After the regular acknowledgements and house keeping items of the agenda and minutes, the first substantive action of the night was the approval of the annual report for the fiscal year 2022-2023. Approval was unanimous, and so the report should be available on the AUSU website for you to look at right now. In addition, it was noted that many of the free form questions asked in the recent AUSU survey were answered by the report, and so it was decided to include the report in one of the regular email send-outs to all members. In it, you’ll find a break down of the various parts of AUSU, that values, goals, who’s involved, what AUSU does for students, and a list of accomplishments that AUSU was involved in. While I expect AUSU’s direct involvement was pretty minimal for some of the accomplishments (such as eliminating interest charges on all federal student loans), who knows if it was our input that was the straw that made the decision.
You’ll also find the budget overview and the audited financial statements from the last period. Of course, that period’s already over, so the budget from then doesn’t mean much. I think students would find it more useful if they included the new budget, but I can understand how that doesn’t quite fit in with the idea of the report covering a single financial year.
The next item was a brief look at the results from the latest student survey. Executive Director, Jodi Campbell, presented it to Council. The level of response to the survey was noted as the highest that AUSU has seen, with over 2,300 responses. It was acknowledged that offering the chance to win a free course likely helped drive the engagement, but, to my mind, that’s a good expense to be paying if it helps guide future Council’s to what’s most helpful to students. It was also noted that much of the information from this survey will be shared with members of the AU community and executives as well, to help provide AU with some idea of what you, the students, want to happen at AU. Executive Director Campbell also pointed out that the percentage of students who were unsatisfied with any of the offerings of AUSU has been slowly trending downward over the past few years, a testament to an AUSU Council that has been listening.
After that, the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility report was presented for approval. Vice President Community and Wellness (VPCW) Natalia Iwanek presented the report, noting that the goals it lists will not be completed by this team, and that hopefully this forms a solid piece of the groundwork for the next AUSU Council to drive forward in this area. The Council accepted this report unanimously, with no discussion required.
Tied in with that, the Council discussed a proposal from EDI Connect, who helped perform AUSU’s equity, diversity, and accessibility audit. EDI Connect was proposing that they could become the sole provider of EDI information and assistance for AUSU at a retainer of $12,000 per year for a three year term. However, the Executive Council, along with some of the other councillors noted that they did not really want to lock in to a sole provider, as there was value to having different perspectives brought in. This item had no motion, however, so remained simply an informational discussion.
Finally, and the most contentious issue of the night, President Naju Sayed moved that AUSU take $1000 from the projects reserve and place it in the Council Professional Development Budget to establish a clothing allowing for both the Executive Council and the National Indigenous Advocacy Committee (NIAC) delegate. The idea behind this is that each member of the Executive Council and the NIAC delegate would receive $200 at the start of their term to enable them to purchase appropriate business attire.
Naju noted that the executive committee and the NIAC delegate are sometimes going into formal meeting sessions, and the Executive Committee wanted to make sure that any students would feel comfortable attending them, pointing out that AUSU may be students’ first experience with such things and so not have any appropriate clothing. She also pointed out that there are some other schools with similar allowances at a much higher amount in the budget.
Councillor Amber McDuffe expressed her disagreement with the idea, noting that very few other positions provide you with any sort of clothing allowance, even if the clothing or accessories requirements are quite expensive, such as specialty boots for emergency personnel. Councillor Allie Wojtaszek countered, noting that her current position has an allowance for specific branded clothing every two years as well as allowances for dry-cleaning. Councillor Karen Fletcher half agreed, explaining that she supports the idea for the unpaid positions on Council, such as the NIAC delegate, but she did not support it being an automatic payment to each member of the executive council that AUSU is already paying. This was echoed by the Indigenous Circle Voice (ICV), Jessica Anderson, who suggested that perhaps rather than automatically providing it, it could be something that those who would be involved in formal meetings could request from AUSU if required.
VPCW Iwanek noted that she did not like that from an equity standpoint, as some people, especially those new to Council, might not feel comfortable divulging their financial status. Councillor Fletcher agreed with these concerns, noting that at least providing it to the NIAC delegate should be automatic.
Councillor Fletcher made a motion to amend the motion from $1000 to $200 and to remove the Executive Council from the recipients. Unlike most amendments at AUSU, this one was not accepted as friendly, and while it caused a bit of confusion and delay, the group eventually figured out how to move forward, rejecting the proposed amendment with only two in favour and seven against.
That being defeated, it then went back to the original motion which narrowly passed with a vote of five in favor and four against. It was noted that this was just a motion to move the funds, and the actual requirements and method that it would be distributed had yet to be determined.
Personally, I think IVC Anderson had the correct take. Concerns about having to disclose financial information need to be balanced with the concerns of the students receiving the most effective, and yes, equitable, use of their funding. In this case, providing the funds automatically to each person is not equity, it’s equality. Equity would be providing what is needed to those who need it, not a specific amount, and certainly not an automatic amount to each. In addition, I was surprised that none of the Councillors noted that Council had just approved an Executive Compensation Review Committee report that specifically noted that benefits should remain the same as they were. Adding this for the executive council, especially as an automatic disbursement, is, in effect, adding another benefit to the position.
But then again, I’m not an AUSU Councillor. Of course, you could be, if you get your nomination in before Monday, February 26.
With that concluded, the executive council reports were quickly dispensed with, with a note of thanks being especially sent to Cilhane Ahmed, who had provided her resignation based on personal requirements.
The next meeting is scheduled for March 21, 2024. Contact governance@ausu.org if you’re interested in attending and not only seeing who’s on the next AUSU Council, but also witnessing the chaos of the swearing in ceremony. It’s usually a laugh.
