Postponed

URSU board set to deal with Israeli apartheid and CFS board seat

Minuteman
John Cameron
Editor-in-Chief

Ha ha ha, what is even going on at the University of Regina Students’ Union these days.

So there was going to be a board meeting on Tuesday, March 13, but when your correspondent arrived in the room, there were a grand total of six board members plus the chair. In other words, no meeting! Which marks the second week in a row that URSU has tried and failed to get a board meeting together.

Board chair Sean McEachern, after letting the presenters go, told those assembled that he’d send out an email seeing if next Tuesday is fine. So we’ll be trying again on March 20, midway through elections, apparently. That ought to be fun and completely not tense or awkward for any of the competing parties at all.

The plus side out of all this is that we can see a bunch of proposed URSU motions in advance. If something piques your interest, why not contact your constituency director and let them know how you feel? And while you’re at it, why not come to the candidates’ forum in Riddell Centre on Monday, March 19, at 11:00 a.m.?

Presentation!

There’ll be a presentation on behalf of a petition to “reconsider” the boycott, divestment, and sanctions resolution passed at the annual general meeting, which requires URSU to determine its investments in Israeli businesses and withdraw those funds in protest against Palestinian apartheid. The group behind this – representatives from which hustled out the boardroom door immediately after the meeting was cancelled – are likely looking for a special general meeting to be called before the end of the term. Given the heated rhetoric and media spotlight the event has borne in the last couple of weeks, it’s likely that “reconsider” is a euphemism for “reject.” We’ll see what happens next week.

Motions!

First on the docket is the URSU Social Media Policy, during the discussion of which – if history is any guide – your correspondent will likely find himself out on his ass, as these conversations have been held in camera since they first reared their cumbersome head in mid-October. As it stands, the URSU executives’ Twitter accounts are technically privately registered, so the board has no direct control over either the branding or messaging. With luck, next week will bring us close enough to an actual idea of future policy so that we can report it and everyone on Twitter can breathe easy and plan another tweet-up somewhere.

The fourth motion, likely to be the most contentious, addresses something you’ll surely notice if you open the election guide included with this issue: Rather than the newly-created Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) position being elected, it appears that the position will be “appointed by members of [its] respective constitutenc[y].” It further appears that, according to the motion, the position was not open for election, leaving the question of exactly who will appoint the CFS board seat up in the air, seemingly in direct contravention of URSU president Kent Peterson’s remarks to the Carillon following the AGM that the position would be elected by the student body (“Despite debates, URSU adds board positions,” Feb. 16, Vol. 52, Iss. 19). Odds are good this one will be, er, time-consuming.

Other motion that will make it to next week include a sponsorship item for new U of R club “A Worthy Cause” to receive $700 from the sponsorship line item in order to “promote” a Kony 2012 campaign here on campus, a motion establishing a training period for the next board of directors, and a motion asking the university’s board of governors to reconsider the on-campus parking fee increase. Sadly, an item requesting that URSU officially support the Five Days for the Homeless campaign on social media probably won’t make next week, as it’ll be out of date.