AGM struggles to find purpose

For the first time, no new business was passed or discussed at the Annual General Meeting

Image by: Emma Sewell
The AGM drew a minimal crowd.

At one point during this year’s AMS Annual General Meeting (AGM), Stephen Smith, ArtSci ’16, asked the small number of attendees to put up their hands if they weren’t required to be there. Only a couple of hands rose.

The AMS was held on Monday in Grant Hall with low turnout and no new business on the agenda. AGM had previously been a venue to pass student fees and had drawn crowds of students representing campus clubs or services aiming to pass their fees in the past.

This year, however, the AMS altered its policies to remove the AGM as an avenue for passing student fees, and now the fall and winter referendum are the only ways to pass new fees or increase existing ones.

The lack of new business on the meeting’s agenda drew few students. The agenda can be viewed here.

At the meeting, the AMS executive presented to their “State of Society” address to the AGM – an hour and a half presentation detailing their progress on campaign promises. In the presentation, the AMS covered the accomplishments of their platform and their commissions as well as the new short-term and long-term goals for the incoming AMS.

The discussion period was sparse. Only a couple members at the meeting commented on how AGM needs to be re-evaluated to engage students.

Ryan Pistorius, ArtSci ’16, said that the AMS needs to remove possible barriers of engagement to involve students in the AGM process. Engineering Society incoming VP Student Affairs, Evan Dressel, Sci ’18, said the meeting isn’t well-known among students and that he was “strong-armed” by his society president to be at the AGM.

The AGM was just over two hours long.

Tags

AGM, AMS

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