Council Connection

August 13, 2014

Although there were only two motions on the agenda at this month’s Council Meeting, both motions were of the interesting variety.

The first was a motion for the AUSU Awards committee to now be co-chaired by two people, Bonita Arbeau and Christine Villeneuve. Each of them is to receive full pay for the position, as if they were the sole chair of any other AUSU committee. For those who don’t know, the AUSU Awards committee, which has been able to operate with only a single chair since its inception until now, is responsible for updating AUSU Awards policies and reviewing any applications for the various awards AUSU provides.

AUSU Council voted unanimously in favor of doubling the number of chairs, and, consequently, the pay we are giving for leadership of that committee.

The second motion was a motion of removal against Councillor Shawna Wasylyshyn. Councillor Wasylyshyn had missed two meetings within a single month, an Awards Committee Meeting on June 17th and a Council Meeting on July 9th. As a result, a motion of removal automatically gets brought forward as a reminder to the Councillors of their duty, and so that Council has the opportunity to discuss whether the absences were material and/or justified. In this case, following some discussion about the mechanics of holding a secret ballot during a teleconference meeting, Council was unanimously against the removal.

Discussion during the reports stage was mostly routine business, although it was noted that there will be a special meeting of AU’s General Faculties Council to discuss the Student Success (SS) Centre (aka, the call-centre). And it was stressed during the council meeting that the effects of the SS Centre on AU’s international accreditation are of concern.

Also noted were that AUSU has received a large number of applications for awards, and the health care plan is moving forward, although exact dates cannot yet be given, as these are dependant on AU’s assistance.