The Board of Directors have tasked Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA) staff with implementing a permanent hybrid meeting solution to be in place for the next annual general meeting (AGM) in 2026. This would allow students to attend online and actively participate in member meetings. 

The motion was brought forward by director Theresa Nguyen, who noted in a report that most students are enrolled in co-op programs, enrolled in UW satellite campuses, or live inconvenient distances away from campus. 

“While there is merit in making a livestream available, and students can proxy their votes while watching the livestream, it is not possible for these students to speak, propose amendments, and actively contribute to the discussion,” Nguyen noted in the report.

Currently, WUSA’s AGMs take place in the Student Life Centre and are livestreamed on YouTube at the @yourwusa account. 

“We’re not the first ever organization to try to do this, and with such a huge population of members that are off campus at any given time, I think something like this is really important in order to make sure that all students who have something to say at AGM have the chance to do so,” said director Jeff Zhu during a Board of Directors meeting on April 16. 

A report will be brought back to board with possible proposals for a hybrid solution and how that would interface with current proxies and voting systems for the incoming board to review. 

The motion requires that the new hybrid solution is adequately promoted to undergraduate students well in advance of next years’ AGM to increase awareness and encourage online participants.