Hunsdale not a member in good standing
It has come to the attention of concerned SFU students that SFSS President Shawn Hunsdale is not a member in good standing of the Simon Fraser Student Society.
Members of the student body and concerned SFSS board members attempted to address the issue at the Wednesday, August 9 Board of Directors meeting.
Graduate At-Large, Ben Milne, put forward a motion at the beginning of the meeting that all board members prove that they are members in good standing. The motion was put as an agenda item at the end of the agenda, and the agenda was passed. Shortly after, it was requested by a number of students in attendance and staff personnel that the motion be moved to the beginning of the meeting, as the verification of members in good standing was supposed to have taken place at the first board meeting of the summer.
The chair, Lukas Schuller, declined the request, saying that the agenda had already been adopted and that it will stay at the end of the meeting.
Due to an oversight of sorts, the first board meeting of the summer passed without a call to ensure that all board members are members in good standing of the student society. Failing to pay student fees or, if you are returning to the board for a second year, failing to have completed an exit report for your previous term on board, makes one a member in bad standing.
Hunsdale, and several other members of the current Board of Directors, fit into this category. For the duration of the summer they have acted as board members but are not, in fact, allowed to be sitting on the board.
Hunsdale had failed to turn in his exit report for his term as External Relations Officer last year. When questioned during the board meeting, he claimed that he handed it in to Vanessa Kelly, SFSS Treasurer. She confirmed that this was the case. However, Sam Bradd noted during the meeting that it should have been turned into Brandy Zimmerman, a staff member (currently on leave). The exit report has since found its way to the proper location.
Past board members have noted that last year, Hunsdale wrote his exit report during the same board meeting he handed it in at.
If it should be the case that the board members who are currently thought to not to be members in good standing, all decisions made by the board over the summer will have been made out of order.
- See the second comment on this post for details on by-laws concerning members in good standing. (Thanks AVB!).
It has come to the attention of concerned SFU students that SFSS President Shawn Hunsdale is not a member in good standing of the Simon Fraser Student Society.
Members of the student body and concerned SFSS board members attempted to address the issue at the Wednesday, August 9 Board of Directors meeting.
Graduate At-Large, Ben Milne, put forward a motion at the beginning of the meeting that all board members prove that they are members in good standing. The motion was put as an agenda item at the end of the agenda, and the agenda was passed. Shortly after, it was requested by a number of students in attendance and staff personnel that the motion be moved to the beginning of the meeting, as the verification of members in good standing was supposed to have taken place at the first board meeting of the summer.
The chair, Lukas Schuller, declined the request, saying that the agenda had already been adopted and that it will stay at the end of the meeting.
Due to an oversight of sorts, the first board meeting of the summer passed without a call to ensure that all board members are members in good standing of the student society. Failing to pay student fees or, if you are returning to the board for a second year, failing to have completed an exit report for your previous term on board, makes one a member in bad standing.
Hunsdale, and several other members of the current Board of Directors, fit into this category. For the duration of the summer they have acted as board members but are not, in fact, allowed to be sitting on the board.
Hunsdale had failed to turn in his exit report for his term as External Relations Officer last year. When questioned during the board meeting, he claimed that he handed it in to Vanessa Kelly, SFSS Treasurer. She confirmed that this was the case. However, Sam Bradd noted during the meeting that it should have been turned into Brandy Zimmerman, a staff member (currently on leave). The exit report has since found its way to the proper location.
Past board members have noted that last year, Hunsdale wrote his exit report during the same board meeting he handed it in at.
If it should be the case that the board members who are currently thought to not to be members in good standing, all decisions made by the board over the summer will have been made out of order.
- See the second comment on this post for details on by-laws concerning members in good standing. (Thanks AVB!).
Labels: sfu
8 Comments:
Does anybody know the chair's background? From the way he behaved in the board meeting, he was really in favor of board members.
Lucas Schuller was BC Chairperson of the CFS for a period of, if I remember correctly, about 2 months before he stepped down for "personal reasons". His name is spelt correctly here, feel free to research.
In terms of no longer being a member "in good standing" of the Society, I don't beleive that failure to produce an exit report makes you cease to be a member in good standing. However, the fact that Shawn may not have submitted an exit report and yet still recieved a BoD stipend puts him in a position of owing money to the society, which then no longer makes him a member in good standing.
I believe the word on the street is that a total of 5 members of the Board had not paid their student fees at the beginning of their term (forfeiting their position as members in good standing) which, according to my readig of ByLaw 16 (1), means they were automaticaly considered to have resigned their position as a Board member.
The By-Laws can be found here: http://www.sfss.ca/SFSS-Constitution.pdf and the referenced By-Law is on page 16.
He was BC campaign co-ordinator for the Canadian Federaton of Students.
avb: Any idea who?
I don't know for sure about all of the names, but I believe that Marion Pollock and Erica Halpern admitted at the last Board meeting that they hadn't paid their dues. If someone can check into whether Shawn was registered for classes or not (I think word on the street is: not) chances are he didn't pay his fees either. The other two are amidst those Board members who have been away all summer but I don't believe we have names confirmed? Unless someone can correct me...
If this is true about the members in good standing bit, then it can be reasoned as follows...
The 3 or more directors of the SFSS who were at some point of this tenure, not in good standing have already, according to the by-laws, resigned. I think pushing Shawn over his exit report is weak and he could have recieved leave from the board or a director to hand it in late making him in good standing. IF however he did not show that he has paid his dues at the first BoD meeting as stated in the policies of the SFSS, or, if the board did not suspend that rule at the time, then all 3 are no longer directors and have not been.
This means that from now on during any vote of the society and any committee meetings, these people do not have to be recognized by other board members. Forum should and can nominate a new pres, ERO and at large rep.
"I think pushing Shawn over his exit report is weak and he could have recieved leave from the board or a director to hand it in late making him in good standing. "
True. However, Shawn was an Executive member and was present at the meeting where the policy about exit reports was passed. He was fully aware that he should not have been recieving a stipend until his Exit Report had been handed in, yet has been recieving a stipdend throughout the duration of this term. The auditors actually pointed that out.
I vote we ITMFA, all around. See Dan Savage's blog for the ITMFA reference.
This BoD has violated pretty much the entire Constitution and By-Laws, the RSOAP's, PIPA, the CUPE 5396 CA, and basic standards of human decency and fairness. I'd say they are WAY out of line, and need to go.
So, ITMFA!
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