[GSA Council] Helpful resource: Elaboration on tabled motions

Thu Jul 4 12:59:50 PDT 2019

Good evening GSA Directors,

I am looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible on Friday the
12th of June and the following Friday, 19 July 2019, as per Federico’s
email announcement yesterday. It will be your chance to ask about (1) our
values and guiding principles, (2) any motions we’ve presented, (3) ideas
going forward, and our hopes for the GSA.

Here, I wish to help clarifying the motions that have been presented to
Council so far. Ultimately, fully understanding motions is a key element
for shorter Council meetings. That is, if all Council members were to have
complete knowledge of the motions, then a quicker discussion, and quicker
vote can take place for all motions presented (may they be for or against a
motion).

1) Motions that were made available to all Directors shortly before the
meeting of June 28th:

*Motion 1 - Creation of Steering Committee *Every Council has a steering
committee. Without a steering committee, it is ambiguous who is responsible
for coordinating everything that goes into agenda meetings. Anyone serving
on the Senate or Board of Governors will observe that they have steering
committees.

*Motion 2.1 - Keeping track of productivity *It is important that we find
ways to keep track of our productivity. This motion proposes a method which
we can use to compile productivity.

*Motion 2.2 - Tools to ensure memory of resolutions in effect *It is
important to keep track of what is going on in an organized way. That is,
it may be the case where motions are passed and Council forgets over time.
Here is a proposal of what can be done to store pending motions, for
example, in "memory".

*Motion 3.1 - Grievance Policy based on Natural Justice *Since the GSA is
more than a half a million dollar budget accredited organization, we must
have a grievance policy. It is standard practice in such organizations. The
motion mentions "Natural Justice". Rules of natural justice have been
published and distributed by the office of the general council of Concordia
University. We just want to borrow from their documentation, and create one.

*Motion 3.2 - Governing Documents Committee mandate and membership
*Recall *Motion
CO-20190621-14*. It is well known that we need to develop our Bylaws. Since
it affects every GSA member, in one way or another, and requires a lot of
experience (contribution from a lot of people). The table is best to be as
big as possible for the sake of transparency and harnessing experience.

*Motion 3.3 - Responding to the University's request that the GSA adopt a
Policy on Sexual Harassment *Responding to the University’s request that
the GSA adopt a Policy on Sexual Harassment. Two years ago, the
then-president was sued by two GSA staff members for sexual harassment. The
GSA paid legal fees as a result of this incident. Much more importantly,
when the events occurred, the GSA ignored it and the staff members referred
to an external organization. When they visited Council to address the
issue: they said in the news how they felt that the GSA Council was too
immature to understand the severity of the situation. Thus, being an
accredited organization, with more than half a million dollar budget, we
can easily address this issue (vote for it quickly) and get someone to
draft the policy.

*Motion - 4.1 Profile Blurbs for the GSA Website *The purpose of this
motion is to organize our presence online and to service our members’
association. It is a an easy personal introduction outline suggestion for
Directors to put on the GSA Website. It does not stop people from writing
more, but it suggests a minimum amount of information to give them an
interesting profile. Generally, it suggests consistency.

*Motion - 4.2 Professional Profile Photos *It is standard practice, in
similar organizations, to have professional pictures taken. Typically,
pictures are taken during social events so that people look happy in the
pictures. Therefore, we propose to hold a GSA social event (or retreat)
with refreshments. At the same time, we would have a professional
photographer take profile pictures. It is also an opportunity to socialize.

*Motion - 4.3 Web Services For Member Associations *It is very inexpensive
to offer web space to our members’ associations. It is beneficial to the
GSA's image and very useful for its members. It also unites members and
associations to one web page: the GSA web page. Note that this motion only
says “review the feasibility of doing this” and not "immediate action must
be taken".

2) Motion that was tabled during the June 21st:

*Motion CO-20190621-15 (Tabled)*
As Directors, we are on Council to represent our Faculties. It is then
beneficial for the GSA's executive team to organize social events, at the
GSA house, to host member association executives. The purpose of these
events are for the "GSA executives to benefit from visibility and to
dialogue with member associations executives". Furthermore, it is an
opportunity for member associations to effectively communicate, with their
respective department, the GSA's progress.

The A&S Directors look forward to seeing each and every one of you,

Manuel M Lepage Lévesque,
A&S Directors, GSA
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/gsaconcordia/attachments/20190704/4b379cd0/attachment.html>