The UTMSU board of directors has voted to remove VP part-time affairs from its executive team as of next year.
As The Medium reported last week, the UTMSU board of directors successfully passed a motion at its October 31 meeting to remove the position from the executive team.
The decision, if it achieves a two-thirds majority at the UTMSU annual general meeting this Thursday, would go into effect as of May 1, 2016.
“It has come to our attention over the past couple of years that there is no need for [the VP part-time affairs] position,” said UTMSU president Ebi Agbeyegbe in an email to The Medium. “We believe that the removal of this position will also make it more apparent that there is no separation between full-time and part-time students on campus and that every student on the UTM campus deserves equal representation on issues that affect them,” he said.
Currently, Amir Moazzami holds the position of VP part-time affairs on UTMSU.
Agbeyegbe described plans to hire a mature student and part-time affairs coordinator to assist UTMSU in addressing needs specific to either group of students if the decision passes.
According to Agbeyegbe, UTMSU plans to retain the two director positions intended for part-time students on its board, a position that is currently vacant following the spring and fall 2015 elections as students initially interested in running for the position failed to return their nomination packages with the signatures of 10 other part-time students by the fall byelection due date.
Agbeyegbe also mentioned that the union has consulted with the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students downtown regarding the removal of the position and that UTMSU will preserve its ex-officio seat within the association.
