Anna Katycheva / McGill Tribune

Last Friday evening the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) held a General Assembly (GA) to discuss motions related to the Quebec-wide student strike movement opposing tuition increases. The SUS does not typically hold GAs open to its members and last week’s assembly occurred as a result of student petitioning for a GA.

At the beginning of the evening, the assembly had two motions on the floor – one calling for the SUS to publicly announce its support for accessible education and opposition to all tution hikes, and another which would have seen the formation of an anti-tuition increase strike committee. 

The GA had a quorum of 125 members, and began with just over 100 voting members present. Numbers increased steadily over the first hour, and quorum was reached just in time for the first vote.

After much deliberation and a number of amendments, the first motion on the SUS’ support for accessible education passed with 81 votes for and 43 against. 

A number of amendments were debated and passed, most notably one that weakened the scope of the motion by changing the wording from “a policy … against all tuition hikes, with a long-term goal of free education for all students,” to  “a policy in favor of accessible education and against current tuition hikes.”

The assembly lost quorum moments after the vote on the first motion.

The movers of the second motion withdrew their motion calling for the formation of a strike committee before it was read. They did not want to have their motion voted on consultatively and then taken to the SUS’ General Council (GC).

“We knew it was going to get shot down at [General Council],” Aidan Drake, U1 mathematics and a mover of the motion, told the Tribune. “We [also] feel there needs to be a lot more mobilization before we can properly move towards a strike committee and/or a one-day strike.”

“We also know that those [on the GC]  who are sympathetic are uncomfortable making public their political positions,” Leif Ásgeirsson, a mover of the first motion and member of the Science Undergraduate Mobilization Committee, said.

A major student strike across the province is planned for March 23, and several McGill faculties, including the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS), the Social Work Students’ Association (SWSA), and the Medical Students’ Society (MSS) will be holding assemblies in the next few weeks to consult their members on whether to move towards taking part in the strike.

Throughout the evening, discourse was very civil. Matt Dolson, the GA’s speaker, kept dialogue moving and helped those attending, some of whom were unfamiliar with the rules and procedures of GAs, to understand the proceedings.

The meeting adjourned at 6:35 p.m.