By Dessa Bayrock (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: May 8, 2013
SUS’s second attempt at an April Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) was successful in quorum and unsuccessful in passing the main motion.
The crux of the meeting revolved around a two-page motion that, if passed, would authorize SUS to obtain a $10 million mortgage and break ground on the long-awaited Student Union Building (SUB).
This motion was originally approved in a 2011 referendum, but must be reapproved on a yearly basis. This ensures the student body, which changes on a yearly basis, continues to approve of the plan to build the SUB.
Derek Froese, former president of Computer Information Systems Student Association (CISSA) at UFV, opposed the motion, stating that SUS failed to give adequate notice.
“This meeting had 13 days’ notice, and didn’t actually meet the requirements of notice under SUS bylaws,” Froese stated. “There was not enough posters put up around [UFV] campuses.”
SUS bylaws state that notice must be posted on the SUS website, and also that at least 75 per cent of the maximum posters allowed by UFV poster policy must be put up around campus.
However, both this bylaw and Froese’s complaint refer to an older version of the UFV poster policy, which used to state a specific number of posters that may be posted per floor and per building. UFV policy currently states that “[m]aterial may be placed on the notice boards as space is available.”
“I can assure you that we did put up posters,” SUS president Shane Potter responded. “I put them up myself on the Abbotsford campus, 14 days in advance.”
Froese attempted to amend the motion to remove the clause stating that SUS gave its members adequate notice of the meeting. This amendment failed.
However, the main motion was likewise unsuccessful. It needed a 75 per cent “yes” vote to pass, but received just under 70 per cent in favour, with Froese and several other students voting against it.
SUS has called another EGM for May 17, and the same motion will be approached at that time.
Other business at the meeting included passing a motion requiring SUS to call a general meeting if one per cent of the student body signs a petition to ask for it, passing a motion to require SUS to increase the detail of their meeting minutes, and a motion that bars SUS from permanently closing AfterMath unless by special resolution at a general meeting.
