Harvest Hall. (Credit: Krista Murray/The Quill)
The Brandon University Students' Union held their 2017 spring AGM on Tuesday, March 21st. In order for any proposed changes to be enacted, they required at least 50 students to attend. They met quorum with 51 students in attendance.
BUSU made several motions to minorly change several of their by-laws, all of which passed. One such motion was to change Director Whitney Hodgins' title from Accessibility Director to Accessibilities Director. The change was made to be more inclusive, as Hodgins felt that students may feel left out by the singular form. She strives to represent all students with accessibility needs, no matter what they may be.
BUSU also adopted an official social media policy, based on the need to keep their Facebook page and Twitter feed friendly and supportive places for students to have discussions. BUSU Executive assured students that the policy was not to discourage discussion, but rather to better enable respectful conversation.
The final, and only major change BUSU is enacting through this AGM will be a streamlining process for club applications. BUSU remains hopeful to fund as many student groups as they can, and will now be making the application process a little bit easier. Starting in the Fall 2017 term, Collectives will need to submit a budget and cover letter explaining what they will use their funding on. While BUSU has no intentions of denying funding, a budget allows for the Collective to plan events for their constituents in advance, and also allows for BUSU to help more effectively. Clubs will now be registering rather than applying for ratification, and funding will be easier to apply for. Lastly, BUSU will no longer be automatically giving a print credit to clubs, which can sometimes go unused. Clubs will now have to apply for a print credit for each project they require signage for.