A four-and-a-half hour Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA) annual general meeting took place in the SLC yesterday evening, March 26. 

Ordinary meeting business got underway, including the ratification of the 2025 general election results, a presentation of 2024 audited financial statements, and the reappointment of WUSA’s auditors of PricewaterhouseCoopers for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. 

Here are some highlights from the member proposals – what was approved, what was rejected, and what was rejected for consideration:

Enacting senator honorariums – Approved

With this approval, the board of directors will ask the secretariat if they are willing to establish an honorarium for student senators at UW. The board is instructed to establish and confer the honorarium, a single annual transfer, via a memorandum of understanding. Further details are to be negotiated by the board. 

Tasking WUSA with implementing a new governance structure that prioritizes student voice and advocacy – Approved

WUSA is tasked with exploring and proposing a new governance model by the 2026 annual general meeting, starting with the presented proposal with modifications from student consultation. The proposed bicameral structure, as well as council and board responsibilities, should be reflected in the provided document at next years’ annual general meeting. 

Federal advocacy fee – Approved

WUSA will create a $1 federal advocacy fee per student, per term, to pay for federal advocacy initiatives and support Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) membership. 

Officer compensation – Approved

The board is authorized to confer and establish a new pay, reflective of the increased workload of officers, to take effect the next governing year – one that doesn’t allow for misunderstanding of time commitment. The current salary of the officer position is intended for a 35-hour work week, but the current workload of the two regularly exceeds that, being closer to 45 hours. 

Board of directors accountability – board monetary compensation – Approved

The board of directors will work with the governance committee and in consultation with WUSA’s lawyers to develop a system by which levels of honorarium are determined. This will focus on time tracking and other relevant information to ensure a transparent and fair process for determining compensation. The board policy manual will be updated to reflect these changes. The board of directors can also bank hours when working months over 40 hours to draw upon later.

Expansion of the Student Life Centre – Approved

WUSA will renew the lounge plan (introduced in 2020) with updated student needs and maintain the project’s viability by January 2026 at the latest, and circulate it for student feedback. The plan should include estimated construction and capital costs, and a summary of UW-WUSA negotiations in taking on this project. Provided student feedback is positive, WUSA will undertake the plan. Either through the WUSA operations or capital fee will be increased by the amount requisite to hire a project manager to oversee this plan, provided the amount is no more than $0.75 per student, effective fall 2025. The WUSA capital fee will be increased to cover the capital costs of construction of the plan only once the lounge is complete and usable by students, provided the fee is no more than $75. 

Reduction to Imprint fee which doubled from 2024 to 2025 – Rejected to consider

A motion was brought forward to reduce Imprint’s fee by 50 per cent and reclassify it as optional. UW student Abhiraj Lamba objected to the consideration of the motion on grounds of that the statements in the motion “were either incorrect or half truths, and the language is prejudicial which would have affected the proxy votes.” After some debate, the majority voted to reject the consideration of the motion 35 (for) and 17 (against). This motion required more than two-thirds of students to agree. 

Freeze WUSA fees from 2025 to 2026 after large increases – Rejected to consider

Students voted to reject to consider a freeze of WUSA fees from 2025 to 2026 by a margin of 45 (for) and 14 (against). The motion sought to freeze several fees, including the student life fee, academic support fee, operations fee and capital program fee.

2024-2025 bylaw change approvals – Approved

Members voted to clarify the election process for the officer positions in section 9 of the Bylaw as prepared by WUSA’s lawyer. 

Establishing a queer living learning community on campus – Approved

WUSA will release a formal statement publicly supporting the establishment of queer living learning community student residence programs at UW. Further, they will implement a framework that outlines necessary steps to creating a model that caters to the needs of transgender and non-conforming students. 

Further, WUSA will advocate for gender-inclusive housing infrastructure in newly built residences. WUSA will also facilitate engagement between the relevant campus stakeholders, including the EDI-R office, campus housing, and university college administrators. 

Establish an accessibility fund for WUSA elections – Approved

An accessibility fund will be established to address and support accessibility related expenses that candidate and referendum committees incur during election and referenda processes. WUSA will amend the Election Referenda Procedures (ERP) to incorporate this. If there is any discrepancy between the accessibility fund suggestion and the be it resolved statements, it should be interpreted within the written intentions of the issues section. 

Improve campus tunnel and bridge wayfinding and accessibility – Approved

Members voted to collaborate with UW to improve campus tunnel and bridge wayfinding and accessibility. 

Board of Directors accountability – time tracking – Approved

The board of directors will implement a formal time tracking and reporting requirement, effective now. All directors are required to document their hours and submit a monthly report for review. Incoming president Damian Mikhail brought up concerns with privacy should the documents be submitted publicly. Rory Norris, former WUSA president who brought up the motion, suggested that the data could be randomized or anonymized, and added some details could be left up to the board.

AFSA reintegration as an ASU sub society – Rejected

The motion proposed that WUSA hold a referendum for all members of the school of accounting and finance to allow for AFSA to exist as a sub-society ASU (a society under the arts student union). The fee of students in the school of accounting of finance would have decreased from $30 to $10. 

Standardizing the removal of officers by the board of directors – Approved

Any officer may be removed by a two-thirds resolution of the board of a meeting. No officer may chair a meeting at which removal of any officer is being considered. A non officer director will be selected by the board to act as a speaker for the duration of such meeting. 

Leading by example: WUSA’s investment and defining ESGs – Approved

Members voted for the alignment of WUSA’s environmental, social, and governance (ESGs) values and investments with similar requests made of UW, aiming for compliance within two years or as soon as possible.