Motion passed at board of directors meeting to survey students and assemble
The Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) voted in favour of continuing the campaign against the Ford government’s cuts to OSAP at a meeting of the board of directors Tuesday evening. After several clarifying points, the vote passed with almost no opposition.
The vote was originally scheduled to be held as part of the semi-annual general meeting of the RSU earlier the same day. The necessary quorum of 100 members was not reached, meaning the motion was moved to the board of directors meeting.
Strike committee spokesperson and Socialist Fightback member Hermes Azam spoke about the need to have physical general assemblies to build the movement on campus, similar to the one held on Sept. 25.
There were a few board members who expressed concern about general assemblies, considering the amount of people who commute to Ryerson, as well as mobility concerns. Online solutions were proposed, including online surveys and voting.
The board eventually passed a motion that includes the following actions for the RSU to take up in the coming semester:
- An online survey will go out to Ryerson students in “early January.”
- The input and results of the survey will be brought to the first town hall in early February.
- A second town hall will be held at the end of February.
- Quorum must be 50 members.
- A final vote will be held online.
- The RSU will carry out the action that has the “majority vote.”
While the survey has not yet been drawn up, there were several suggestions floated in the meeting including a three-day strike, a one-day strike and more modest non-strike options.
After the vote, members of the board also spoke about the need for the student union to play a leadership role in the movement. While the RSU will survey students in January to see what they feel is the best action, their current position is in favour of a three-day strike to be held in March 2020.