Student interest in attending URSU meetings dwindles of

holly funk editor-in-chief

This week’s Carillon on the move article was originally pitched to our news editor as an opportunity to learn about students’ perspectives on the Annual General Meeting (AGM) hosted by the University of Regina Students’ Union’s (URSU), which was held over Zoom and was scheduled to start at 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 2, 2023.

The AGM is a place where both URSU board members and general members (students) can propose motions to kick-off or amend current policies and initiatives, where current URSU executives present on their job performance over the past year, and is one avenue for students to vote on what happens with student levies after the university collects them and transfers them to URSU. Other writers have covered, and will continue to cover, the events of the AGM itself, but we were curious about how students on campus were feeling following what ended up being nearly a four-and-a-half hour Zoom call. What the Carillon learned through these interviews was that students interviewed do not make an effort to attend URSU AGMs or to stay up-to-date with the actions of their students’ union, which is the group meant to advocate on their behalf. Of the students interviewed for this piece, one student who elected to remain anonymous explained that they hadn’t even heard we had a students’ union and was not aware an AGM had taken place until they were notified through questions in the interview for this article.

Similarly, other students only learned of URSU’s existence over the last few weeks of the winter 2023 semester. As a police studies student in her first year, Samantha Carnie noted that she first learned about the union when someone currently running for a position on next year’s board stopped her in the hallway to campaign for her vote.

“I heard about it because I had someone come up to me about their campaign,” Carnie noted. “So, I’ve kind of heard from that, but that’s about it.” This first-year student mentioned afterward that she had heard nothing about URSU’s AGM in advance of the meeting.

Another student named Kathlene Puertas said “I know it [URSU] exists, I get emails from them, but I’m not particularly involved.” When asked about the AGM, she said she hadn’t made communications from URSU about their AGM a priority. “I’ve somewhat skimmed emails about it, but not really read it or anything.”

To summarize, Puertas added “I just wasn’t really particularly interested in being a part of it.”

Kinesiology student Emily

Blackmore claimed that she wants to be more involved, but due to her already demanding student schedule she simply cannot make the time. “I’m not that involved in too much here. I wish I was more, but even just taking a bunch of classes and stuff is already a lot, and I still try to socialize and do intramurals.” Blackmore hadn’t heard about the AGM in advance of the meeting, and noted she likely wouldn’t have had time to attend regardless.

Social work student Dagan

Vala noted that while he was involved with the actions of the students’ union through his first degree which he completed in 2016, he has not maintained the same level of engagement through the second degree he is currently pursuing. “I guess I had friends who were more involved so I kind of tagged along with them, but then they all graduated. So, then I came back, so again I haven’t really made it a focus for this time around.”

Vala also claimed to have heard nothing about the AGM in advance of the meeting, and closed with the sentiment “I suppose this time I didn’t really focus on engaging too much, just trying to get my degree and get out.”

While URSU did advertise their AGM in advance, it seems as though their methods were not successful in drumming up student interest in URSU and their governance this semester. It remains to be seen whether URSU will opt for new methods of outreach to engage the student population, and whether current stu-

One of the largest events of the year to ‘speak out & get your answers’ showcased an underwhelming amount of the student population.

Solutions for a smoother SGM come from a rough AGM URSU SGM scheduled for April 12

The University of Regina Students’ Union’s (URSU) Special General Meeting will be held in a hybrid setting with options to attend in person and online. The vote passed unanimously to hold the Special General Meeting (SGM) at 2 p.m. on April 12. The decision to start the SGM earlier was made hoping students can set aside more time if the meeting runs late.

“We are hoping that more students will attend in person,” said URSU General Manager Talha Akbar, who also noted the online component will still be in an option for immunocompromised students.

The URSU AGM was held remotely on Zoom on March 2. The meeting began with a late start due to a “Zoom bomb” of bots (virtual participants, not real people) in the chat. In a matter of minutes, the participant count went from 600 to 250 while URSU staff worked to kick bots out of the chat. Many students were left frustrated with the delayed start and left the meeting early after it ran an hour later than its estimated end time.

“I don’t think we’ll get Zoom bombed again, but now that it’s happened, we’ll be much more prepared for it,” said Akbar.

Akbar explained these options will hopefully help hike the attendance and deal with potentially racist and inappropriate comments – something that was an issue in the Zoom chat during the AGM.

“It will create a more accessible space, we’ll be able to provide free food to students,” said Akbar. “Hopefully more of a collegial environment so that we don’t have some of the same kind of issues around targeted attacks or racism.”

URSU members are trying to incorporate measures into the SGM that will address the issues that clogged the AGM. Different approaches will be taken prior to the SGM to help students feel more comfortable about the rules of voting, submitting motions, and workshopping motions. “It should help to help students engage in that student democratic system,” said Akbar.

Concerns were raised in the AGM on March 2 about motions on the agenda violating the Saskatchewan Non-profit Corporations Act. The SGM will have a committee of board and executive members who can help work with students to submit a clear and concise motion. Style Stenberg, LGBTQ+ board chair and member of the committee, said this will be an opportunity to work with students who have elected URSU board and executive members into their positions .

“One of the things I really want to do is connect with everyone that submitted a resolution, talk through the resolution with them, make sure that they’re on the same page,” said Stenberg. “They can then understand the process, how it’s going to happen, answer any questions they have about it, and how to make it a little bit less scary.” dents can be bothered to engage with their students’ union.

Stenberg hopes that this committee will stick around for future AGMs and SGMs to eliminate any confusion for students. There are still 21 motions to be voted on, but movers will have the opportunity to improve or strike their motions from the agenda before the SGM.

In addition to the SGM committee, URSU will have members available at noon on April 12 to answer any questions students might have about how processes in the meeting work before the meeting itself at 2 p.m.

There was no URSU AGM in 2022. This is because the URSU board of directors voted to change the scheduling for the AGM to the typical end of a student year rather than the end of a calendar year. AGMs have still been held during the URSU fiscal year, just based on different decisions made by different URSU members. Akbar explained it will be up to future years of URSU members if they want to have the AGM in November or March.