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RSU board meeting recap: Board members to be investigated, new student groups and HOCO concerns

By Raneem Alozzi and Maggie Macintosh

At the first fall board meeting of 2018, Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) board members approved a motion to allow the executive committee to investigate the current student status of every member. The Board of Directors (BoD) also ratified a number of student groups and discussed homecoming turnout, among other things, at the midday meeting held at Oakham House on Sept. 29.

New student groups

Three new student groups were ratified at the weekend meeting: The Turkish Students Association (TSA), Photography Club and AR/VR Association.

The TSA plans to host Turkish movie nights, tea time events and an end-of-year gala.

The Photography Club plans to run workshops and mentor programs for student photographers.

The AR/VR Association, a group for students interested in augmented reality and virtual reality, plans to run project-building workshops and put on a hackathon.

RSU byelection date

The BoD voted to move up the date on the RSU’s fall by-election. The voting will take place Oct. 3-5.

RSU President Ram Ganesh said he wanted to make sure the byelection and RU-Pass referendum, slated to be held around the first week of November, are far apart to ensure students wouldn’t get confused or overwhelmed.

Investigation to ensure all BoD members are eligible

Board members passed a motion to allow the executive committee to investigate whether or not each director is currently enrolled at Ryerson University.

Following the formal resignation of Ali Mulji, an RSU executive who was found to be violating union bylaws since he was serving on the board while enrolled at a university in B.C., the motion was put forward by Maklane Dewever, student groups director for the RSU.

There isn’t any room on the BoD for anyone who doesn’t go to Ryerson, Dewever said.

The motion includes an investigation into membership of all current members and the removal of any members found not to be enrolled at Ryerson. The governance committee will also provide recommendations at the October meeting to ensure confusion over who is eligible to serve on the RSU, like what happened with Mulji, doesn’t happen again.

Ganesh read aloud Mulji’s resignation letter later on in the meeting. “I have nothing but great things to say about Ali,” he said. “He was an excellent director, I’m sad to see him go.”

First-year rep appointed

Stephanie Tryhub, a first-year biomedical sciences student, was appointed as the RSU’s first-year representative.

Executive committee reports

Vice-President Equity Karolina Surowiec gave a summary of what she’s been working on over the last month. She said she’s been meeting with Hillel Ryerson to organize Holocaust Education Week, and ensuring that all equity staff have received equity training.

Vice-President Education Salman Faruqi said he’s been organizing Welcome Week events, the RU-Pass referendum, athletics elections and the mayoral debate.

Vice-President Student Life and Events Edmund Sofo discussed the RSU’s collaborative homecoming with the Toronto Argonauts scheduled for Oct. 12. Two lucky students will be able to participate in a kick-off for free tuition at halftime, Sofo said.

Ganesh spoke on behalf of Vice-President Finance Savreen Gosal, who had to leave the meeting early. He said Gosal wants to start selling RSU event tickets via debit and credit machines.

The RSU president said he wants to ensure the RSU does extensive debriefs after hosting events this year, adding that transparency about RSU events has been lacking in previous years.

HOCO turnout concerns

Daniyal Patricio, a faculty of engineering, architecture and science director, raised concerns about the Oct. 12 football homecoming date. An engineering student himself, he said he’s going to be busy with midterms and worries lots of engineering students won’t be able to make the event.

He also noted concerns the RSU reading week trip to New York conflicts with the homecoming date.

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