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Low turnout at the UTSU town hall BLC claims that they did not receive an invite from UTSU to the town hall meeting ALICIA BOATTO ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Following UTSU’s town hall with the Black Liberation Collective last Thursday, BLC claimed that they were not invited to the meeting. According to UTSU’s Facebook event for the town hall, the meeting would be a space for “our [union] members from the Black community to voice their concerns about the UTSU, and what we can do to improve.” “This is a space for our members to hold the UTSU accountable, and for the UTSU to engage in dialogue about problematic practices. This space will be prioritizing the voices of Black UTSU members,” the event description had also stated. The town hall began 40 minutes later than scheduled, and only one Black student was present. Fortyfive minutes after the meeting commenced, Yusra Khogali, a member
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There was a low turnout for UTSU’s town hall with the Black Liberation Collective. of the BLC, entered the room and accused the UTSU executives of being “incompetent” and using Black students on campus “as tokens.”
Last Friday, a day after the town hall, the BLC released a statement on their Facebook page commenting on the meeting and its turnout.
“Around 10 people attended—only one Black student—and [the] majority of the attendees were UTSU executives,” read the statement. “Due
to the poor turnout, the conversation was reframed to be a discussion on ally-ship.” At the town hall, Khogali claimed that the low turnout of the meeting was due to a lack of consultation. Khogali also accused UTSU of scheduling the town hall meeting before their AGM to improve their image. “The BLC was not invited to the town hall, nor were other Black students or organizations consulted with,” BLC’s Facebook statement read. “If UTSU claims to be holding space for their Black membership, then Black students need to be reached out to and consulted with.” “We discussed the town hall with Black student leaders before the event. But we must, and will, make these relationships with Black students a priority,” UTSU’s Jasmine Wong-Denike told The Medium in an email. BLC continued on page 2
Motion to introduce three new commissions UTMSU plans on discussing the removal of its nine ministries during its AGM on November 17 racism, tuition fees, access to education, and more.”
DARA SALAMAH UTMSU’s Annual General Meeting this year will be focusing on bylaw changes, and will discuss the expansion of the Student Centre. MINISTRIES REMOVAL Currently there are nine UTMSU ministries, including the Ministry of International Students, Ministry of Student Services, Ministry of Education and Outreach, Ministry of Student Life, Ministry of University Affairs & Academics, and the Ministry of Social Justice. According to UTMSU’s president Nour Alideeb in an email to The Medium, the agenda that will be discussed at the AGM will move to remove the “languages” around ministries, which means eliminating any references to the ministries and ministers. Since UTMSU will no longer have them, the union will have to update their constitution and bylaws. “We noticed that with nine different ministries, it was difficult for
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UTMSU’s AGM will take place this Wednesday. our students to allocate nine hoursworth of their week to engage in decision-making bodies at UTM,” said Alideeb.
“With that being said, we have condensed our nine ministries into three commissions to be more accessible to our students.”
“We hope that with the conversion to three commissions, our students can tackle all aspects of the issues they care deeply about, like
NEW COMMISSIONS Alideeb explained that the three new commissions will be created to replace the existing UTMSU ministries. The new commissions will be Campaigns and Advocacy, Student Life, and Student Services. According to Alideeb, commissions focus on the “specific priorities” of the students and “ensure that our students have a say in what campaigns UTMSU runs, what events we hold, where money is spent, and what services we provide.” The commissions will acknowledge international student issues as well. Alideeb also explained that the commissions will attempt to create more “intersectional spaces” for students to take part in leadership roles, develop new ideas, and give back to their communities. Agenda continued on page 3