VICTORIA MARTINEZ
Senior News Editor

Another year, another update to the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union bylaws. Six amendments to the bylaw passed at the annual general meeting — open to all undergraduate students — on Nov. 18. Other than engineering student president Roman Nahachewsky’s insistence that amendments add the statement pi = 4, it became a forum for varied and intelligent debate.

Auditor’s report

The financial statements for the year ending April 30 were accepted, and KPMG Chartered Accountants was confirmed for the next audit.

The USSU saw a net asset increase from $11.7 million to $17.9 million from last year. These mostly came as a result of Place Riel construction this year. There is also a strong cash holding of $1.57 million, over last year’s $720,000.

This year’s statements showed a loss in revenue stemming from the closure of many outlets in Place Riel due to construction. Many stores also saw reduced traffic due to the work.

The USSU is in a net asset position, representing surpluses over previous years despite revenue loss this year.

As the Lower Place Riel vendors open, the increased cash flow should keep the USSU in good financial position next year.

Defeated amendments

Two amendments were defeated at the meeting. The first wanted to raise the cap on student fee increases without referendum from $10 to $15. This would allow the USSU to make much more significant funding increases, to enable the creation of new high-cost projects and to maintain capital.

Some students expressed concerns with the timing, with increased funding from Place Riel, though vice president Scott Hitchings explained that Place Riel income goes to a separate fund. Other students felt the $15 was just as arbitrary as the $10 limit, and that more research should be done.

See related: Student amendments not posted, deemed illegal by USSU lawyer

The motion required a two-thirds majority to pass and was barely defeated, with 35 in favour, 19 opposed.

The other defeated amendment, to add a third councillor for colleges over 5,000 students, sparked debate on the goals of the University Student’s Council. Currently, the council reflects a balance between representation by size — larger colleges have two representatives, smaller ones have one — and maintaining diversity. Daniel McCullough, who proposed the amendment, said his goal was to diversify the arts and science voice, the only affected college.

Changes that passed

Sara Waldbillig’s amendment to give more notice of AGMs passed once it was amended to not apply to Special General Meetings.

“There could be reasons for why an SGM needs to be called quite quickly. There can be some emergency situation,” said president Chris Stoicheff.

All proposals for amendments are due 10 days before the meeting, and students previously only received 15 days notice. Now, members will be notified 30 days in advance of AGMs and 15 days in advance of SGMs.

All other amendments passed, with various levels of debate.

The motion to bring the executive protocol policy and bylaw in line passed. It will make it more difficult to remove a member of the executive, thus protecting the voice of the student body that elected a member.

Summer meetings are no longer mandatory for the USC. This will eliminate the problem of meeting quorum, which has rarely been achieved in the summer session.

A non-voting member was added to the sustainability board, a directive to section 53 rather than 54 was corrected and special considerations for missed summer meetings were removed from the bylaw.