Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) passed a motion to clarify interpretations of new bylaws, amended policies related to the new vice-president selection process and officially merged CUSA, “the association,” with the incorporation during its latest meeting.
Council gathered virtually on Feb. 28, just meeting quorum with two executives absent. In an email statement, interim president and vice-president (internal) Ahmad Hashmi said he has a lab scheduled on Monday nights, clarifying that missing a lab could cause him to fail the course. Daisy Kasper, vice-president (student life), was also absent as she was hosting a conflicting event with the Leadership Academy.
Reconfiguring CUSA’s bylaws and policies
During the meeting, council voted for the last time to merge CUSA’s association and corporation into a single entity, in a motion that passed unopposed.
CUSA chair Davin Caratao said Hashmi now just needs to sign the necessary documents to formally merge the organization.
The merger was the first recommendation from the democratic reform committee’s (DRC) report that was presented to council in October. During that meeting, council participated in a discussion and indicative vote regarding the DRC’s recommendations, during which council voted favourably to amalgamate the association and corporation.
Although council has introduced new bylaws to correspond with the organization’s new structure in recent months, Gray Simms, chair of the constitution and policy review committee and policy and public affairs councillor, said the committee noticed gaps in the legislation.
Simms proposed a motion to maintain the legitimacy of the former bylaws, policies and constitution with the new documents in place so that they do not contradict.
The former documents would only be in effect until May 2024, or theoretically, until they are replaced with more comprehensive governing documents.
“[The motion] would allow future executives to undergo that pretty extensive process of bringing all of our documents up to date that really can’t feasibly be done within the next two months,” Simms said.
While they were reviewing the bylaws and policies this past month, Simms said the committee noticed “a lot of holes” within the new governing documents that are filled by the previous documents.
Arts and social science councillor Tyson Scott described the policy as a “legislative Band-Aid” in the meeting chat, an analogy later used by Simms to simplify his explanation of the motion.
“It’s a legislative Band-Aid just to get us through a transition period,” he said.
The motion passed unopposed, meaning the new legislation will come into effect in May and overlap with the previous legislation.
Vice-president elections and board of directors
Council also passed a series of motions regarding the elections and nomination of vice-presidents, an especially timely issue as the annual general meeting (AGM) will be hosted on March 25, when council is scheduled to fill the vice-president positions.
Council passed a motion to amend sections of the vice-president elections policy and the board nominating and selection committee terms of reference, which finalizes the documents before the AGM.
Simms also proposed a temporary amendment to adjust the deadlines for when candidates can submit nominations for vice-president positions.
In future years, nominations for vice-presidential candidates will open Jan. 31 and close 10 days before the AGM. This year, however, nominations will open March 4 and close March 18, seven days before the AGM.
This year, council is operating within a condensed timeline due to the delayed election and extra time used by council to finalize the new democratic structure.
Councillors filled three seats on the board of directors nominating committee through a lottery process, and one member was selected to hold the seat that the committee chair would normally take. Councillors seeking re-election were removed from the lottery and a few other councillors requested their removal as well.
Greg Dance, Nathan-Cyril Manlangit, Lily Huang and Valentina Vera Gonzalez were selected for the committee and Caratao also selected several alternates in case any members decline.
After filling the board nominating committee, council conducted a lottery to fill seats in the vice-president (finance) nominating committee.
Council temporarily amended the terms of reference to include all the executives in the lottery for the seat of the outgoing CUSA director, to expand the seat’s eligibility. Without this amendment, only vice-president (community engagement) Callie Ogden would be eligible since Hashmi and Baptiste already sit on the committee, although not as voting members.
Two councillors, Musab Chaudhry and Baher Mansour, as well as four alternates, were selected by lottery to sit on the committee, and Vera Gonzalez was selected to fill the seat of the outgoing CUSA director for this term.
Council confirms the committee members selected by lottery with the alternates available if another selected member cannot fill the position.
In February, Ogden took on an additional project to film a video encouraging “positive politics” ahead of the election.
“We have allowed campus to become riddled with harmful comments that dehumanize, demean and belittle others,” Ogden said in the video.
The video is a response to some councillors’ concerns expressed during January’s council meeting about the toxicity within Carleton’s student politics. Ogden talks in the video about how she has personally experienced the negativity and thinks students can make a safer space for one another.
Ogden said, while there is no way to stop the trend of negativity, the student body can work towards creating a safer space for people to engage with student government.
CUSA’s next council meeting is scheduled to be held on March 28, following the election and AGM on March 25.
Featured image from Screengrab.
