CUSA prepared to hire staff for the presidential by-election at a meeting on Aug. 30.
The meeting followed a special CUSA council meeting on Aug. 16 and CUSA’s announcement stating executives will not take part in the hiring of the electoral officers.
Public affairs councillor Emily Sowa presented a motion to council to create a human resources committee to hire electoral officers during the final minutes of council. The committee responsible for hiring the chief electoral officer and the deputy electoral officers will include the chair, one member of the labour union for CUSA employees selected by lottery and one member of CUSA council also selected by lottery.
The president of CUSA and one executive member will still sit on the electoral officer human resources committee, according to the motion. It passed unanimously.
While executive members of council will still interview the candidates for CEO and DEO, they will not attend the final meeting in which the electoral officers are chosen, vice president (community engagement) Callie Ogden said after the meeting.
“Acting president [Ahmad Hashimi] and one of the other executive members will still be sitting on the hiring committee, but we will not be a part of the decision making process,” Ogden said.
The Aug. 16 meeting also saw the creation of an electoral board for the upcoming CUSA presidential by-election. If during an election the chief electoral officer issues an electoral offence, the electoral board handles appeals against those offences. The electoral board will consist of the chair of the board and five individuals appointed by council.
As per CUSA Bylaw XIII, a human resources committee for the hiring of each position will consist of the CUSA president, one CUSA executive, a member of council, a member of the student union CUPE 1281 and the chair of the board.
Human resources committees for the hiring of a director of human resources and an administrator for the unified support center were created during the Aug. 16 meeting. A human resources committee to hire a director of student development was created on Aug. 30. Council decided at that meeting to fill each committee’s council member seat by lottery.
An annual constitutional board was struck at that meeting to ensure the council follows their bylaws, policies and the rules set out in their constitution. While not yet filled, four members of the student association who are not elected councilors will sit on the board. Two members who can sit as alternatives will also be identified.
The academic resilience fund committee was filled by engineering and design councillor Saad Khan and business councillor Musab Chaudhry. The two councillors will work alongside vice president (finance) Venassa Baptiste, student services manager Adil Tahseen and student groups administrator Sam Kilgour to administer the fund.
A committee was also struck to administer the student initiative fund and council’s budget to fund events such as conferences and charity events. Baptiste, Hashimi, three councillors and three students-at-large will sit on this committee. The councillor positions were filled by Khan, science councillor Conall McCutcheon and public affairs councillor Francesca Lepore.
Filling the three student-at-large positions was postponed until the next council meeting. Typically, committees are struck and then filled at later meetings, board chair Davin Caratao said. Public affairs councillor Gray Simms added this would allow time for students to learn about the committee’s existence.
“If people don’t know that the committee has been struck, they won’t have applied to be on the committee,” Simms said. “It would be nice to have the student population have a chance to put their names forward.”
Featured image from Screengrab.
