On January 27, the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) convened its first Board of Directors’ (BOD) meeting of 2025 to discuss its health and dental plan inflation increase and cap, election policies and logistics, accessibility on campus, and the union’s position on bike lanes. 

Reassignments, reports, and referenda

The directors approved the appointment of Farshad Murtada as Vice-Chair of the Governance Committee after UTGSU President Amir Moghadam resigned from the position, reassigned committee members for the Governance and Finance Committee, and delivered a debrief on last semester’s Annual General Meeting.

In their reports, the executives shared work on the wellness grant, funding for Black graduate students, and efforts to inform students about the upcoming provincial election.

The executives also approved the results of the referendum on UTGSU’s Health and Dental Plan, proposed during the union’s November 13 BOD. The proposal introduced a 10 per cent cap on the union’s health care and dental care annual fee increase and a new requirement for the UTGSU to hold a referendum in case increases above this amount are needed. 

According to the union’s referendum results, 4,597 students voted on this issue, of which 86.5 per cent voted in favour of this change. All four other student unions at U of T also have maximum permitted inflationary increases of 10 per cent annually.

Changing election policies and logistics

Division Three Director Joscelyn van der Veen and Vice-President Academics 3 & 4 Julian Nickel described the ongoing work to revise the UTGSU’s policy and logistics for the union’s upcoming elections. Van der Veen put forward motions to approve a draft of a revised elections policy and a new referenda policy as well as to ensure the election had a more logical timeline. 

Changes to the revised elections policy include adding clarifications for the information sessions and election training that would allow candidates to familiarize themselves with the duties of their positions before the nomination period. 

Afterward, Nickel presented the union’s position on slating, an election guideline in which multiple candidates join together on a platform to advertise shared policies. Slates act similarly to political parties and students are not required to vote for candidates on the same slate down the ballot. 

Previously, slates were disallowed in the elections process. For the upcoming elections, this motion would only apply to executive positions rather than director positions and ratify that slates be dissolved after the elections. 

In the discussion period for the drafted policy, Division Two Director Hai Tran proposed a motion to amend to lower the nomination threshold for directors from 15 to 10 members. Van der Veen replied to Tran that “this wasn’t really a problem.” Nickel also reminded the union that directors represent 22,000 students. The amendment failed as a tie vote.

The union then turned to a debate on the merits and drawbacks of slating. Division Three Director Dominic Shillingford cautioned that slating might discourage potential candidates from contesting uncontested seats. Division Three Director Amir Mohammad Zadeh asked how slating might impact collaboration among the executives. 

In response, Nickel informed the directors of the various safeguard measures, including issuing 35 demerit points and contravening policy should slates actively disenfranchise other candidates or the union’s functionality.

The motion for the policy draft as well as the elections logistics carried. 

The 2025 UTGSU elections will run from February to March. The nomination period is scheduled to start on February 24 and end on March 9. The campaign period will take place from March 17 to March 28, and students will be able to vote from March 25–28.

New air conditioners

Nickel put forward the motion to allocate $11,000 from the Building, Planning, and Accessibility Fund to the replacement of air conditioners and their infrastructure in the UTGSU building. 

In this proposal, Nickel described the operational capacity of the building throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally closed in 2020 during the pandemic, the UTGSU building only reopened in September 2024. As such, maintenance and service concerns have compounded into a backlog, and the air conditioners in units 9A and 9B could not be maintained, requiring a full overhaul. Without discussion, the motion carried.

Discussing removal of bike lanes

As the 2025 Ontario election approaches, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been working toward removing Toronto bike lanes. The government plans to reinstate vehicle lanes on Bloor Street West, Yonge Street, and University Avenue — streets that Nickel argued are critical for graduate students’ bicycle transportation. 

Nickel laid out how this measure created a cost of living and climate issue for graduate students in the city, many of whom rely on safe biking for their commute and would not feel comfortable on streets without bike lanes. 

He put forth a motion for UTGSU to adopt a position that would enact opposition to the removal of bike lanes and begin UTGSU’s advocacy with provincial, municipal, and university administrative representatives to express dissent and ensure safe bike transit to campus. As Nickel put it, it’s more “powerful” for the union and the board to support grad students’ opposition to the removal. The motion carried.