The triumphant return of Minutemen!

A bi-weekly recap of URSU meetings

Author: dylan bernhardt – contributor

Absenteeism has been addressed, what’s next? / Michael Chmielewski

With the semester under way, URSU held their first board of directors meeting. With the problem of poor attendance and several vacant seats, URSU has a long year to make a difference around the university. This meeting looked to curb at least one of those problems.

The first item discussed was a prospective new policy looking to internally police both conflicts of interest and conflicts of commitment.

In practical terms, this policy looks to have a clear set of rules and guidelines. The policy itself was worded to indicate that members would have to bring forward any new interests that may conflict with their responsibilities to URSU. Some members worry this policy may be invasive to their personal lives, specifically vice president Daniella Zemlak, who was concerned about how the policy forced members to essentially ask for permission on new commitments.

Another concern was that the wording of the policy would scare away prospective members with an even greater commitment. With the number of vacant seats, this is a concern.
Another significant piece of the policy was the outlining of a conflict of commitment. A conflict of commitment is when a new commitment, such as a job or internship, makes responsibilities to URSU or attendance impossible. This policy adds an official outline on bringing forward these conflicts.

According to president Devon Peters, the constitution of URSU specifically states that if a board member misses three meetings in a row without sending their regrets action can be taken to rectify the situation.
Despite the thorough discussion, the policy was met favourably. Ultimately, the new policy was not approved on the spot, but instead delayed until the next meeting in order to allow members to submit suggestions and the wording to be less aggressive to current and future members.

The rest of the meeting boiled down to money. A motion was passed to allow the executive members to re-negotiate several contracts without board members’ involvement. The motion also allowed executive members the power to make payments outlined in the budget without the need for board member approval. This was followed by a discussion on budget itself.

The recent purchase of jerseys for the V-Team during the URSU’s welcome week festivities exceeded the $2000 cap placed on URSU projects. This was largely due to the cost of shipping the items, which put the cost $150 over budget. Because the money was largely gathered from different sources, the executive branch wanted to decide whether purchases that exceeded the cap would need to be approved, or only if projects exceeded the budget. After a lengthy discussion, the group unanimously moved to have only projects exceeding the cap to be brought to their attention.

The Carillon will cover this discussion and the next URSU board meeting.