Only 40 students attended DSU annual meeting

Less than a quarter of the students required to reach quorum attended the Dalhousie Student Union’s Annual General Meeting on Tuesday.

The union’s executives presented on its overall status, financial audit and individual reports, but were unable to go forward with minor proposed bylaw changes due to missing quorum. 

The AGM required 214 students to attend to amend bylaws, but only about 40 attended the event held in the Student Union Building.

proposed bylaw changes would have made certain DSU committees open only to committee members or to all students 

Also proposed was removing the requirement that the union’s vice president of finance and operations has to be a full-time student — which is not required for any other executive — and removing some redundancies in the bylaws. The DSU cannot amend their bylaws until next year’s AGM. 

The meeting was originally scheduled for Oct. 9 but was rescheduled because the union did not publicize the proposed bylaw changes with enough warning, as required by their bylaws.

DSU President Anjali Seshadri says the union is “steady and progressing,” and able to meet all of its core commitments to programming, campaigns, good governance, student support and society administration.

Read more: What are the DSU’s goals for the year?

The DSU advertised a $500 cash draw for one student who attended the AGM — awarded through a giant cheque — but it was cancelled due to missing quorum.

Anton Kredl, vice-president of finances and operations, presented an audit of the DSU’s finances from accounting firm BDO, which the union passed. Kredl noted the DSU still has $5 million in long-term debt from 2016 renovations. He described the union’s financial situation as “healthy,” and said the debt is on track to be paid off in 10 years. 

SUB: Students question transparency, AGM scheduling process

During the AGM’s question periods, some students questioned the union’s transparency, student outreach and the decision to reschedule the AGM.

Sarah Eaton, who attended the event, asked Kredl for further transparency in how the union spends its more than $3 million budget.

“I personally would like to see a much more detailed budget report on how that money is being used,” said Eaton. “It should be public to the whole student body.”

Currently, the union releases its annual budget, which does not contain a full breakdown, and the newly released audited financial statements, which do break down some expenses. Both are available publicly.

Students also questioned why the AGM was rescheduled four days before its original date, and criticized the inability to meet quorum as a failure of the union’s student outreach.

“[It] is unfortunate that it has occurred,” said Seshadri. “It is on our minds for next year and on, how we could build better engagement for the general meetings.”

Other students also raised issues with the recent DSU by-elections, which saw no one run for six different council positions. There is no opportunity to elect students to the vacant roles, roughly a quarter of council, before the union’s 2027 general election. 

Read more: Only three candidates running across nine empty positions in DSU by-election