URSU Board Update

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Our bold minuteman braves boredom to bring you an URSU update. Photo - Kyle Leitch

Our bold minuteman braves boredom to bring you an URSU update. Photo – Kyle Leitch

motions decide funding for clubs, JDC West debate team

Funding for clubs and updates to board meeting policies were addressed at the University of Regina Students’ Union (URSU) board meeting held Nov. 10.

Matt Mutschler, the Vice-President of Operations and Finance, updated the campus group policy. The revised policy includes distinctions of clubs based on their years in operation. Clubs in their first year of operation will receive $200 over URSU’s fiscal year. Once a club has existed for five years, and meets other criteria such as creating a constitution, it will be eligible to receive up to $500 a year in URSU funding, and be ascribed official five-year club status.

President Devon Peters says the notion behind increasing the funds available to five-year clubs is to “incentivize the creation of long-lasting clubs. We have a lot of entities that exist really strong for two years and then completely peter out and disappear.” The policy will be voted on in a future meeting.

Next, Peters presented the proposed policy for URSU board meetings. Peters says the policy will “codify the process for meetings.” The policy addresses the handling of special situations, such as treatment of outside delegates, university students addressing the board, and electronic voting. The policy also sets out the treatment of ordinary procedures, such as quorum.

Finally, Peters introduced the job posting for the General Manager position. At present, URSU has no permanent GM, and Accounting Manager Echo Qin is filling the interim position.

Following presentations, the board voted on a number of motions. The first was to approve the GM job posting, and create an ad hoc committee to oversee the hiring process. The committee was designed to include all four executive positions, three members of the board, and an URSU staff member. Board member Eric Holloway proposed a clause reading “works to maintain an ethical standard in carrying out the operations of URSU” to the responsibilities of the committee. The motion was then voted on and passed unanimously. Next, the board passed their new meeting policy.

The final motion debated was the funding of JDC West, the debate team of the Hill School of Business. At this time, Eric Holloway and Lynn Barber left the room as they are linked directly to the JDC West team. JDC West had asked for $7,500 to sponsor its forthy-eight members in their upcoming competition. The board proposed that the number be revised down to $4,800, representing $100 for each student. Discussion centered around whether this number, which was substantially higher than most sponsorships, was warranted due to the high visibility projects of the JDC West team. This amendment passed, and afterwards the motion as a whole was passed.

Following executive reports, the Board entered an in-camera session and the meeting adjourned at 8:03.

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