The meeting started promptly at 6:00pm with Vice President External (VPEx) Manmeet Kaur Randhawa being unavailable to attend, and I noted that Rylee Feschuk was no longer listed as being a member of Council; this was later addressed in the President’s Report.
In going through the opening activities, a new point was added to the agenda, that being to add a new member to serve as the Indigenous Circle’s Voice on Council. With that passing unanimously, business quickly moved over the minutes and action items (of which it was noted there were none outstanding) and on to the first piece of new business the first-round approval of AUSU’s upcoming member fee increase.
As per the bylaws and policies of AUSU, any fee increase must be passed at two meetings of AUSU Council, and have at least one consultation period with students scheduled before the final approval. That consulation will be held this coming Tuesday, on October 3rd at 5pm. Contact governance@ausu.org if you’re interested in attending and learning more about the increase as well as having your opinion heard by Council.
Often any sort of fee increase will generate significant discussion among council members, because most are acutely aware of how such increases might be seen by members. In this case, no discussion seemed to be needed, with the only remarks being to generally outline the next steps of the process. It was noted to me later by AUSU’s Executive Director, Jodi Campbell, that Council had already had significant discussions about the fee increase, why it was needed, and how it would affect the AUSU budget both with and without it, through previous email discussions. So at the meeting, it passed with a unanimous vote. The second reading will happen during the October Council meeting.
Next came the policy updates, with the only policy to be discussed being the Staff Hiring policy, which included some minor updates along with AUSU now being required to include Canada wide job searches and “include sites geared towards equity-deserving communities,” when posting available positions.
Finally, the newly added motion was brought forward, and Jessica Anderson was appointed as the Indigenous Circle Voice to Council for the remainder of this council year on a recommendation of the Indigenous Circle.
Moving to the reports, it was noted in the President’s report that former Councillor Rylee Feschuk had chosen to step down from her Council duties due to scheduling issues not allowing her the time to fully participate. The Vice-President Finance and Administration, Chantel Bradley, noted during her report that AUSU is attempting to have AU recognize that AI can be used in students work to a degree while still maintaining academic integrity. The Vice-President Community and Wellness, Natalia Iwanek, noted that the Welcome Week was very well attended, with 67 members taking part. While this may not sound like many, after several years of watching Council, I have to say this may well be a record for the number of people AUSU has managed to gather to a single event.
The meeting then adjourned at 6:30 p.m., making this possibly one of the fastest full AUSU Council meetings that have ever been held. It was also one of the most unusual in that the recently elected President, Naju Syed, has a style that some may consider a bit unorthodox, being fairly bubbly throughout and providing a cheery “Yay” after each completed motion, and at the of the meeting working with VPFA Bradley to see if they can generate applause sounds for future motion passings. For me, it seemed a bit unusual, as I’m more used to Council meetings being generally business-toned and people taking themselves seriously, but I have to admit that it did make the meeting more fun to listen to, and certainly did not seem to hold up or lessen any of the decisions made.
If you’re interested in experiencing this for yourself, the next meeting will be held on October 19th, and you can attend by emailing governance@ausu.org to receive a meeting package to help you follow along.