WUSA held its Annual Members’ Meeting on March 25, convening to discuss and vote on notions impacting the UW undergraduate community. The session lasted for four hours.

The meeting began with routine business items before moving on to the additional motions presented below. Attendees approved the previous meeting’s minutes, ratified elected representatives from the general election, approved 2024-2025 fiscal year financial statements, and reappointed the firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) as WUSA’s financial auditors for the upcoming 2026-2027 year.

Following said items, here are the motions presented and voting results:

Amendments to Corporate Social Responsibility Policy to Strengthen Commitment to Palestinian Human Rights: Passed

Vote Tally: 172 for (79 per cent), 43 against (20 per cent), 2 abstain (1 per cent)

The approved changes to the policy codify WUSA’s stated commitment to avoiding businesses directly or indirectly contributing to Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians.

In line with the Boycott Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement, WUSA will avoid contracts and purchases from businesses listed by the BDS National Committee as priority and organic boycott targets, like Dell, Intel, Domino’s Pizza, and McDonald’s. WUSA will also look for alternatives to suppliers listed as pressure targets, like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Attendees voted overwhelmingly in favour of the motion, which had the highest voter turnout of the night at 217 total valid votes. Over 10 students joined the speaker queue, with three speaking before a student submitted a call to question for proceeding directly to voting.

Pay What You Can Funding: Passed

Vote Tally: 126 for (88 per cent), 10 against (7 per cent), 7 abstain (5 per cent)

The approved motion implements a $1 increase in membership fees per student per term to continue funding the Pay What You Can (PWYC) program, a service run by WUSA which provides free meals through the Bomber to students in need. A program status report will be presented at the 2027 annual members meeting to provide information on program impact and future scaling.

This motion had the second highest vote turnout of the night at 143 total votes after the Corporate Social Responsibility Policy motion.

Approval of Bylaw Changes and Fees related to Board Composition: Passed

Vote Tally: 28 for (49 per cent), 20 against (35 per cent), 9 abstain (16 per cent)

This motion increases membership fees by $ 0.70 per student, per term, to support board changes as part of WUSA’s Governance Reform Project.

The changes include a new VP role (Vice President, Student Experience) to take on duties related to campus life and internal advocacy. The VP would take on items previously in the President’s portfolio after previous feedback regarding unsustainable workload in presidential and vice presidential duties.

The motion also creates a new unified advocacy committee, which would include the WUSA president and vice presidents and multiple student representatives: eight undergraduate senators, six society faculty representatives, and three students appointed at-large. The new committee replaces the previous two-pathway advocacy model implemented before governance reform.

WUSA Accountability Act: Passed

Vote Tally: 54 for (83 per cent), 4 against (6 per cent), 7 abstain (11 percent)

Following the previously implemented public attendance and time trackers for WUSA directors, this motion expands tracking to include other student leaders, like Senators and other undergraduate members on WUSA and university committees. Information on attendance at senate and university committees will be made publicly available under WUSA’s executive director.

Increase in Officer Compensation: Passed

Vote Tally: 45 for (49 per cent), 33 against (36 per cent), 14 abstain (15 per cent)

The original motion called for a $0.21 increase in member fees per student to support a 9.5 per cent increase in the President’s salary and a five per cent increase in the Vice President’s salary to better reflect the workload undertaken in these positions. An amendment upped the fee increase to $0.31 to set the Vice President’s salary equal to the President’s at $ 66,282.50 per year.

The amendment was approved by a smaller margin (33 for, 28 against, 10 abstain) before the updated motion was passed.

Student Life Projects Endowment Funds Bylaws: Passed

Vote Tally: 47 for (73 per cent), 4 against (six per cent), 13 abstain (20 per cent)

The bylaws and constitution governing the Student Life Endowment Fund (SLEF) had not been updated since 2020 before WUSA’s restructuring. Changes to the bylaws regarding SLEF also required annual approval at WUSA Annual Members’ Meetings to approve bylaw changes. The approved amendments are intended to reform the SLEF Board, bring fund operation more in line with other student endowment funds and shift approval voting power to the SLEF Board rather than the annual members meetings.

Club Funding Increase: Passed

Vote Tally: 49 for (65 per cent), 16 against (21 per cent), 10 abstain (13 per cent)

This motion would add an increase of $1.39 to membership fees per student, per term, to support the $200 termly allotment for clubs.

Bylaw Changes: Passed

Vote Tally: 37 for (60 per cent), 3 against (5 per cent), 22 abstain (35 per cent)

This motion approves changes to the bylaws to further clarify procedures and address clerical issues in the text itself (i.e. references to the wrong section in the text, the use of the term “Non-Officer Directors” to better distinguish among directors who are elected officers). Other updates include codifying the removal process of officers, ensuring the Board has at least one director representing each faculty when replacing a non-officer director, clarifying procedures for removing officers, and filling vacant positions in the event that no candidates are elected to the President or VP positions.

The bylaw changes also formally establish that election results are to be ratified by vote during the Annual Members Meeting following the election.

Improving Student Advocacy Access Through LSPIRG Membership: Passed

Vote Tally: 70 for (74 per cent), 20 against (21 per cent), 5 abstain (5 per cent)

This motion allows UW students membership and equitable representation in the Laurier Students’ Public Interest Research Group (LSPIRG), a non-profit organization based in WLU that assists in advocacy, grassroots activism, community research and public education on social issues. Following approval, the Board of Directors will begin the process of working out a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with LSPIRG.

The motion also allows an optional incidental fee, maximum $4.50 per student per term, to be charged as membership dues for students at the main Waterloo and Kitchener campuses through a new LSPIRG-UW branch of the organization.