Virtual UTERN 2021 Annual General Meeting

Wednesday March 17th, 2021

                                    6:00-8:30PM

 Zoom Access:

 https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/84600408218 (Passcode: 450773)

Meeting Notes

Start time: 6:10 pm

End time: 8:50 pm

1. Land acknowledgement and introductory comments

“We wish to acknowledge that UofT is on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg Peoples, Haudenosaunee Peoples, and The Chippewa Peoples. This territory is the subject of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant.

The Mississauga's of The New Credit are the most recent to call The Greater Toronto Area their home, but we also seek to acknowledge the Petun-Tionontati Peoples, The Huron-Wendat, and The Attiwonderonk Neutral Nations.

Toronto (as it includes Scarborough) and Mississauga are also governed under Treaty 13 (Toronto), The Toronto Purchase of 1805, The Ajetance Treaty 19 of 1808 (Mississauga), Treaties 22 and 23 (Mississauga), along with Treaty 13A (Mississauga). We seek to realign our thinking and efforts to further and center Indigenous causes and movements.”

• Ciman: welcomes everyone to the AGM 2021 and asks if everyone’s accessibility needs are being met and to let us know of any concerns verbally or in the chat
• Ciman: reads land acknowledgement
• Ciman: reads UTERN’s mandate
• Ciman: COVID has changed our operations drastically as everything has moved one, this year one of our goals was to be action-oriented, we also aimed to provide more support and outreach to UTSC and UTM, we also updated our accountability, equity, and transparency policies.
• Ciman: at the end of the presentations, there will be time for discussions on all reports and then we will move to the constitutional amendments and policy changes

2. Presentations

1. Events and campaigns (Presented by Denelle)

• Denelle: pronouns are she/her, and position is events & campaigns coordinator
• 2020 sustainability campaign (5 Days of Environmental Action a/k/a 5DOA) - a 5 day series of workshops and events for community action  

• Tried to make these events a interactive as possible

• Ecofest

• 2 week series of workshops and events during the first two weeks of march
• Tried to be adaptable to groups needs
• Include experienced and new groups
• Mia did a very good job of continuous marketing
• Healing through green and just recovery
• Funnel resources to recurring points of students interests - the theme was something we found was brought up a lot by our peers
• Successes: offered opportunities for student leadership, often lessons for technology on student engagement
• Challenges: lower than expected attendance and interaction for both events and campaigns, although reflecting back the smaller group size meant attendees could speak more freely than in larger groups, simple spaces to foster natural community discussion which is what students are searching for in a remote academic area

• Foodbox campaign

• 4 distinct terms from summer 2020-spring 2021
• Food relief program organized by UTERN executives
• We bought food share and PC gift cards to help with immediate food relief - it is an emergency response to the current pandemic needs of students and is not a definitive solution to food insecurity
• The campaign stats will be accessible on our new website soon
• Food security is both a recurring problem for some, and a temporary problem during covid due to financial insecurity or isolation periods
• Lower representation in Mississauga and Scarborough - the food box delivery zone is only in the Toronto region, so PC gift cards were something we started to remedy this representation

• David: (re: tech with covid-19) there have been many ways that people have had to adapt and have come up with creative ways to manage this and create lively discussion and participation in events
• David: Microsoft Teams has been shown to be a useful resource for larger group facilitation in events - can send UTERN resources and other people’s advice

1. Network Executive Liaison (Presented by Raymond)

• Raymond: pronouns he/they, their position is network executive liaison
• This position has amalgamated EWG related matters and anything beyond EWG as well this past year
• Indicated position priorities:

• Continue expanding the accountability regime
• Strengthen tri-campus participation and representation
• Presenting UTERN as a united front to begin lobbying action at UofT

• Remote working environment:

• Transitioned (EWGs) onto Discord - able to host more events and meetings as the community grows  

• Found having regular work meetings was very efficient and kept momentum

• Created project management templates to help transitions for incoming executives and between fall-winter-summer semesters
• Found taking breaks was very necessary especially during a remote environment in order to create personal and professional boundaries

• Fall semester:

