Annual Members Meeting 2025 Recap 

On March 26th, WUSA’s Annual Members’ Meeting (formerly known as the Annual General Meeting) took place, with around a hundred or so students in attendance, including those who sent in proxy votes! The Great Hall was transformed into a platform for engaging discussion, debate and decisions as President Nick Pfeifle went through each motion with the attendees. Several motions were passed and some specific motions stirred intellectual discussion and debate on the topic. One of the highlights of the event was the delicious poutine bar, open to attendees and members during the recess of the meeting.  

Let’s take a look at the various motions considered, amendments and which motions passed or failed. 🔎

The meeting started off with voting in favour of or against the agenda approval, previous agenda minutes’ approval, and declaration of conflict of interests from the incoming Board of Directors and student senators.  

Once the preliminary voting took place, it was followed by ordinary business (think administrative stuff), which included the passing of the following: 

• Ratification of the 2025-26 WUSA General Election results 
• The 2024 audited financial statements were presented to the members 
• PricewaterhouseCoopers was reappointed as WUSA’s auditors for the 2025-2026 Fiscal Year 

Passed Motions ✅

Then the meeting moved on to discussion of member-proposed motions. The following motions passed, meaning WUSA will act on these in the coming year:  

• Establishment of an honorarium for student senators 
  • WUSA’s Board of Directors will ask the University’s secretariat to establish an honorarium for student senators. 
• Consideration of a new governance structure 
  • WUSA is tasked with exploring the possibility of a new governance structure and to share its findings at the 2026 Annual Members Meeting 
• Establishment of a $1 Federal advocacy fee 
  • This $1 per student, per term fee will allow us to join the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), meaning we can boost our advocacy at the federal level. 
• Establishment of a new pay for officers that reflects the workload attached to the role, effective in the 2026-2027 governing year 
• Implementation of a mechanism for the Board of Directors to track their hours 
  • The Governance Committee will develop a structure to tie compensation to work completed.  
• Lounge plan project and operation/capital fee increase 
• Amendment of Section 9 of the Bylaw to clarify the election process for the officer positions  
• Establishment of a Queer Living Learning Community on campus 
• Establishment of an Accessibility Fund for WUSA’s Elections and Referenda Procedures to better support students with accessibility needs when they are running for the Board of Directors 
• Collaboration with the University of Waterloo to improve campus tunnel and bridge wayfinding and accessibility 
• Standardization of the Officer removal process in WUSA’s Bylaws 
• Alignment of WUSA’s investments with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) values (like requests made to the University of Waterloo). 

Motions Not Considered 🙅

Some motions were voted against consideration during the meeting, meaning they weren’t discussed: 

• Reduce the Imprint fee 
• Freeze WUSA Fees 

Failed Motions ❌

Only one motion failed. That motion proposed that WUSA develop a transition plan for the Accounting and Finance Student Association (AFSA) to become a subsociety under the Arts Student Union (ASU). 

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Annual Members Meeting and participated either in-person, online or through proxy votes – you are the reason for the meeting’s success!  

Anusha Akella 

Communications Assistant