A Special General Assembly is scheduled to be held on Nov. 15 after the regular GA of Oct. 9 was adjourned due to a loss of quorum. However, the Special GA may coincide with the Strike GA, which would present logistical problems, as the Strike GA has a quorum of 500, while the Special GA maintains a quorum of 100.
The Special GA may cost as much as $2,000, according to Students' Society President Jake Itzkowitz.
"There aren't many places that can hold 400 people," Carmon said. "I have never chaired a meeting that large; there need to be changes examined if you want more than 300 people [at the GA], and you need to re-examine how you do it."
The Constitutional and By-Law Review Committee will convene to address these and other concerns regarding the Special GA. With no precedent set, official rules are needed as to how the Special GA will
be run.
While a referendum question proposing reforms to quorum and an online ratification will be placed on this fall's referendum, Carmon and Itzkowitz believe that these potential reforms will not be in place in time for the Special GA.
"Depending on when the Special GA is held, [the GA reforms] may or may not affect the special GA," Itzkowitz said. "[The Special GA] will probably be held under
regular quorum."
The question proposes to establish a qualified quorum of two per cent of the undergraduate population, or 395 students. This would mean that any motions passed while the attendance is under 395, but over the regular quorum of 100, would be put to an online vote no more than 48 hours following the close of the GA.
"The idea was that, by increasing quorum, a large number of students have to be there to decide policy,"
Carmon said.
The two per cent quorum has received wide criticism from GRASPé, as well as members of Council for being an arbitrary number. GRASPé member Cleve Higgins had asserted that online ratification quorum should have been set to 1.75 per cent of the student body, or roughly 350 people, because it was the highest recorded turnout at a GA.
2008 Woodie Awards
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