• Involved in Adams sustainability, 5DOA, Divestment Campaign
• Divestment campaign was a coalition between environmental groups and worked together to publish a divestment letter (under the newly formed EWG coalition logo)

• Winter semester:

• Worked on prepping for the new executives via policy updates and updating listservs - lots of administratively intensive projects

• Challenges this year in this position:

• Challenge facilitating transition into the remote environment
• Found that committee worked would diminish at points so keeping momentum throughout all semesters is important
• Personal capacity issues is always something that has to be considered

• Successes:

• Facilitating increased involvement with different constituencies that were previously underrepresented in EWGs
• Policy committee work was a success

• Next steps:

• Possibility of a tri-campus representation coordinator position
• Collective action tools for transition to next executive membership

2. Treasurer Report (Presented by Nathan)

• Nathan: pronouns he/him, position is Treasurer
• Revenues:

• Overall, we’ve reached 70% of the projected revenues
• Due to covid, we haven;t been ale to access the office and therefore the cheques but that should be remedied by the end of the year
• All these projections should be met by the end of year

• Levy rates

• 25 cents of our levy for Bikeshare/Bikechain
• All rates can be found on the website

• Expenses

• We’ve previously had lots of surplus which shouldn’t be the goal
• Covid has diminished our expenses considering the bulk is typically used by funding applications
• Ecofest application funding should be finalized shortly and will increase our expenses
• Food relief has also allowed us to increase our expenses and return this to the community of those that pay our levy

• We tried to limit the liabilities that carry out into the next fiscal year but covid remains a challenge
• We receive a lot more funding application and general expenses during the fall and winter semester, the winter semester has showed greater expenses but this is mainly due to the process time related to fall funding applications (something we’re trying to work on)
• We’ve gone over a financial policy reform (raymond will go over later)
• In the process to purchase a UTERN credit card to improve process time and financial controls
• David: Is UTERN currently running a deficit? How's that working?
• Nathan: our surplus from last year removed our current deficit - we’re missing levy cheques (from UTM) from student unions which we can’t access due to covid restrictions right now.
• David: Do you think that one of the cheques is in the old office? Offered to pick it up for us in a safe way if able to access the building during covid.
• Ciman: yes, some of these could also be in our mail that’s also stuck at UTSG campus which we can’t access.
• Coco: mentioned that Felipes (UTMSU) contact has asked us for a mailing address but can’t confirm if that’s been confirmed.

1. Funding applications (Presented by Dorsa)

• Dorsa: pronouns she/her, position is funding and application officer
• Applications:

• 14 applications so far and approved about $8,000 in funding
• E.g. Food waste competition by UofTrees

• Great event because it was very interactive and participation was great - it connected people and prizes and event was accessible

• 15 applications from Ecofest

• During the pandemic:

• Trends: increase in webinars as to be expected, about 50% were about webinars
• Positive trends: speaker diversity due to remote access and made possible at a lower cost due to transportation of speakers
• Trend: decrease in overall costs because of online format

• Next steps:

• We would really like to improve on our transparency by

• publishing minutes regularly
• Publishing a summary of rational for funding events >$1000
• Focusing on bridging the gap between budget and demand

• David: in the future, if things return to normal and having in-person events, is it too difficult to still let people attend online? Keeping an aspect of online participation really helps with accessibility.
• David: interesting to hear that this past year the events have had a 40% decreased cost than in-person

1. UTM report (Presented by Coco)

• Coco: uses all pronouns, position is UTM representative
• Main focus: to improve representation at UTM with UTERN and build relationships

• Wanted to have at least one event ran at UTM

• Establish relationships:

• EWGs were ongoing
• Relationships include: SAGE, UTMSU, Sustainability office and MScSM and Zero Waste

• Visibility:

• UTM UTERN now has an instagram account which has helped with promotion
• Have a working relationship with UTMSU
• Has been using more of our funding and our food relief program

• Events at UTM:

• SAGE, and Zero Waste were part of 5DOA, and MScSM speaker event
• Ecofest at UTM: collaborated with UTM sustainability week

• Sustainability week:

