The GSS held their Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday, Feb. 4. They discussed issues concerning executive elections, council speaker appointments, and limiting executive committee members’ terms.
When the meeting began at 1:30 p.m., only 83 members were present, failing to reach quorum of 100. As such, the GSS was only able to consider regular business, such as the reports from executives and the auditor.
In the auditor’s report, he singled out the Guard.me Health and Dental Plan as the greatest expense for the society. Students have repeatedly raised concerns over the plan for over a year now. The society also had a budget surplus of $58,426, which was allocated to the organization’s Contingency Fund.
Approximately 45 minutes into the meeting, the AGM met its quorum of 100 members and began discussing its special resolutions.
The first motion up for discussion concerned changing the council speaker appointment from semesterly to annually. According to the presentation, this would allow “for more stability for the speaker and [reduce] administrative burden on council and the society.”
Members voted in favour of the change, despite some concerns that should a poor speaker be appointed, they could not be removed from the position for a year.
Those present then discussed the possibility of synchronizing the GSS executive elections in a single spring election, instead of two separate elections as it currently operates. Arguments against the motion noted the difficulty of training an entirely new team all at once.
PhD candidate Jeffrey Zurek countered the argument that a single synchronized election would reduce costs, stating that there were more important reasons for holding multiple elections periods. “More elections, within reason obviously, is a good thing for a democratic society,” he advocated.
The motion ultimately failed, with 39 in favour, 44 opposed, and 12 abstaining.
Graduate students in attendance also discussed limiting executive committee members’ terms to two years. Mike Soron, the AGM chair and executive director of Sustainable SFU, jokingly asked if members wanted to end the “reign of terror.”
Some in attendance raised concerns that this might result in vacancies on the board should the only candidate running be a returning executive. However, others countered that limiting terms would open the space for new candidates.
Members ultimately voted to limit executives to two terms in the same position, and four terms total.
The GSS AGM concluded at 3:15 p.m., with members invited to the Highland Pub for burgers and drinks at an afterparty.
