The newly elected Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) council met for their first 2015-16 school year meeting on May 27, where they did not elect a Board of Governors (BoG) representative due to bylaw confusion.
The meeting agenda also included reports from executives, the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA), and the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA), as well as a brief question period and the election of summer standing committees.
Summer standing committee members were voted in after the executive reports. Committees act as small advisory bodies that report to CUSA as a whole, addressing specific issues such as the accessibility fund.
CUSA president Fahd Alhattab and vice-president (student life) Sean Smith were both nominated to the position of CUSA representative to the BoG by members in council.
Before voting took place, Jasmine Shaw, CUSA councillor for engineering and design, asked if only members of the executive were eligible for nomination to the BoG position.
The meeting agenda states the representative “has historically been selected by CUSA Council from the CUSA executive team.” However, council went into recess to consult the bylaws on the matter.
Upon inspection, the council chair said the bylaws state the president of CUSA is to oversee the BoG caucus, but there is ambiguity over whether individuals elected to the BoG had to be executives.
The chair of the meeting decided not to rule on the issue and canceled the voting process, and said council will vote members to the BoG on a later date.
Before the meeting’s closure, Folarin Odunayo, the outgoing CUSA president, was granted the title of honourary member of CUSA.
