Notes from Council: 2021/22 UASU election results, relationship between UASU and ISA
The April 19 Students' Council meeting included a presentation from the UASU CRO on elections, motions to improve the relationship between the ISA and UASU, and passing a Students' Governance Code of Conduct.
Helen Zhang“Notes from Council” is The Gateway’s ongoing series of recaps of noteworthy items from Students’ Council meetings. This is part two of this article, part one can be found here.
During the April 19 Students’ Council meeting Lucas Marques, Students’ Union (UASU) Chief Returning Officer, gave a presentation on behalf of the UASU Elections Office on the results for the 2021/22 UASU elections. .
“If there’s anything that this year has shown to us, it is the challenges and adversities that occur in the elections process, as well as how our students are feeling in our community and in our province,” he said. “[These are] main issues that need to be addressed and I believe this elections process was a lesson for that.”
Marques stated that the elections process has room to improve to prevent these issues in the future. He noted this year saw an increase in candidate diversity.
“Not only did we not only had most of our positions being filled and contested, however we also saw an increase in diversity in our candidate pool,” Marques said. “For the first time since 2008, we are going to see an executive team composed mostly of women.”
Students’ Council also passed three motions via omnibus, all of which were motioned by Abner Monteiro, UASU vice-president (academic) and seconded by Rowan Ley, UASU president.
The motions formally approved the Student Group Committee Recommendations to improve the relationship between the UASU and the International Students’ Association (ISA), that the UASU bylaw committee clearly defines the delegated authority of Student Representative Associations under Bylaw 8100, and that the Executive Committee develop a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the International Students’ Association (ISA) for the 2022/2023 academic year.
This MOU will include designating counterparts that both the UASU and ISA agree to, and establishing temporary organizational seats or alternative mechanisms, to provide better updates, information, and resources to “support both organizations in their work.”
Additionally, Students’ Council passed a Student Governance Code of Conduct, which applies to the UASU, Students’ Council, but also all Student Representative Associations which work with the UASU. The motion was put forward by Monteiro, and seconded by Samar Barazesh, a science councillor.
“I’ve witnessed numerous friends, peers, and colleagues experience discrimination, harassment, [and] bullying that has not only been significantly harmful, but [impeded] their ability to continue their work as this space has become increasingly unsafe,” Barazesh said. “Above all, the goal of this Code of Conduct is to protect everyone in the governance space and ensure an accessible, inclusive, and professional work environment.”
