By: Nathan Hood
The UPEISU Council met to approve the election results and swear in the new SU president, approve hiring board results, and consider amendments to SU policies and bylaws.
Election Results
UPEISU Chief Returning Officer Janna Ganesan presented her report on the SU’s recent byelection which saw Chelsea Perry elected president. Ganesan reported the election went smoothly with about 23% of students voting. She said that between the byelection and the fall election, she addressed an issue whereby some students were unable to vote, and as a result received no reports of similar issues during the byelection. No fines were issued.
The election results were approved by Council and Chelsea Perry was sworn in.
Update on The Wave Renovations
It was reported that the UPEI Board of Governors approved the SU’s request for a loan to finance the student centre refresh project.
VP Finance Will McGuigan said the SU will be meeting with university’s head engineer to go over renovation plans and will be meeting with the architect behind the plans to get more information and make any changes before going to tender. McGuigan also said The Wave’s bar manager has been in contact with Receiver Coffee to make sure renovations will work for the coffee side of the business.
Changes to Bylaws and Policies
Council discussed a number of proposed amendments to its bylaws and policies. Some of the amendments proposed increasing the number of of signatures required to run in an election, moving some investigative responsibilities from the ombudsperson to the general manager and vice president finance, and shifting the responsibility for approving policy amendments from Council to the policy committee.
After discussion and some confusion in the room, the amendments were tabled until next Council meeting for a vote.
Other News:
The Chancellor Search Committee has reportedly wrapped up its search for UPEI’s next chancellor, although the successful candidate has not been revealed. The chancellor confers all certificates, diplomas, and degrees, and is a member of the Board of Governors. Don McDougall, UPEI’s current chancellor, was installed on March 28th, 2014.
Discussions about executive evaluations appear to have been moved to February, despite the SU’s bylaws requiring the evaluations to be completed in January. Chair Zak Jarvis said only 13 councillors had completed the evaluations. The evaluations from first semester were discussed two months later than what was prescribed in the SU’s bylaws.
The UPEISU strategic planning subcommittee met and has selected students-at-large to sit on the committee. The subcommittee plans to conduct consultations before reading week so it can begin work on a draft of the new strategic plan.
Vice-President Academic & External Taya Nabuurs said the SU is hoping to plan educational workshops for future elections that would help potential candidates in areas like social media campaigning and platform development. A nomination package is also being developed to replace the current one-page nomination form, and would include additional documents like a copy of the elections bylaw.