On October 3, the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) convened for its monthly Board of Directors (BOD) meeting to discuss weekly work commitments, policy creation, the donations policy, and the Student Conference Bursary. 

The union also voted to schedule the UTGSU Annual General Meeting for December 5, extended the appointments of interim directors, and appointed members to the Board of Appeals for the 2024–25 academic year. Members also discussed GradFest’s successes and opportunities for the future.

Weekly work commitments

Executive Director Corey Scott moved the motion to retroactively allocate each executive’s average weekly hours for the summer and fall of 2024. The executives requested a total of 105 collective weekly hours for the summer and 95 collective weekly hours for the fall. 

As stated in the UTGSU Policy Handbook’s Operational Policy O7.2.1.4, “the collective average weekly work commitment worked by all Officers shall not exceed one hundred (100) hours per week collectively.” However, during the discussion, the directors considered suspending this policy to accommodate the retroactive approval of hours for the summer and fall sessions. They also addressed the five-hour disparity between the Vice-President (VP) Academics Divisions 1 and 2, and VP Academics Divisions 3 and 4. 

While all executives abstained, the directors ultimately voted to suspend Operational Policy O7.2.1.4.

Policy creation 

VP Internal Friedemann Krannich discussed the Governance Committee’s effort to reorganize BOD’s Bylaw 4, which addresses the organization, eligibility, and responsibilities of the union’s board of directors. The changes include reducing the time for directors to add items to the agenda from two weeks to six days prior to the relevant BOD meetings as well as establishing clearer processes for ruling items out of order. 

Krannich also put forward the draft for Policy G1: Creation of Policies and Positions, which clarifies which committee has authority over a policy’s amendment, adoption, or rescission. He also discussed reclassifying policies from governing, operational, issues, and positions policies into governing, operational, financial, and issues categories. 

The BOD also repealed policies that were either outdated, unused, or no longer relevant to the union’s functions, including policies on standing activism, billeting, proxy voting, and recording of motions.

Donations and student conference bursaries

VP Finance Farshad Murtada proposed amendments to the donations policy and student conference bursaries. The Finance Committee’s equity fund allows events and initiatives with an equity-based focus to apply for an additional $300 beyond the maximum single monetary donation of $500. 

Murtada also discussed updating and revising the donation policy’s language to clarify the equity fund. The proposed new language to Operational Policy O5.1 Donations defines an “equity-based focus as the premise of the event or initiative.” 

The proposed revisions to the Operational Policy O.20 UTGSU conference bursary included increasing the bursary amount from $250 to $400 per recipient and adjusting the start and end dates for the fall, winter, and spring cycles. For instance, the fall cycle would now cover conferences between September 1 and December 31, rather than December 1 and March 31, with the application period opening from December 15 to January 15, instead of December 1 to January 15. The increase in the bursary amount was prompted by the rising costs of attending conferences and the general cost of living for graduate students.

Division 3 Director Dominic Shillingford inquired when students were applying for conferences, before or after the event. He argued that funding would be more effective if allocated before the conference, as per the old O5.1 Donations timeline. 

In response, Murtada explained that the new wording reflects the requirement for proof of attendance, which students can only provide to the Finance Committee after attending the conference. 

Division 3 Director Joscelyn van der Veen questioned the efficacy of allocating conference bursaries equally across divisions, as outlined in O2 Space Use. President Mohammadamir Moghadam, VP External Jady Liang, and VP Academics Division 3 and 4 Julian Nickel all contributed to the discussion on the fairness and equity of the allocation process.

Following the discussions about Operational Policy O2, Shillingford moved to split the motions, allowing the union to vote on donations and conferences separately. This motion passed, as did the revisions to Operational Policy O5.1. With the union in agreement on increasing funding, Nickel proposed referring the discussions for the O2 conference bursaries  to the Finance Committee and raising the conference bursary to $400.