• An event that's focused on sustainability both within the campus context and beyond
• A project that begins at the beginning of the fall semester for the winter semester date
• UTERN was part of the planning and meetings for sustainability weeks

• Reflections on the role:

• This was the second year
• Useful to be a UTM student to facilitate the contacts on the campus
• Allowed them and UTERN to be more immersed in the UTM campus

• Next steps:

• Dish rental program at UTM
• Continue fostering relationship with MScSM and sustainability week
• Keep UTMSU updated and sharing with residence and UTMSU newsletter

• David: the summer position for ‘UTERN general position’ has been approved as a work-study position if you [Coco] would like to take it on - this would help with continuity between incoming executives
• David: looking at budgeting for each campus, there’s actually a lot of students at UTM in comparison - the history appears that UTM has been underfunded considering how many students are there and is something to consider.

1. UTSC report (Presented by Leeza)

• Leeza: pronouns they/them, position is UTSC representative
• Building connections was a major focus for this role
• Thinking about sustainability in particular, this idea varies between campuses and there is no central sustainability office in the same way UTM and UTSG
• Successes:

• Finally got recognized as a levy group at SCSU
• SCSU signed UTERN’s divestment letter and shows greater participation
• Our instagram followers have doubled and has been important for a remote setting - includes regular auditing of followers
• We now have a SCSCU sustainability ad hoc committee but is still a new connection - the hope is that this will continue into the next representative’s tenure
• We saw a lot of UTSC students accessing our foodbox delivery
• Collaboration with UTSC during 5DOA (the environmental governance event)
• EWGs were different every month - sometimes they were brainstorming sessions, sometimes they were workshops and events to get to know one another and improve partnership

• Next steps:

• Building strong relationships with the women and trans centre
• To collab with SCSU to provide recycling options to students on campus and meeting with individual taking on that portfolio which has currently been tabled
• Continuing outreach at UTSC and getting UTERN’s name out there - it was hard because of the pandemic and because this is only the second year this position has been active

2. Policy Committee (Presented by Raymond)

• Principles during COVID19:

• Fix glaring holes in utern internal structure such as conflict resolution procedures, clarifying amendment structure and redundant positions
• Improving our accountability to our community
• Building equity mandate - compliment to current mandate policy

• Two regular members: ciman and raymond
• Recurring members: danielle, coco, dorsa, alex, denelle, and nathan
• Constitutional petition:

• Our name (in full) has changed but acronym is the same
• Director of technology position has been removed and responsibilities shifted to executive secretary role
• Graduate rep -> graduate coordinator title
• Giving allocated spending power for subcommittees
• Adding conflict resolution procedures
• Setting of NELs in future to create EWG-related policy
• Clarification of operational policy procedures

• Equity policy:

• UTERN’s composition: executives will look towards recruiting PoCs, women, non-binary, and trans individuals
• UTERN’s positions of support

• Financial policy:

• Executive roles and finance committee responsibilities
• Guidelines for funding applications - have to comply to the equity minimums and we reserve the right to deny those applications if these are not met
• Budget process and contingency reservation and borrowing, lending and debt/liability accumulation
• Asset management and surplus instructions
• UTERN will always keep at least 1 yr’s worth of an operating budget and cannot be touched unless voted for (66%)

• Next steps:

• Establishing a new policy for EWG representation voting and endorsements
• Adapting to a post-pandemic universe and green recovery preparations
• Better supporting our constituency members and being fully accessible by 2025 meeting the province’s goal as well

• David: term ‘faculty advisor’ title is not technically [their/David] role, it would be just ‘advisor’ or something else
• David: one thing noticed during the financial policy - for any large projects, there will be a % of the funds withheld until whoever was managing the project presented the necessary receipts (10-15%). Don’t see anything in the policy indicating this. This is important for projects that are getting multiple funding from things such as participant fees.
• Ciman: notes that we don’t give any funding until receipts are provided, and if they are needed prior to we typically provide 50% of the total. Because this is done out of our regular conduct, this might be why we missed including it in the official policy.

