On August 21, the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) met for its monthly Board of Directors (BOD) meeting to discuss new honorarium policies, financial budgets, and orientation plans.

New honorary systems for the BOD

During the meeting, executives discussed Policy 07.1: a new honoraria and compensation system for the BOD. UTGSU President Mohammadamir Moghadam shared that this policy was created “from scratch” and designed to help keep the union and students more “accountable.”

The new policy finds that BOD members, excluding the executives, can receive $300 for each semester. It also includes guidelines for how honoraria will be assessed and the number of hours that union members must spend to receive their honoraria. 

Effective May 2025, Moghadam said that the number of board directors will be reduced from seven to five because of the honoraria increase. He added that Policy 07.1 will change past policies such as Policy 09, which discusses the directors’ duties and Bylaw 4, which addresses the number of board directors. 

The Board of Appeal Committee

The union also discussed the new amendments made to the G10 policy, which focuses on how the Board of Appeal Committee (BOA) operates. The BOA is the “final level of appeals” within the UTGSU and investigates any decisions the union makes. 

According to the former G10 policy in the UTGSU handbook, union members form a BOA within 72 hours after an individual provides “written notification of intent to the appeal board.” 

Given the new amendments, the union will form a hiring committee to establish a permanent BOA committee and open the applications for the hiring board in the coming weeks.

Julian Nickel, Vice-President (VP), Academic Divisions 3 and 4, is the BOA committee officer, and BOD members Abdul Hamed and Joscelyn van der Veen have been nominated as the committee’s BOD representatives.

Moghadam said he believes this new process of hiring a permanent BOA committee will help make the appeals process faster. 

The union’s budget

UTGSU Executive Director Corey Scott noted that this year’s membership and legal meeting budgets for the union are expected to go five per cent over the planned amount. 

The union is recommending a budget increase for membership meetings — which costs from $14,000 to $18,000 — and legal meetings — which costs from $40,000 to $46,000. These two areas will increase the union’s budget.

Scott said the union’s budget is usually created by assessing previous years’ budget costs. He noted that the previous years’ UTGSU budgets have been low due to the pandemic and the lack of members filling seats on the board. This lowered the union’s overall operating expenses. 

This year, Scott’s budget increase recommendation covers last year’s unaccounted operating costs, as well as new bylaws and policies that will take effect.

Editor’s Note (September 4, 02:25 am): A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that BOD members will receive $300 for every meeting they attend. In fact, they will receive $300 each semester. 

Additionally, this article has been edited to accurately reflect that the union’s overall budget does not exceed five per cent of the planned amount, but that its legal and membership meetings budget will exceed the planned amount by five per cent.