Written by Sophie Downie Allen and Shea McInnis

The Saint Mary’s University Students’ Association (SMUSA) is an organization that supports students at Saint Mary’s University (SMU) in a variety of ways and at a number of different levels. Whether it is through services such as Husky Patrol, academic advocacy for students, or the work of SMUSA executives, SMUSA influences and governs student life at SMU. Yet, the most influential group within SMUSA is one that operates behind-the-scenes: the SMUSA Board of Directors (BOD). The BOD is the highest governing body of SMUSA, according to the SMUSA Constitution. The operations of the BOD are not always visible to students, as the group is more concerned with the big-picture aspects of SMUSA as opposed to the everyday operations of the association. However, that is not to say that the work the BOD does is irrelevant to the student experience at SMU.

Photo by Saint Mary’s University on Twitter

The BOD is composed of nine students who are elected from the existing SMUSA body to serve a term of two years. The primary purpose of these nine students is to set the direction that SMUSA will take in a given academic year. The secondary purpose of the BOD is to ensure that the SMUSA President, who also acts as the CEO of SMUSA, is maintaining the direction for the association that the Board has laid out. To fulfill both of these objectives, the BOD works within a policy-based model, meaning that board members create and amend policy that is relevant to SMUSA’s direction and the SMU student body. Although the BOD does not relay their policies directly to the rest of SMUSA or the student body (as it is the President’s job to integrate policy into SMUSA’s every day operations), this policy work still plays an integral role in “improv[ing] the quality of life and educational experience for each student at Saint Mary’s University”.

Given that the 2020-2021 academic year at SMU has been continually affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important now than ever that SMUSA is active in working to improve the experience of students at SMU. With the BOD playing such a big role in SMUSA’s general operations, it is of undoubted interest to students what the Board has been up to so far this year. And from what it looks like, it has not been much.

The BOD has met four times since September of the 2020-2021 academic year, yet has only officially seen one new policy through. When asked “how many motions has the Board of Directors passed this year?” during the Q&A period of the 2021 SMUSA Annual General Meeting (AGM), the Chair and Chief Governance Officer of the BOD, Rami Zokari, noted that the only new policy which had been passed by the BOD this year was a conflict resolution policy. This fact can be corroborated by observing the minutes from the September 27th, 2020 meeting of the BOD. However, there is little other information available to students or the general public about this new policy. The conflict resolution policy shockingly does not even appear on SMUSA’s policy webpage for public review. Not only has the BOD been largely inactive when it comes to policy creation and amendment this year, but it also appears that there is a lack of transparency between the BOD and SMU students.

Nevertheless, the BOD and SMUSA have indeed acknowledged that they have a way to go when it comes to being transparent with SMU students. At the AGM, Board member Adam Snow commented on the fact that the BOD has struggled in the past with trying to make policies more accessible to students. As such, SMUSA has been working toward a solution for this problem. Members of SMUSA at the AGM also mentioned that there are policies in the works that will be coming to fruition later in the academic year, or at least in the near future. SMUSA President and CEO Bryn de Chastelain spoke about a new Human Resources (HR) policy for SMUSA that the BOD plans to pass by May 1st of this year. This policy would structuralize HR relations within SMUSA, as they are currently dealt with informally. The Vice President Academic for SMUSA, Abigayle Winters, also discussed how she is interested in developing a hiring policy for SMUSA that would create a more institutionalized and fair process for hiring within SMUSA. It should be said, however, that conceptualizing a policy is a far cry from actually putting forward a policy and passing it. Although it is clear that the BOD has new policies in the works, the group’s relative inaction this year alludes to their tendency to be all talk and little action.

Transparency and accountability to students should be one of the primary forces driving the actions of SMUSA and the BOD. Every year all students pay a $165 fee which goes directly towards funding SMUSA. This money does not directly confer a benefit to students, like the fees for the health plan or the U-PASS. The SMUSA fee (which contributed 700,000$ to SMUSA’s 3.5 million dollar revenue in the 2019-2020 year) pays for SMUSA’s day-to-day operations but also helps to fund the president’s salary and the stipend provided to members of the BOD. It’s worth noting that only the president’s salary is disclosed, sitting at $27,500 in the 2019-2020 year.

Given that the BOD has done nothing of note in the 2020-2021 academic year, students are essentially being “taxed” (through the form of the SMUSA fee) without seeing any collective action in return. By only passing one single motion so far during the entire 2020-2021 academic year, the BOD has failed to do anything for the students they represent for a significant portion of their elected term. Their inaction and lack of a clear plan are especially inexcusable during a pandemic when students need support and advocacy now more than ever. Elections for new BOD members are occurring through early March, which presents an opportunity to pressure new Directors into action from the moment they join the Board. As students, we can no longer rely on the BOD to commit to action for us; therefore, we must do it ourselves.

By and large, SMUSA has provided for students during the 2020-2021 academic year through reopening services (such as the food room and husky patrol) and continuing to support other services (such as student health coverage and the U-PASS program). However, this was no excuse for the BOD to rest on the laurels gathered by the rest of SMUSA. The BOD is paid by students to continually improve the student experience year after year, which is not something they have accomplished in the slightest. Only passing one single motion through the academic year is unacceptable, especially during a pandemic. Unfortunately, it now falls on students to hold the BOD accountable for their inaction. We must demand action and transparency from the Directors who are supposed to represent and address the needs of the student body. We encourage others to vote in the upcoming SMUSA elections on March 8th and to press BOD members to explain why only one motion was passed. Change does not happen quietly.

SMUSA’s Board of Directors Sit Idly By

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