UVSS Board Meeting Recap (of sorts)
I got sidetracked so we're just publishing the unfinished version
The second UVSS Board Meeting this semester was … interesting.
FYI: the Martlet has coverage of the board meeting in this twitter thread if you want an actually unbiased take on what is going on. The Seagull shitpost is below for entertainment and commentary.
TL;DR that isn’t a TL;DR
No one has stepped up to run for the three empty lead director seats on the board. The positions of Outreach, Campaigns, and Events remain vacant after the majority of UVSS Lead Directors resigned over the weekend.
“This will be a tough process for you, because you probably will be thrown right into work and you probably won’t get an orientation,” said UVSS executive director Charlene Campo, speaking to a hypothetical would-be lead director before it became apparent that no one would run for the position.
No new information as to why Dodds, Roxas, and Pollard resigned over the weekend. During the meeting, Kishal Scholz stated her support for the decision for the three to resign and that “they [were] just generally unhappy at their jobs.”
History students aligned with the history course union spoke up against the Humanities PDU motion, mostly spearheaded by other History students. They asked for the motion to be withdrawn from the sAGM. It is currently not legally possible for the motion to be removed, as the petition supporting that specific initiative crossed the threshold of signatories for it to appear on the agenda. History student and UVic senator Samuel Holland declined to withdraw the motion and the PDU will be discussed at the sAGM.
History students came prepared and made multiple concerns against how the push was conducted, including consultation, the lack of a constitution. Healthy debate happening within the UVSS? Color me surprised!
History, English, and the Greek and Roman Studies course unions, which number nearly 800 Humanities students are disappointed, says History course union president Rebecca Hartley. They are the three largest student groups in Humanities.
A bunch of motions were passed via email before the actual meeting. Included was the approval of the UVSS Statement Against Transphobia on Campus, and changes and finalizations to the preparations for the upcoming elections. Former UVSS executive director Alannah James is now the Chief Electoral Officer for the next election season as the previous hire resigned.
Man, I don’t even want to get into this one. But the Makerspace motion was denied and won’t be at the sAGM. People are mad at the UVSS because money around the PIRG fund has been reallocated without any referendum that has reached quorum. Don’t worry if you have no idea what these acronyms are because you don’t want to spend 20 minutes learning the backstory. I am also not entirely sure if I understand what’s going on here either. I also stopped listening after the discussion of the second.
Faculty representation at the UVSS was brought up again, and it got heated. In the Martlet’s words, “allegations have been tossed between the Pride Representative on the board and the mover for motion 2 for the SAGM. Others have weighed in on the discussion.” We wrote about some of the events here. FYI, motion passed. So it'll be up at the AGM.
Remember when we got curious about the 300,000ish dollars that was in the PIRG fund?
The short answer is, I don’t know! Y’all can go figure it out. It’s a mess that my unpaid, overworked self cannot bothered to look into. We’re an alternative alternative news source, not the paper of record. Have someone who’s paid to do this go do some actual journalism at it.
A Post-script:
TBH, as the subtitle implies, a lot more happened at the board meeting - some noteworthy, others not. But right now, I’m not being paid to publish the Seagull. So I feel less of a professional pride to this and would rather treat it as a on the side hobby.
Apologies for all the folks who have been waiting for a spicy rundown - I simply do not have capacity to write about inane student government stuff when white supremacy is overtly out and about on the streets of our capital.
xoxo,
The Seagull