Carleton University Students’ Association’s (CUSA) Board of Directors passed motions to increase the inclusion of diverse groups within the association, create a long-term strategic plan and fill multiple committees at its third meeting of the term on June 26.
All board members attended the meeting at Haven Books, except for Sarah Zaitlin who joined virtually through Zoom. Former board director Saif Zaidan was not present as he resigned from his position on May 31.
In a letter to the board, Zaidan said he’s been “dealing with an incredible and unexpected workload,” preventing him from fulfilling his responsibilities as a CUSA board director. The Board Nominating Committee will convene at a later date to appoint a new director.
The public meeting ran for three hours, from 1 to 4 p.m.
The board appointed Zaitlin as director of the Board Nominating Committee. In the directorial positions of the Constitution and Policy Review Committee (CPRC), the board appointed Karl Alary and Simon Harris. The CPRC reviews CUSA’s policies and suggest changes.
A motion calling for CUSA to sign onto the 50–30 Challenge passed unanimously.
The 50–30 Challenge is an initiative between the Canadian government, businesses and diversity organizations that seeks to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The challenge asks that organizations’ boards or senior management are made up of 50 per cent women and non-binary people and 30 per cent racialized individuals, people with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and LGBTQ+ people.
CUSA president Anastasia Lettieri said it is not a “requirement,” but a goal the association wants to achieve. Gray Simms, chair of the board, said CUSA has already met this goal “for the most part.”
CUSA did not return a request to clarify how close it is to meeting this goal in time for publication.
Organizations that participate in the 50–30 Challenge will have access to resources such as the What Works Toolkit to implement diversity and inclusion initiatives within the workplace.
A motion to appoint a collective agreement bargaining team to negotiate with part-time workers through the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) also passed unanimously.
CUSA’s executive director, president, director of finance and administration and vice-president (finance) will soon begin negotiations on a new collective agreement with CUPE 1281.
Negotiations with CUSA’s full-time staff began last month.
The board debated a motion to develop a long-term strategic plan for CUSA. The motion called for CUSA’s president, vice-president (internal) and director of student development to research other student associations’ long-term strategic plans to present to CUSA’s board and council.
Simms said this research is intended to identify what other associations’ plans are and how they’ve been put together.
The president and vice-president (internal) will be responsible to draft a procedure for creating CUSA’s long-term strategic plan and present it to the board and council.
Once the board and council consult the procedure, a committee including members of council, the board, the executive and CUSA staff will be created to draft the strategic plan to be approved by May 2023, the motion read.
Debate ensued when Gabe Paraskevopulos, CUSA’s vice-president (finance), noted the goals of the plan weren’t included in the motion.
Simms said the motion isn’t to create the strategic plan itself, but to develop the procedure to draft the plan afterward. The process will determine who will be consulted for the plan as well as the timeline, Simms said.
Paraskevopulos proposed the motion be amended to have the executive members create the strategic goals right away rather than a plan for it.
Simms disagreed. “It seems counterproductive if we have [the president] and [vice-president (internal)] sit down and write the goals,” he said. “It makes more sense to come up with those goals after consultation.”
The board held a vote for the motion to pass as it was originally written or to be amended. All except one voted in favour of the original motion.
The board is scheduled to meet again in August.
Featured graphic by Sara Mizannojehdehi.
