Jesse, a friend and fellow former Imprinter, e-mailed the Imprint board and others opposing the proposed policy to pay section editors $2,000.
Imprint president e-mailed Jesse back and then later e-mailed the Imprint mailing list to say that the board had rejected the changes.
A few days ago, you have received the agenda for Imprint’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), which will be held tomorrow, Monday, February 22, 2010.
The agenda included all proposed policy changes made by volunteers and other Imprint membership. However, all proposed changes have to be approved by the Board of Directors before they can be brought before the membership to vote on at the AGM.
Since those changes had been posted exactly 10 days before the AGM, Imprint’s Board of Directors did not get the chance to vote on them until today, Sunday, February 21.
We have discussed and voted on the proposed changes, and have rejected proposed changes to Policy 14 - Honouraria. All other proposed changes have been approved, and all Imprint membership attending our AGM tomorrow
will get a chance to discuss and vote on them.I apologize for the late notice on the update, but our hands had been tied with regards to approval or rejection until today.
Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you tomorrow at the AGM, starting at 3:00 p.m.
– e-mail from Sherif Soliman
Though they made the correct decision in the end, the circumstances are still questionable.
I can understand the board wanting to let policy changes be considered, but how could the proposal be put on the agenda for a meeting of members if it hadn’t even been approved by the board. The proposed policy changes were e-mailed out late in the evening of 12 February, which is nine days before yesterday, not the 10 that Soliman suggests.
Imprint editor Mike Davenport even acknowledges it in his e-mail:
Our annual general meeting will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, February 22 in the SLC multipurpose room. One of the functions of the AGM is to give the opportunity for all staff members to vote on Imprint policy.
In the interest of transparency, all proposed policy changes must be posted at least ten days in advance. Well, it’s ten days in advance, and here are some proposed policy changes. Please become familiar with them — there are some big changes in here which will alter how the office is run.
[...]
Policy 14 (authored by Brent Golem)
This policy governs honoraria. Brent has pretty much re-written the entire policy here, everyone should read it.
[...]
– E-mail from Imprint editor-in-chief Mike Davenport Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:57:35 -0500
Though Davenport is correct about the requirement for 10 days notice for the board to approve policies, he is wrong about who should vote on them. It is not the staff who get to vote on them but the members.
4.15 Policies and Procedures
[...]
The Policies & Procedures may be amended from time to time by the Board. Any change not ratified by the members at a general meeting, however, shall cease to be in effect.
– Imprint Bylaw No. 6
Also under the bylaw, members must be given 14 days notice of the business to be considered at an annual general meeting.
So, while the board made the right decision with respect to this policy change, the circumstances are questionable.
Student organizations whose fee revenue is collected by the University of Waterloo should be required to include in their bylaws for proper notice to members of changes like this.