On May 23, the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) held its first meeting of the 2025–2026 academic year. The meeting covered general training for the newly elected directors and the election of the chairperson of the Board of Directors (BOD). The directors also approved motions for the appointment of conciliators, established a committee for the interim appointment of Division One Directors, and ratified the list of members for the Board of Appeals. 

As the chair was only elected during the meeting, UTGSU President Amir Moghadam chaired the session. To begin, the directors discussed the standard procedure of Robert’s Rules that govern the operations and rules of order for speaking, raising questions, and voting on motions.

Motions

The directors moved to a confidential in-camera session to discuss the candidates for the Chair position. Upon dissolving the in-camera session, the Directors voted to reappoint 2024–2025 Chair, Nour Alideeb, to the position for the 2025–2026 academic year.

The Directors then discussed a motion to approve conciliators, people external to the UTGSU who will oversee disciplinary action taken against members. Two candidates were listed: previous BOD Board of Appeals Chair Alexander Martin and a blank name for a conciliator to be provided by legal counsel. To account for cases in which the union’s law firm cannot be impartial in a conflict, a blank name was used to allow outsourcing the conciliator appointment to another firm. The motion carried.

The 2025–2026 elections did not receive any candidates from Division One, which oversees Humanities. Acknowledging their struggle with the engagement of Division One, which accounts for only seven per cent of UTGSU membership, the Directors discussed a motion to establish a committee for Interim Directors in the division. VP Academics Nicholas Silver emphasized the amount of outreach UTGSU has done to Division One, and the focus on increasing engagement come the fall semester. The motion carried.

Training

Executive Director Corey Scott led the first part of the training session on the Directors’ fiduciary responsibilities to follow the bylaws to achieve organizational objectives. Scott discussed the confidentiality of private union information, such as financial and legal matters, and the Directors’ responsibility to uphold proper workplace conduct.