URSU Board Meeting: October 10
A discussion on donations stirred up differences
URSU’s team of board members and the executive committee might need to look into seeking some personal reconciliation amongst themselves, or at least that’s how it looked during its last board meeting.
University of Regina Students’ Union held one of its board meetings on Tuesday, October 10. The meeting, which was held virtually, was called to order at 4:15 p.m. and concluded just before 7 p.m. with 22 participants in attendance. The participants included the board members, members of the executive committee, the Chairperson, and representatives for Royal Bengal Sports Association and Hill ICBC who were present in the meeting to request funds for their respective events and projects.
Student presentations proceeded after the Territorial Acknowledgement was presented by the president Tejas Patel. Both the presentations lasted for about thirty minutes in total. Representatives were given a fair chance to present their respective cases in attempt to convince the board that their initiatives deserve funding within the boundaries of URSU’s bylaws. It is worth bringing to attention that the representatives for both groups were heard and asked important questions, which aided them in better presenting their cases.
The board proceeded on its agenda to go over and finalize the members of different URSU committees from amongst the people who had shown their interest. The discussion on members of the Human Resources Committee was of particular interest, as many people both from the board of directors and the executive committee wanted in. As a result, two applicants had to be voted out using polls.
The meeting then discussed sending a delegation to Luther College’s Reimagining Non-Profits conference which was held on October 13 and 14, and the motion was carried without any dissent.
Next on the agenda was the final decisions on the funding requests made earlier by the students to determine the amount that would be provided. These decisions were carried out smoothly and by the consent of most of the participants.
It was the following discussion on donations which brought to surface what seemed to be a lot of personal differences amongst the participants. A request was made by the Gujarati Samaj of Southern Saskatchewan for donations for the upcoming celebrations of Navratri. The discussion that followed included a lot of dissent and disagreements.
Amendments were made to donate less than the requested amount which was retaliated upon by a request for another amendment, which requested a donation amount more than the requested amount. Although both these amendments were defeated and the original motion was carried eventually, the discussion preceding the decision was rather interesting.
Members spoke over and against one another quite openly, if not outrightly addressing what seemed more like personal vendettas than genuine concerns. While some genuine concerns and valid points were brought up by other members, these were far and few in comparison.
Witnessing the discussion on donations, it would be safe to say that while the members in general did a lot of things right, there are certain members who need to remember that they belong to one unit that represents all the students at the university, and not multiple units that cannot see above the pettiness of personal vendettas within the same union.
