It’s the final countdown to the YFS Annual General Meeting

A new activist group called Students for Democracy at YorkU has emerged, calling on the York Federation of Students to adopt democratic procedures as the YFS annual general meeting approaches.
Previously, YFS VP Operations, Gayle McFadden told Excalibur the date for the meeting would be announced after YorkFest.
The Annual General Meeting was finally announced to students via email on November 17, and is scheduled for November 30 at 5 p.m. in Accolade West 109. Posters have gone up on campus announcing the AGM.
Since then, concerns have been raised that students might miss the notice of the AGM, which is buried under a schedule of mental health awareness events in the email and poster.
York is U Chair, Sheila Shahrokhi says the lack of promotion and incentives to attend the AGM is concerning.
“Anyone can agree that the YFS typically does a fantastic job of promoting their campus events,” says Shahrokhi.
“In comparison, the promotion of the Annual General Meeting has been indirect and there seems to have been minimal resources attributed to the promotion of the event.”
“Glendon College Student Union, which has an approximate $125,000 budget, offered a free pizza dinner to the first 90 students at their AGM last week. YFS, which has an approximate $3.2 million budget, has provided no information on what incentives they will be offering students to maximize participation at this meeting,” adds Shahrokhi.
Students for Democracy is promoting the AGM date on its page to boost attendance.
At the AGM, audited financial statements for the preceding fiscal year are presented by the VP Operations as well as a report to the membership by the executive committee.
According to YFS bylaws, one annual meeting of the membership shall be held during the elected term on campus, while agenda and other relevant materials are to be made available to members no less than 48 hours prior to such meetings.
Moreover, bylaw 8d reads that “any error or omission in giving notice of an annual or general meeting (…) shall not invalidate such meeting.”
Any amendments to the bylaws are ratified at the AGM.
In an email shared with Excalibur, YFS President Mithilen Mathipalan says the deadline to submit motions is November 26 at 4 p.m.
Students can submit motions to the president, while proxy forms are available at YFS offices. Mathipalan notes that proxies are used for the calculation of quorum, but not for the tabulation of votes.
Students for Democracy is not the first organization at York advocating for change within the YFS. Others include E-Vote Now and Reform YFS, which are suspected to be the same network of individuals.
E-Vote Now, a student organization advocating for the YFS to adopt an online voting system, says it will be submitting a motion to implement online voting at the AGM.
The YFS did not respond to  requests for comment.
Alex Kvaskov
Assistant News Editor