The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) council meeting Nov. 12 ended shortly after it started when president Folarin Odunayo called the biggest motion on the agenda out of order.
Faculty of Arts and Social Science councillor Adam Carroll’s motion was concerning audited statements from the 2012-13 year that were never presented to council.
Council chair Sakshi Sharma ruled the motion out of order. Carroll challenged her but was out-voted by other councillors and the motion was struck down.
The motion called, among other things, for the 2012-13 audited finances to be presented and discussed at the next council meeting.
The audit was discussed at a Financial Review Committee on Nov. 6, but not at any CUSA council meetings. The audit was released to CUSA earlier in 2013, but was not publicly posted until September 2013. The audits were also not discussed at the CUSA Inc. meeting that month.
CUSA Inc. is the student association’s arm operated by a Board of Directors that deals with corporate affairs.
Odunayo said the fact the 2012-13 audits were not presented to council in 2013 was an “oversight and error on our part.” He said setting up a separate CUSA Inc. meeting would fix the problem.
About an hour before the meeting, Odunayo sent an email to CUSA council to call for a CUSA Inc. meeting for Dec. 3, to discuss the 2012-13 audits.
Carroll said the timing of the email was suspicious.
“Calling that meeting gave him an excuse to call my motion out of order,” Carroll said.
Carroll said he did appreciate the fact Odunayo called a meeting to discuss the 2012-13 audit.
At a meeting Nov. 6, CUSA’s financial review committee met to discuss possible upcoming changes to the committee. The committee generally meets once a month to go over CUSA finances, including reviewing all of the association’s contracts.
“What I propose that we do with this committee is that if we were to meet four times I think it would be better and I think would make more sense financially,” said vice-president (finance) Reda Zarrug.
Changes discussed included modifying the bylaws to reflect quarterly meetings and focusing on only “major” contracts, such as The Life in Colour event or concerts.
Public Affairs and Policy Management councilor Gennesse Walker-Scace suggested minor contracts still be made available at meetings, but not analyzed line-by-line.
Zarrug said he would discuss that idea with service centre co-ordinators, who would be required to compile and report small contract information to the committee for items such as room or equipment rentals.
The committee only discussed the reforms and any bylaw changes will need to go through CUSA council before anything is finalized.
