On August 18, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) held its monthly Board of Directors (BOD) meeting. Executives provided updates on transit, sexual health services for students, and the upcoming orientation week. 

The UTSU also announced the dates for their Annual General Meeting (AGM) and the Student Senate elections.

Discussing changes in transit and sexual health services

UTSU President Shehab Mansour began the meeting with updates on potential changes to the student transit service. He discussed his meeting with volunteer-led transit advocacy group, TTC Riders, on providing “affordable alternatives to students” for the 2024–2025 academic year. 

Mansour mentioned the possibility of creating a U-Pass for transit, with support from all U of T student unions and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). The proposed transit pass would allow students  unlimited fare-free rides on the TTC — prepaid as part of their tuition. Currently, UTM is the only campus with a U-Pass.

Mansour also mentioned implementing REES (Respect, Educate, Empower, Survivors) — an online platform for reporting sexual harassment, misconduct, and assault. The platform has already been introduced to the Universities of Windsor, Winnipeg, and Manitoba. 

Mansour is hopeful to meet with a REES representative next week to work out introducing the platform on campus. UTSU has no specific date for a potential rollout. 

Student governance 

VP Finance and Operations Elizabeth Shechtman then announced the upcoming elections for UTSU’s Student Senate — the union’s governance organ of 51 to 75 student representatives solely responsible for advising the Board of Directors about student life. She said the union plans to elect their senators on September 15. 

Shechtman hopes to have enough members this year to run the Student Senate, which 2023–2024 UTSU executives unsuccessfully attempted to abolish. Since its introduction into the union’s bylaws in 2022, the Student Senate has never successfully been elected. 

She also announced that the UTSU AGM will take place online on October 20. Shechtman stressed the importance of the meeting reaching a quorum of 50 people, which the union failed to do last year. This time, Shechtman plans to organize a giveaway to provide an incentive for students to attend the meeting.

Orientation and a new prayer space 

VP Student Life Tala Mehdi provided updates on orientation week preparation. She announced that the UTSU had secured approximately $125,000 in sponsorships for the event and over 300 clubs had confirmed their attendance at the union’s Clubs Fair on August 30.

Despite UTSU’s success in securing funds and participants, Mehdi discussed some accessibility-related issues at Front Campus, where the union held their Clubs Fair. “I really want to make sure every student has access to the events that we’re having,” said Mehdi.

VP Equity Sakeena Mohammad shared the news about converting UTSU’s closet space at Student Commons into a prayer room, which may open as early as September 3. The new space will add to almost a dozen prayer rooms across U of T’s downtown campus.

Editor’s Note (September 15, 10:14 pm): An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the UTSU Student Senate is the union’s sole governance organ. In fact, the Student Senate is the union’s governance organ solely responsible for advising the union’s Board of Directors about student life.