The University of Toronto Students‘ Union (UTSU) will conduct their Annual General Meeting (AGM) without an agenda for the second year running, with an order of business outlining the proceedings instead.

Last year, the motion to approve the agenda was removed and the procedural document labeled as an agenda was referred to as an “order of business” throughout the meeting. These changes came about after the 2012 AGM was shut down when a motion to approve the agenda failed. Vipulan Vigneswaran, former campaign manager for Team Unite, said that the UTSU’s bylaws stipulate that an agenda must contain the items to be discussed. “The Board shall also include other items on the Agenda as described under Procedural Policy of the Union,” reads the bylaw.

Vigneswaran contacted Cameron Wathey, UTSU vice-president internal, to ask when the agenda for the AGM will be published and noted that the UTSU’s Policy Manual does not mention an order of business. Vigneswaran raised the issue last year and was dissatisfied with the answer he received. “They said they were allowed to do it; I assumed it was allowed or mentioned in the bylaws and policy manual,” Vigneswaran said.

“The section of the bylaws Mr. Vigneswaran has quoted to you refers to a section of the Policy Manual that, from what I can tell, has not existed for quite some time, and is perhaps left over from previous amendments to the Bylaws and Policies,” Wathey said in an email to The Varsity.

Wathey stated that he would notify the Policy & Procedures Committee of the existence of the bylaw pertaining to the agenda. The UTSU’s bylaws require the procedure of an AGM to follow that of the most recent version of Robert’s Rules of Order.

“This year has contentious issues and [the UTSU  doesn’t] want to risk losing an AGM,” Vigneswaran said, adding: “Time and time again, the UTSU  has shown a Machiavellian attitude towards everything. They’re willing to ignore proper protocol and democracy in the hopes of getting their endgame.”

Vigneswaran said he was not confident that the agenda issue can be resolved in time for the meeting. “As someone who’s seen the UTSU’s mechanism of dealing with complaints first hand, I am absolutely confident that if I were to file a grievance it would go nowhere,” Vigneswaran stated.

In late September, Vigneswaran alleged that the UTSU’s bylaws had not received ministerial approval since 1992 and that, therefore, the UTSU’s operations, by the current versions of the bylaws, are illegal. According to Vigneswaran, the most recent version of the bylaws that Corporations Canada has in their possession are those dated March 19, 1992. Vigneswaran outlined his concerns in an email sent to all members of the UTSU  Board of Directors, where he attached his correspondence with Corporations Canada and a copy of the 1992 bylaws. The executive committee positions and the number of representatives that each constituency is entitled to are among differences between the 1992 bylaws and those by which the UTSU currently operates.

The AGM is scheduled for 6:00 pm on Wednesday, October 29.

Update: UTSU bylaw amendments from November 2013 received ministerial approval as of September 24, 2014.

Correction: An earlier version of this article contained incorrect information about the UTSU class definitions.