3. Discussion period

1. UTERN activities and positions

1. Constitutional amendments

•  Official Financial Policy Amendments

• Financial Policy Amendment Sponsored by Raymond Dang, March 17th, 2021
• [To Change] Under Funding Guidelines
• $50 limit to $100 for maximum honorarium for speakers
• [To Add] Under Conflicts of Interest
• All former-UTERN Executive Members are explicitly unallowed to partake in activities related to UTERN’s finances (such as being involved in the process of applying for club funding), for up to one (1) year after.

• This may be waived by speaking to The UTERN Faculty Advisor.

• If there are no official interactions between UTERN executive members and former executives, and/or between UTERN executive members and executives of other organizations (such as large and small clubs/student unions/external environmental organizations), the Executive Secretary may make a note on the website indicating that there were no official interactions within the year.

• Official Interactions may only be recorded if the purpose of the meeting is related to a matter of financial or resource allocation.
• Official Interactions between The Projects Manager and Funding Applicants are waived from inclusion in the document.
• Interactions between UTERN executives and their former position predecessors are waived from inclusion in the document.
• Interactions between The Faculty Advisor and UTERN Executives are waived from inclusion in the document.
• It is the responsibility of The Executive Secretary to Create, Maintain, and Post the Official Interactions Document.
• This document may, at times deemed appropriate by the Faculty Advisor, be released to the Public on The UTERN website. Otherwise, Official Interactions Documents will be available on the UTERN website after the year has ended.
• In cases where there are ongoing official interactions that require confidentiality between one or both of the parties, the official interactions document shall redact such interactions for a maximum of two (2) years after the first interaction begins.
• The Faculty Advisor may access the Official Interactions Document at any point and waive any redaction claims if possible.

• These clauses above are effective on May 1st, 2022.
• This reform package updates the name of The UTERN Financial Policy to The UTERN Financial and Governance Accountability Policy.
• This would constitute Version 1.1 of the UTERN Financial and Governance Accountability Policy.

• Everyone present (Ciman, Denelle, Danielle, Coco, Mia, Alex, Nathan, Leeza, Jason, David) vote in favour of the proposed [additional] amendments to the financial policy listed above
• Constitutional amendment comments:

• David: section 6 - not much appears to be changed to the article so you need a motion to make this change, it really belongs under ‘structure’ and the details will be in the job description
• David: make sure to double check for grammatical error, and make sure there are consistencies when referring to positions (e.g. ‘officials’ is randomly used later -> keep using ‘executives’)
• David: section 5.15 - because you can have more than one policy committee it was changed to ‘a’ from ‘the’ policy committee
• Note: All of David’s revisions can be found [as the highlighted sections] in the document linked in the agenda
• David: section 11: for disciplinary process, hierarchy should be adhered to at all times and so the section that states “serious enough to not warrant a hierarchy” should be removed or re-evaluated
• David: section 11(c):what does “undue hardship” mean?
• Raymond: referring to accessibility needs of the accused
• David: use the word ‘incident” than the same “offense” (avoiding double jeopardy)
• David: section 11(e) if you’re confident that the process allows full access for the person under review has their full rights to be re-evaluated then you can just remove “for mitigating circumstances”
• David:  section 12(11) “processes will be conducted in only english: is that necessary given that those at UofT and those part of the executive by default would need to know english in order to operate here? - is stating this discriminatory, could you rephrase to include ‘unless interpreter is needed’ in case someone doesn’t speak english very well and would get lost in terminology?
• David: section 12(13) what other accommodations would be needed?
• Raymond: this relates to interpersonal conflict, meaning they can seek a temporary leave of absence or additional accommodations in this
• Ciman: there’s a lot of collaboration between execs so if there are conflicts amongst one another then they could request to work separately
• David: section 12(13)(a) could be incorporated into the equity policy rather than being here (b) in the constitution
• Everyone present (Ciman, Denelle, Danielle, Coco, Mia, Raymond, Alex, Nathan, Leeza) vote in favour of David’s revisions to the proposed amendments of the constitution

4. Concluding remarks

• Ciman: thanks everyone for coming out to the AGM and for their great presentations!