By Raneem Alozzi and Sherina Harris
At a board meeting on Feb. 11, the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) voted to impeach their president, elected a new one and suspended their vice-president operations.
The Board of Directors (BoD) also passed several other motions—here’s what else happened at the meeting.
Audit, legal and finance reform committee created
At a Feb. 1 BoD meeting, the board passed a motion approving a forensic audit into the RSU’s finances. At the Feb. 11 meeting, a motion passed for the RSU to create an Ad Hoc audit, legal and finance reform committee.
“An independent subcommittee delegated the responsibility of overseeing the audit and potential legal action will restore trust in the RSU,” the motion read.
The motion also established that the elections for the committee be held immediately, as voted on by the board. The board members on the committee are Maklane deWever, Divyansh Chandel, Daniyal Patricio, Alessandro Cunsolo and Tamar Lyons.
Renegotiating agreement between RSU and Ryerson University
A motion to renegotiate the signed agreement between the RSU and Ryerson University passed. According to the outlined motion, the BoD will form an Ad Hoc committee before Feb. 17, comprised of members to engage with the re-negotiation process.
The committee will be made up of one full-time unionized staff, one full-time non-unionized staff, one director from each faculty, one graduate representative and two at-large directors.
The committee will be required to update the BoD once a week on their progress surrounding the renegotiation process and will hold town halls to update the general membership accordingly.
Ryerson president Mohamed Lachemi previously told The Eye that the board had until the end of March to negotiate the agreement.
New vice-president education appointed
The RSU’s vice-president education Salman Faruqi resigned on Jan. 30. At the meeting, a motion passed to hold an immediate election for a new vice-president operation.
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Science Iyvan Chandran and Faculty of Community Services director Chelsea Davenport were nominated.
The BoD held a secret ballot vote. Davenport received nine votes and Chandran received 14, making him the RSU’s new vice-president education.
In a short speech before directors voted, Chandran said as vice-president education he wanted to work on the student career development grant. He also said he wanted to create a budget for internal societies and student groups to start educational initiatives.
Sexual assault policy added to RSU manual
This motion noted the RSU has two existing internal policies surrounding the adjudication of sexual assault and sexual harassment within the union, but these are not in the policy manual.
“I think it’s the right thing to do to ensure it’s open to all members to use,” said James Fotak, a Faculty of Arts director. “I also think it’s a little concerning that board members weren’t sent it [until] like two days ago, and it should be in the policy manual where everyone can see it.”
The motion, which passed, said having the policy accessible to the public is important for ensuring the safety of RSU employees, volunteers and members.
The RSU’s governance committee will put forward a motion to add the policy to the manual before the next board meeting, according to the motion.
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