By Sylvia Lorico
The Ryerson Science Society’s (RSS) annual general meeting (AGM) was held on Feb. 17. The meeting addressed the removal of the RSS vice-president student relations and the addition of a vice-president operations position.
Many amendments were made to the constitution to make it more thorough. There was also discussion surrounding impeachment regulations and RSS elections.
Motion to remove vice-president student relations—PASSED
RSS president Cristina Thuppu Mudalige was the mover of this motion. She said there was “too much overlap” of then vice-president student relations Robinder Jangi’s responsibilities and the RSS directors, which was lead to “loss of productivity.”
Motion has passed. 37 in favour of removal of the position of VP of student relations @theeyeopener
— Sylvia Lorico (@Slorico76) February 17, 2017
The motion passed with no discussion from the membership.
Motion to add the position of vice-president operations—PASSED
The motion passed with no opposition. Thuppu Mudalige said that other societies have a vice-president operations, and the position would be essential to oversee operation tasks of RSS.
Motion to remove slates when campaigning in the RSS elections—PASSED
After a long debate, the membership voted in favour of removing slates for election campaigning. Thuppu Mudalige said removing slates would allow students to vote for candidates based on individual platforms rather than voting for a whole slate “just because they know a few people on the team.”
ThuppuMudalige says that idea of slates discourages members outside of the slate… @theeyeopener
— Sylvia Lorico (@Slorico76) February 18, 2017
And that elections should be based off the person rather than the team @theeyeopener
— Sylvia Lorico (@Slorico76) February 18, 2017
Motion to outline impeachment process—PASSED
After another long debate, an amendment was passed which highlighted the violations and process to which a director can be impeached and how the impeachment process would occur.
Reasons why directors can be impeached include if they deliberately violate the RSS constitution, fail to show up at RSS meetings or do not perform their duties. A two-third affirmative vote from the directors would be required to impeach a director.
Amendment proposed that before impeachment is brought to the BoD it must be approved by a neutral body from the Dean’s office @theeyeopener
— Sylvia Lorico (@Slorico76) February 18, 2017
The amendment to add an impartial rep fails. 27 oppose, 1 abstained and 3 in favour. @theeyeopener
— Sylvia Lorico (@Slorico76) February 18, 2017
Motion to restrict executive members to being on only one committee—PASSED
No board member can hold a RSS executive position while simultaneously holding a RSS committee position unless in cases of “last-resort.” The RSS said this was done in order for executive members to maintain focus on their current position and to avoid dividing time between positions.
Motion to outline membership and levies within the RSS—PASSED
Only full-time students within the faculty of Science may be members of the RSS. Members will also be required to pay a $30 levy per semester.
RSS’s referendum was passed earlier this month to collect a student levy of $30, which will be in effect next school year.
ThuppuMudalige says that the current constitution has no levy so the RSS BoD has no limit on how much is spent on byelections @theeyeopener
— Sylvia Lorico (@Slorico76) February 18, 2017
Motion to outline dissolution of the RSS—PASSED
Dissolution of the RSS can occur only after a position requesting a referendum is signed by 15 per cent of the membership. Request for referendum will be processed within 10 days after receiving the petition.
Motion to outline amendments to constitution—FAILED
Amendments to the RSS constitution required a two-third vote of members at the meeting. RSS requested a minimum of 50 members present in order to amend the RSS constitution but members argued the number was too great considering the turnout at the meeting, which fluctuated around 30 people.
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