with a long, slow meeting filled with electing members to committees, ratifying clubs and course unions, and lots of questions.
The meeting started with a land acknowledgement from Matthew Curtis, director of outreach and university relations. Following the land acknowledgement, the board amended the agenda to add several motions, including many motions regarding club and course union ratification and adding directors’ reports. The board then adopted the minutes from the previous meeting.
Mariah Luzon, director of finance and operations, put forward a motion to approve the UVSS board meeting dates for the 2026–2027 term. Tam Aljundi, director of campaigns and community relations, also put forward a motion to approve the dates of this year’s Annual General Meeting and Semi-Annual General Meeting (Oct. 27, 2026 and Feb. 25, 2027 respectively). Both motions passed.
Five motions were moved by Director of Student Affairs Maddy Vanderhooft, Director of Events Mohan Selvarajan, and Luzon to fill several vacancies on numerous portfolios and committees. The first four motions were carried, but the last motion, regarding filling vacancies for Senate committees, was tabled due to the length of the meeting and since they “wouldn’t be effective until July,” according to Evan Maher, a director-at-large who also serves on Senate.
The full list of committee positions filled and vacant will appear in the meeting’s minutes.
Cherop Lyoba, director of international student relations, moved a motion to approve a temporary reduction of her working hours from 20 hours per week to 5 hours per week to accommodate her Valarie Kuhne Undergraduate Research Award (VKURA) co-op internship. Selvarajan also moved to approve a temporary reduction of his working hours from 35 to 20 per week alongside a remote working arrangement. Both motions passed.
The board then omnibussed several motions, which regarded ratifying several clubs and course unions, as well as special project grants, and travel pool funding. The motions were carried. The full list of clubs ratified will appear in the meeting’s minutes.
After ratifying the clubs, the board moved immediately into question period. A guest asked about the new academic integrity policy, which passed in Senate on May 8 and is slated to take effect in September 2026. Some undergraduate students, including student senators, had concerns over the new policies’ lack of a statute of limitations and a perceived ability to approve AI detection software, and revoke degrees.
The guest asked for information on a quote they saw online. The quote, from a Reddit post, reads “There is still one more hurdle it has to pass – being written into the undergraduate calendar. The UVSS is the only body that can take action to prevent this.”
Maher said that he suspected the UVSS would have to discuss the policy in-camera and claimed that “There are provisions within the University Act and within UVic policy where the Board of Governors of the university can intervene if they feel it is necessary … there are a number of grounds for which that can happen, a number of which the society [can enact] should they choose to.”
Following question period, the board motioned to strike reports. After a roughly two-hour and 40-minute meeting, the board moved in-camera.
