The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) convened for its second Legislative Council meeting of the year on Thursday, Feb. 1. The meeting discussed motions regarding fee increase referendum questions in the Winter 2024 referendum cycle.
Deputy Speaker Sierra Fallis began by announcing that a motion regarding approval of the Student Nutrition Accessibility Club (SNAC) funding application and the rules for the 2024 Winter General Assembly—set to occur on Feb. 5— were approved over email. She also shared the Executive Nomination Kit and the SSMU Referendum Nomination Kit for the Winter 2024 SSMU executive elections.
Vice President (VP) Finance Amina Kudrati-Plummer spoke in support of a motion regarding a referendum question to increase the SSMU membership fee by $27.11 per semester for full-time students in the Faculties of Arts, Architecture, Education, Engineering, Music, Management, Nursing, Physical and Occupational Therapy, Science, and Arts and Science and by $29.92 per semester for those in the Faculties of Law, Dentistry, and Medicine. While a referendum question to increase the fee failed to pass last semester, Kudrati-Plummer emphasized that the increase was necessary in order to fund a pay raise for SSMUnion workers and that SSMU would need to reduce operations if the fee increase was not approved. The motion passed with 70 per cent of the vote.
Following this, Gender and Sexuality Commissioner Gillian Smith discussed the motion regarding a referendum question to increase the Queer Equity Support fee by $1.32 per student per semester. Smith advocated for the motion, highlighting that this bursary gave critical support to students in need.
“Ninety-five per cent of this fee goes to emergency bursary funding for queer students,” Smith said. “This is a response to the reality that queer people on our campus need financial support and experience severe financial barriers to being a student here.”
This motion was passed after a brief question-and-answer period.
First-Year Council Representative Rajan Duncan then spoke in support of a motion regarding a referendum question to create a First Year $0.50 opt-outable fee to support the First-Year Council. While the motion failed to pass last semester, Duncan emphasized the vitality of the council in supporting first-year McGill students.
“We really do need this fee for the First-Year Council to be able to host events and plan giveaways and to create outreach for the first-year community,” Duncan said.
In response to a question from Kudrati-Plummer regarding an apparent jump of over $1,500 in the planned 2024-2025 First-Year Council budget from the existing budget, the motion was tabled until the council could clarify.
Motions regarding referendum questions on fee increases for WALKSAFE, the Union for Gender Empowerment (UGE), and the Black Students’ Network (BSN) were also passed after minimal discussion.
VP External Liam Gaither then gave a report on External Affairs, in which he highlighted action taking place on campus in response to planned tuition hikes from the Quebec government. His report noted that over 10,000 students are striking across McGill and Concordia, pointing out that the majority of those students were from Concordia. He also encouraged department executives to reach out if they were interested in taking action, and he announced a new SSMU Legislative Council working group focused on combating the tuition hikes.
Finally, there were two reports from SSMU subcommittees. For the Gender and Sexuality Advocacy Committee, Smith noted that the committee distributes $3,000 in direct funding to queer students in need at each of their bimonthly meetings. For the First Year Council, First-Year Councillor Rajan Duncan explained that planning was underway for a McGill’s Got Talent first-year talent show, a Power Hour with various engineering student associations, and a continuation of their popular therapy dog program.
During the question period, VP Student Life Nadia Dakdouki and Kudrati-Plummer requested that members of the Legislative Council reach out to them with any questions or concerns regarding the SSMU General Fee Increase Motion.
“If you have concerns please bring them to me. I really want to make sure with this motion that people feel more comfortable,” said Kudrati-Plummer. “I know there were a lot of concerns about the last one regarding transparency and I tried to make sure that this motion is as transparent as possible.”
Moment of the Meeting:
In response to concerns from Gaither regarding low usage of WALKSAFE’s services among students, Arts Councillor Keith Andre Baybayon noted that his experience as a floor fellow taught him the importance of the service for ensuring that students have an option for returning home safely after dark.
Soundbite:
“Every two weeks when I distribute these funds, I hear about how this fund saves their lives, this fund buys their groceries, this fund paid for their rent when they’re being kicked out by their parents.” — Smith, explaining the necessity for an increase to the Queer Equity Support fee.
