Elections Procedures and Dates

• Nominations Open: December 22, 2025
• Nominations Close: Jan 22, 2026
• All-Candidates Meeting Jan 23, 2026 @ 5:30 pm
• Interim period: Jan 23-24, 2026
• Campaign Period: Jan 25-Feb 2, 2026
• Voting Days: Feb 3- 5, 2026

Mental Health Advocacy Position Update

• Board approved updates to the Mental Health Advocacy Position.

WUSA Roundtable – Food on Campus

• Board approved the next student consultation roundtable to happen in the afternoon on Nov 11^th and the topic will be Food Services and Food Insecurity

Approval of the Audit Report and Draft Financial Statements

• Board Approved the Auditor’s Report of WUSA’s Finances from the 2024-25 Fiscal Year & Draft Financial Statements. The Financial Statements will be released publicly in the coming weeks.

Risk Management Training

• As part of the Board’s bimonthly Training and Development activities, they received a session on the risk management aspects of the board’s responsibility, types of risk, board and management roles, risk tolerance, and best practices for oversight.
• The training covered how risk management should be integrated into long-range planning, operating plans, and board agendas, with regular updates and clear delegation of risk mitigation to management, while the Board maintains oversight.
• Board members asked about best practices for whistleblower policies, including the use of anonymous forms versus contactable forms for follow-up needs, and were advised that organizations often offer multiple reporting methods, stressing the importance of following established procedures to mitigate risk.

Inclusion of Investment Review in Board Policy

• Chair of the Audit Committee, A. Chang presented and led the adoption of a motion to include annual investment performance review requirements in the board policy manual, with amendments to explicitly reference reputational risk and ESG considerations.
• Board members discussed adding language about reputational risk, ultimately amending the policy to reference this factor, ensuring that the board considers the impact of investments on organizational reputation and member expectations.

Board Transition Policy Amendments

• The Board approved Director S. Sharma’s amendments to the Board transition policy, codifying practices for joint review of annual plans and budgets by incoming and outgoing boards, with minor wording changes and clarification of cost implications.

Executive Director Performance Evaluation Process

• The Board discussed next steps for the executive director performance evaluation process and agreed to move forward involving the University’s HR department to conduct the evaluation, with President D. Mikhail tasked to gather information and return with timelines, ensuring compliance with policy, aiming for a common understanding on the process.

Executive Director Operational Reports

• Staff are starting to coordinate elections and setting goals according to various metrics.
• The Research team has published 2 reports from the Representative Survey Platform (RSP): The Yearly Planning Report and The Events Report 
• There is currently some delayed response time with Clubs inquiries – the team is expanding to provide greater support and improvements in the future.
• The Pay-What-You-Can program has around 60-70 meals to students per day, now 2 weeks into the program.

President Report

• Preparing for local advocacy around transit with Regional Councillors with some input from relevant WUSA student groups like the Planning Students Society.
• There is a hope to talk to Waterloo City Council about housing in the winter term as well.
• Board discussed evaluations and heard feedback on committees, with discussions on how to run them more effectively.

Vice President Report

• Attended the OUSA General Assembly at Laurentian University, with 10 Waterloo student delegates – this went well. The format made it easier and some schools provided training sessions for their delegates ahead of time.
• There are Federal and Provincial Government lobby weeks coming up in November
• The Change Engine and Politics Without the Podium student engagement events are happening on November 13th.
• Advocacy Positions Committee discussed changes to the Mental Health Position Statement
  • The committee also discussed Waterloo Regional Police Services (WRPS) plan to install CCTV cameras in some student areas.
    • Students were not consulted and WUSA will reach out to WRPS to see if some informational sessions can happen with the student communities so effects can be understood.
  • There has been work on Ontario’s Bill 33 – Remington talked to CityNews about the advocacy going on here.
• ION Stage 2 expansion into Cambridge – Damian will be taking on more advocacy