August Board Meeting Re-cap

Filling Committee Vacancies: 

• The Board of Directors approved the appointment of Erick Rahi and Simar Gautam to fill the At-Large vacancies and Iman Khan was appointed to the Director seat on the Elections and Referenda Committee (ERC).

Making Senate Elections More Accessible: 

• The Elections and Referenda Committee and Board of Directors endorsed lowering the nomination threshold for at-large undergraduate Senate candidates (100 to 25) to make elections more competitive. This matches the required number from undergraduate faculty senate candidates since there are not significant differences in their role or responsibilities.  

• Board tasked WUSA President Samir Sharma to report back on feasibility and timeline after conversations with UW Secretariat about necessary changes to UW Bylaw #3. Notable context: non-undergraduate members of senate need only collect 5 nominations according to the Bylaw.

Spring Reading Week Advocacy 

• The Advocacy Committee recommended a proposal for a Spring Reading Week to be discussed between WUSA student leaders and University Administration. 

• The WUSA President will report back to the Board with any relevant updates on this matter.

Fall 2026 Health Senator By-Election Dates

Keep an eye on the Nominations Page for more details in September. These are the important dates:  

• Nominations: September 21st-28th 

• Interim: September 29th-30th 

• Campaign: October 1st-5th 

• Voting: October 6th-8th

At-Large Advocacy Committee Seats 

• The 3 at-large seats on the Advocacy Committee will be appointed for the remainder of the year (April 2027). If you are interested in those, you can find them posted on the Opportunities page in September.

Executive Director Report: 

• The full-time staff satisfaction survey has launched which monitors WUSA work culture, environment and needs of staff. This is a survey done every 2 years. 

• Following the March Annual Members Meeting motion to amend the Corporate Social Responsibility Policy and discussions at board throughout the spring term, the timeline for providing a full review and implementation of the policy is October 2026

• New food options across various grab and go foods and desserts at Flock Stop. Try the new banana pudding, its fire. 

• Clubs.wusa.ca upgrades are officially live as of August 4th. This follows months of development and weeks of testing from staff and student clubs. 

• A new screen has been installed at the Turnkey Desk to display available study rooms in the building. QR codes have been posted outside of 8 rooms that are currently open for Self-booking testing. 

• WUSA IT staff is working hard developing and rebuilding servers and adding more security and automation to their processes. 

• Various Advocacy initiatives are underway including: Food Services Research, Rent Tracker, Student Course Perception Survey awareness, Change Engine planning, Quality of Teaching Advocacy Position Statement development. 

• The WalkSafe Program is returning for a full-term pilot this fall term including some walks during Orientation week with full hours starting Sept 14th. 

• Promoted many end of term events, member deals, and Work with WUSA opportunities leading into the fall term. 

• Encouraged Directors to get involved in Welcome Week events. 

 

President Samir Sharma Report: 

Met with	Topic
Imprint	Student Perks interview
Ombudsperson	General
UW Vice-President Administration and Finance (VPAF)	Lounge plan next steps, student space across campus, opening the SLC agreement, and obtaining a seat on PACOD
UW Provost and VPAF	Budget cuts, future budget planning, and functional reviews
SOPHS (Society of Pharmacy Students) President	Pharmacy students paying fees on clinical rotation terms
Ian VanderBurgh (Provost advisor on enrolment)	UW’s degree growth plans and transnational education
WUSA Director of Advocacy	RSP (student survey) topic planning
Registrar	Degree tracking and the new awards website
SSO – Student Success Office	Updates on their current work and initiatives
GSA – Graduate Student Association	A lot of topics including the Bombshelter Lounge plan
UW Provost	Indigenous Days and WUSA involvement
Campus Wellness Leadership	Introductory meeting
Math Associate Dean EDI-R	Concerns raised and feedback on practices in other faculties
Chief Information Officer	WatCard, interaction with IST, and opportunities for collaboration
Associate Provost Students Chris Read	Regular meeting

 

• Interviewed by CBC about OSAP cuts 

• Created a presentation for the Town and Gown Committee about WUSA’s Annual Plan 

• Made some changes to various committee membership due to Mujtaba no longer being a senator 

• Appointed Hilus Keay to be the at large student on the  Student Services Advisory Committee (SSAC)

Vice-President, Student Experience (VPSE) Majdalen Azouz Report:  

• Vice-President, Student Experience is fleshing out this new officer role more with biweekly meetings with the Executive Director 

• Continued work with Food Services about student consultation plans in focus groups 

• Healthy Waterloo food collaborative meeting focused on food affordability and opportunities to better coordinate food-related initiatives across campus. 

• Met with internal teams on society support, orientation events, Advocacy Committee follow-up, Board meeting updates, organizing involvement with the Ontario University Fair in September.  

• Outreach meetings with SSO, St. Jerome’s Student Council, connection with students at United College 

• Completed the second SLEF funding round and final Committee of Presidents (CoPs) meeting of the term 

• Attended WUSA events like Goat Yoga and Boat Cruise to engage with students.

 Vice-President, Government Stakeholder Relations (VPGSR) Rory Norris Report:  

• Two notable  topics have taken attention in local government relations: newly released Grand 

• River Transit data showing decreased ridership and the developing debate over the structure of the Region of Waterloo Chair position – which will be unelected, appointed by the Province going forward. 

• Attended the Alumo Summit in early July and met with peer student associations. 

• Advocacy Committee and Student Roundtables focused on local issues like heat and absence of air conditioning is affecting students’ housing experiences.  

• Attended recent Town and Gown Committee and presented student feedback to local government stakeholders 

• August began with the implementation of the new OSAP structure on August 1. OUSA responded publicly and has continued government and media engagement as students assess the impact of the changes ahead of the academic year. 

• OUSA (Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance) met with Minister Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security as well as MPP Tyler Watt, Liberal Critic for the Ministry; MPP Peggy Sattler, NDP Critic for the Ministry; and MPP Aislinn Clancy, Deputy Leader of the Ontario Green Party. 

• A transit and safety survey was launched for University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University students 

• Links: OUSA Presidential Update – July 2026 

• CASA work in July focused on regular Board responsibilities, the launch of the Ad-hoc Committee on Financial Sustainability and Planning (FSP), and several recruitment processes. 

• By August 13, the Government and Stakeholder Relations Officer recruitment had moved through panel interviews and remained in progress, the new Member Relations Officer had started, and the incoming Executive Director had been announced. 

 

Director Reports:  

• There were no oral director reports – all written reports can be found in item 6.5 of the Agenda. 

Board Member Time Tracker   

These hours reflect the period of July 1-31, 2026. 

Table: 

	Board Responsibilities	Committee Work	Engagement with Students	Ongoing Initiatives	Irregular Meetings	Miscellaneous	Total
A. Razmjoo	9	2.5	0	2.5	0	1	15
B. Chen	8.5	4.25	30	2.25	1.75	9.25	56
I. Khan	17	11.5	0	0	0	0	28.5
J. Lewis	14	0.5	0	0	2	3.5	20
K. Wang	7.5	0	12	6	0	4	29.5
M. Jejeran	4	1.5	12.5	0	7.5	0	25.5
M. Kanji	32.58	14.25	0	2.5	10.25	0	59.58
M/ Haider	5	7.5	4		7		23.5
O. Gaballa	22.75	5.5	4.75	1.25	7.5	8.75	50.5
R. Zhi							0