UWSA continues to violate bylaws
Angered students can change everything at Annual General Meeting
By D'Arcy Bresson
Editor-in-Chief
March 26, 2008
If you’re fed-up with the UWSA then the Annual General Meeting is the place to be. The entire election process was wrought with inconsistencies and allegations of nepotism, secret meetings and heel-dragging. Even though the results were ratified, students can attend the AGM and demand the decision be overturned.
Following the election debacle, the UWSA’s announcement of its AGM came after the 10-day minimum notice. “The UWSA was supposed to meet the following points laid out in its Constitution and Bylaws concerning notice to members,” said former law representative Ken Birchall. “I did see the small black and white photocopied signs but I have seen no evidence of anything else.” Birchall says he recently resigned due the UWSA’s “lying.”
The UWSA is required to announce the meeting and have the agenda readily available at least 10 days in advance. The website was updated on March 24—just three days in advance.
According to the constitution, “Public notice of the AGM must be made widely accessible to the Members, including through on-campus media.” As of March 24, The Lance was not notified of the AGM, similar to how it was not notified of the referendum pertaining to an oversight committee for the newspaper.
So long as quorum is met (a mere 2 per cent), each student in attendance will have a vote, giving them the power to change the organization that claims to enhance student life through “advocacy, representation and service.”
Here are a few of the Bylaws that were violated.
4.4.2.1 The President or designated Vice-President shall provide at least ten (10) days notice of the time and place of the AGM:
4.4.2.2 To the Members in the form of: a) Public notices posted in the University of Windsor Student Centre and in other locations across campus; b) Notice on the UWSA website; and, c) Other mechanisms appropriate in a given year.
4.4.2.3 To the Elected Members in the form of: a) Personal notices sent by mail; b) Email messages; and, c) Other mechanisms appropriate in a given year.
1.4 The agenda for the AGM shall be prepared by the VPA and made widely accessible to the Members no less than ten (10) days in advance.
1.3 Public notice of the AGM must be made widely accessible to the Members, including through on-campus media.
|
