Report: UTM Campus Affairs Committee - September 21, 2023

1. Chair’s Remarks
   
   The Chair welcomed members to the Committee’s first meeting and introduced the presidential assessors and noted that their role was to bring items of business forward for the consideration of the Committee. The Chair explained that the Committee would oversee matters that directly related to the quality of student and campus life and provided an overview of the difference between the role of governance and administration and talked about the roles and responsibilities of members.  He referred members to the orientation video on the role of the Committee produced by the Secretariat, which was available in the resource section of the governance portal.
    
2. Presidential Assessors Portfolio Overview and Priorities for 2023-24
   
   At the invitation of the Chair, Deborah Brown, Chief Administrative Officer, Mark Overton, Dean of Student Affairs & Assistant Principal, Student Services and Professor Nicholas Rule, Vice-Principal Academic and Dean presented overviews of their respective offices. Their presentations outlined organizational structures and assessor priorities for the 2023-24 academic year.
    
3. Compulsory Non-Academic Incidental Fees: UTM Student Societies - Proposals for Fee Increases for 2024
   
   The Chair noted that student society fees were subject to the terms and conditions of the Policy on Ancillary Fees and the Policy for Compulsory Non-Academic Incidental Fees.
   
   At the invitation of the Chair, Mr. Overton advised members that the UTM Student Union was requesting two changes to its fees charged on their behalf by the University, both of which were supported by referenda of their members as follows:  the establishment of a HOUSE UTM portion of the fee with $5.00 per session for full-time students and $2.50 per session for part-time students and the establishment of a Regenesis UTM portion of the fee also with $5.00 per session for full-time students and $2.50 per session for part-time students.  He pointed members to the results in the item documentation and noted that the referenda were held in the spring of 2023 and in accordance with UTMSU’s governing documents.  The UTMSU Board ratified the recommended results and requested the fee changes at the first meeting of this year’s CAC cycle, as their ratification date fell after the governance deadlines for the last cycle of meetings in 2022-23. Mr. Overton noted that the timing was also due in part to process challenges of UTMSU’s ratification approval and that if the item was not approved, UTMSU would have the time to re-run the referendum for a later governance cycle. He also noted that UTMSU planned a referendum later this fall in support of the planned Student Centre renovation project, which may appear in an upcoming governance cycle for early consideration as well.
   
   Mr. Overton noted that no complaints were filed with UTMSU regarding the referenda in the proposal and that administration was satisfied that appropriate processes had been followed.
   
   At the invitation of the Chair, Gulfy Bekbolatova, President, and Felipe Nagata, Executive Director, of UTMSU, spoke on behalf of their organization.  They explained that Housing Our University Students Equitably (HOUSE) Canada, was a national organization working to create affordable housing for students and Regenesis was a UTMSU recognized student group promoting sustainability initiatives.  In reference to the large number of abstentions in the referendum, they reported that the vote included the referenda questions and elections, so a significant number of students cast election votes while refraining from voting on the referenda items.  To address the high number of abstentions the UTMSU Board of Directors sought legal advice and reviewed their referenda rules, constitution and by-laws and were satisfied that the appropriate rules were followed.  Therefore, they decided to move forward with the ratification of the results.  
   
   In response to a member’s question about why Regenesis did not establish itself as a recognized student club as part of UTMSU as opposed to seeking a levy, Ms Bekbolatova noted that Regenesis was the UTM chapter that also had chapters at York University and at Toronto Metropolitan University.
   
   Another member commented that the number of respondents in the referenda were low, and that the number of abstentions was high and asked if the UTMSU or the university had set a standard for rules around percentages allowed for abstention votes.  Melinda Scott, Executive Director, Office of the Vice-Provost, Students, noted that the University did not set its own standard regarding what would be required for a referendum to pass, because student societies were autonomous organizations and the rules surrounding ratification of referenda were up to their constitution and bylaws.   She further noted that her office reviewed UTMSU’s referendum results, which passed, including their internal review of the results with their board of directors.  She added that the Office of the Vice-Provost Students encouraged any student societies to consider what would be in the best interest of their membership and what their membership desired in terms of setting that standard but that ultimately it was up to the student society to make that decision.
   
   On motion duly moved, seconded, and carried
   
   YOUR COMMITTEE RECOMMENDED,
   
   THAT, beginning in the Fall 2024 session, the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU; legally, Erindale College Students’ Union) fee be modified as follows:
   (a) the establishment of $5.00 per session ($2.50 part-time) in the HOUSE UTM portion of the fee, and
   (b) the establishment of $5.00 per session ($2.50 part-time) in the Regenesis UTM portion of the fee.
   
   If approved, the total Fall/Winter UTMSU fee will be $451.76 per session ($176.27 part-time), charged to all UTM undergraduate students. The total Fall/Winter UTMSU fee for Mississauga Academy of Medicine (MAM) students will be $530.65 per fall session and $530.64 per winter session.
    

4. Calendar of Business, 2023-24
   
   The Chair reminded members that the Committee’s Calendar of Business, which represented the expected items of business for governance consideration for the year and noted that it would be updated regularly on the Committee’s website.
    

5. Reports of the Presidential Assessors
   
   Mr. Overton referred members to the display at the back of the Council Chambers, which highlighted the work of the L'IMAGE Project, a collaboration between the International Education Centre and Professor Ai Taniguchi of the Department of Language Studies. He explained that the project centred on linguistic empowerment, celebrated the diversity UTM students by translating their stories and lived experiences into comics. He invited members to view the display.

CONSENT AGENDA

On motion duly moved, seconded, and carried

YOUR COMMITTEE APPROVED

THAT the consent agenda be adopted and that Item 7, report of the previous meeting, be approved.
 

6. Report on Capital Projects, as at August 31, 2023
    
7. Report of the Previous Meeting: Report Number 59 – May 8, 2023
    
8. Business Arising from the Report of the Previous Meeting
    
9. Date of the Next Meeting – Thursday, October 19, 2023
    
10. Other Business
    
    The Chair extended an invitation to all members of the Committee to a reception celebrating the 10^th anniversary of the establishment of the UTM Campus Council and its Committees.  More information would be forthcoming through an invitation to members.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:01 p.m.

September 27, 2023