File photo by Belle White.
The majority of this board meeting was dedicated to filling the seats of several committees, as there was not enough time last meeting to conduct them.
The meeting began with a territorial acknowledgement by Matthew Allen Curtis, director of outreach and university relations.
The agenda from the last meeting was amended to include all director’s reports at the request of Cecilia Bulbrook, Gender Empowerment Centre (GEM) representative. The minutes of the May 11 meeting were adopted. The minutes of an emergency meeting that occurred on May 15 was not adopted because it was entirely in-camera, with no public minutes to adopt.
There was a motion to change the timeline of the “2026 UVSS election” which was tabled until after an Electoral Meeting, as the dates in the agenda were not current.
The meeting then moved to the filling open committee seats. It began with the election of Members-at-Large to open committees with open membership. Votes were cast via secret ballots to Curtis.
Roven Brooks-Stephenson, Students of Colour Collective (SOCC) representative, and Artem Kuklev, director at large (DAL), were elected to the campaigns committee, filling two of three vacancies.
No one nominated themselves for the events or member outreach & engagement committees.
Brooks-Stephenson and Kuklev were also elected to the finance and operations committee.
No one was nominated to the Policy Development committee.
For committees with no nominations, the board said more nominations would be made in the following meeting.
Next came nominations for open committees with closed membership, as it was tabled last meeting due to missing a submission from a director.
Amerilia Sillars, DAL, was elected to the Advocacy Relations Committee.
Next were for closed committees with closed memberships.
Acorn Wasserman, Society for Students with a Disability (SSD) representative, was elected to the Ombudsperson Advisory Committee.
Next were the elections for the representatives of the Senate Committee on Academic Standards (SCAS), Senate Committee on Admission, Re-registration and Transfer Appeals (SCARTA), Senate Committee on Learning and Teaching (SCLT), Senate Committee on Planning (SCP), and the Traffic and Parking Committee. For roles that had multiple nominees, the candidates had to give a 2 minute motivation explaining why they should be elected.
Evan Maher, DAL, was elected to SCAS.
Donovan Wood-Gaines, DAL, was elected to the SCARTA.
Wasserman and Bulbrook were elected to the SCLT.
Alena Gavrilenko, DAL, who was unable to attend the meeting, was elected to the SCP. Curtis read their motivations, as they were sent ahead in Gavrilenko’s absence.
Wasserman was elected to the traffic and parking committee.
For Reports, Dale Roberston spoke on the transition of the new board, and getting the new executive team set up.
For Portfolios; Mariah Luzon, director of finance & operations, spoke on settling into the role, and hoped to get an estimate on the sustainability goals for the year. Committee meetings for Health and Dental began on Wednesday, May 27, and the Finance and Operations meetings began on Thursday, May 28.
Maddy Vanderhooft, director of student affairs, said she has been working with clubs and course unions to update their conditional ratification status.
In the committees and councils updates, the terms of reference were reviewed for the executive committee, and it was noticed directors and the board need to be informed of the minutes of the executive committee. Curtis said he will determine how to ensure this while also maintaining information security. Meetings for the executive committee will be on Tuesdays. Minutes should be released within one to two days of the meetings. Sillars said that the volunteers for the Peer Support Centre and Anti-Violence Project will be brought on in June.
In the constituency organization & NSU updates, Bulbrook announced that the advocacy groups will be hosting low-intensity group walks every 3rd week of the month, as well as monthly summer community potlucks which are scheduled on every last Friday of the month at the campus community garden.
Bulbrook also reported that GEM’s journal Bloom is accepting submissions.
Wasserman reported that SSD has prepping for Disability Pride month in July. Events will take place the week of July 5. A community consultation was taken with the Victoria International Airport. The Disability Events Guide was released and is available on SSD’s website or linktree.
The Pride Collective representative Jayce Kusardi reported their upcoming event, Gay in the Garden,on June 19. Kusardi said there will be a market from 1–5 p.m., featuring food trucks, bands, and an open mic.
Curtis proposed getting a vote out by June 1 via e-vote to release UVSS’s Pride Month statement, as the next board meeting wouldn’t be until June 8. As of writing, the Pride Month Statement has been posted to their Facebook page.
The board voted to move in-camera, bringing the meeting to an end.
