The vice president external position has been cut, but Blair Shumlich has yet to leave office.
Shumlich initially pushed for the removal of his position, stating he did not have enough work to do.
Students voted to remove the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union position at an undergraduate Special General Meeting March 3.
A mistake by the chair led students to believe that Shumlich’s position was to remain in place. However, after consultations with the USSU lawyer, it became clear that the position was voted out.
The discussion has now shifted to whether or not Shumlich should leave his position immediately or on May 1, with the rest of the executive.
The initial confusion began when 37 students voted to remove the position and 22 voted to keep it. The chair had stated that in order for the position to be removed, two-thirds of students had to vote in favour of removal. In reality, only a 50 per cent majority was needed.
“It was a mistake of the chair,” said USSU president Chris Stoicheff. “Any amendment to our bylaw does not require a two-thirds majority, according to the Non-profit Corporations Act. It requires a simple majority.
“[Shumlich] had brought this up with the chair immediately at the meeting, but the chair had overruled him and said it was a two-thirds majority,” said Stoicheff.
Student council and other student meetings run on two systems: Robert’s Rules of Order and the Non-profit Corporations Act of Saskatchewan. Normally, said Stoicheff, the two systems align perfectly.
In this case, the systems conflicted — Robert’s Rules of Order stated that the motion required a two-thirds majority while the Non-profit Corporations Act stated that the motion required a 50 per cent majority.
“The chair was working under Robert’s Rules of Order, but the fact is that the Act governs what we do,” he said. “The Act trumps Robert’s Rules of Order in this case.”
A re-vote will not happen, said Stoicheff, as the USSU’s lawyer believes the 37 to 22 majority vote to be accurate.
“The lawyer thinks that the 37 to 22 vote stands and that the position no longer exists in the sense that the motion that was deemed to have failed because it needed a two-thirds majority has, in fact, passed.”
Many of the other amendments proposed at the SGM did require a two-thirds majority.
“The amendment to the articles of incorporation does require a two-thirds majority,” said Stoicheff, referring to the amendment that changed the required amount of USSU executive members. It was previously five members, but the motion to make the board of directors — which is the executive — consist of four to six members, passed with a two-thirds majority.
A two-thirds majority is also required to impeach a member.
Council will decide this week if it wants to impeach Shumlich. He is still on the executive even though his position has been removed.
If he does not resign before the next student council meeting and if someone motions to impeach him, councillors will vote on whether or not to remove him immediately.
“That will be up to student council and that will be up to Mr. Shumlich,” said Stoicheff, who did provide his personal opinion on the matter.
“As far as I’m concerned, the motion is that the VP external no longer exists and that the VP external position portfolio is under the president now — or under the VP finances in some cases.
“Nowhere in the motion did it allude or did it say that that would take place as of May 1.”
May 1 is the date in which all executive members’ contracts end.
Shumlich believes he should stay on until May 1.
“I was elected to a full year term and, while I don’t think that this position was necessary, I have started things and I intend on finishing them,” he said, pointing to the last week in March as his busiest of the year — the province releases its budget that week.
“I’ll be doing interviews about the budget and finding out what’s going on with the budget.”
He listed a rise in long-term tuition, the Saskatchewan Scholarship Fund, the new Aboriginal students’ centre and an increase in the university’s operating grant as things he has lobbied for this year that he hopes to see in the budget.
He also pointed out that the transition into a four person executive can’t be achieved instantly. As the USSU moves into the new Place Riel, moving and dividing all his files will be a difficult process, he said.
“It’s work that exists and it’s work that I want to do.”
- -
image: Pete Yee/The Sheaf
