Nauman Mughal and Richie Pyne have been voted in to division four of the UTMSU board of directors at Wednesday’s board meeting to fill the vacant seats for part-time students.
In his presentation to the board, Mughal provided an overview of his volunteerism on campus, including the Psychology Association of Undergraduate Students at Erindale, the Muslim Students’ Association, and involvement at Student Life, while also expressing concerns regarding part-time students and OSAP, and concerns about the limited time they are able to spend on campus.
Pyne, VP internal for the tri-campus Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students and UTM director at APUS, maintained that he can bring his concerns forward as a director on UTMSU to reflect other part-time students like him.
According to Pyne, a concern of his is related to part-time student schedules and the challenge it may pose when trying to maintain relationships on campus in addition concerns over similar service fees between full and part-time students.
According to the UTMSU constitution and bylaws, if vacancies occur after November 1 within divisions one, two, three, or four of the board of directors, they shall be replaced with an election at the board. UTMSU circulated a vacancy notice last fall and four people applied for the position, including Mughal and Pyne.
During UTMSU’s December board meeting, executives and members of the board agreed to keep the process of electing candidates in January alongside the scheduled reopening of divisions one, two, and three. Abdulla Omari, a division three director, amended the motion not to evacuate the three divisions as representatives have already been elected to those seats for the academic year.
Among other motions discussed, Farah Noori, a division three director, requested that UTMSU release a statement supporting the MSA following an event organized by the student group earlier this month. According to the motion, it is alleged that a biology professor “acted harshly towards the speaker, failing to engage in proper discussion” at an event intended to pose questions about the Islamic faith.
It was decided that UTMSU’s board and executive members will look into the alleged incident and will draft a letter based on their findings.
The next board meeting is expected to be scheduled in February.
