University of Toronto Students' Union
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| Institution | University of Toronto |
|---|---|
| Location | Toronto, Ontario |
| Established | 1901 |
| President | Mathias Memmel |
| Vice presidents |
Internal & Services: Daman Singh University Affairs: Carina Zhang External: Anne Boucher Equity: Chim Alao Campus Life: Stu Norton Professional Faculties: Shivani Nathoo |
| Members | 50,000 |
| Website | www |
The University of Toronto Students' Union (UTSU), legally known as the Students' Administrative Council of the University of Toronto, Inc., is a student advocacy group at the University of Toronto. It is Canada's second largest student union and the third largest in North America.
The council evolved from the University of Toronto Union, which was founded in 1901. This was replaced by the Students' Parliament in 1907. The Students' Parliament suffered from low attendance from its elected members, especially representatives of the medical school. As the years progressed its Executive shouldered much of the work. In 1913, the parliament was replaced by a Students' Administrative Council composed of solely male students. The Women's Students' Administrative Council was formed in 1916, and in 1919 the two councils formed a Joint Executive. In 1931 the separate councils were abolished and the Joint Executive became the main body, and during 1935-1936 the unwieldy name "Joint Executive Students' Administrative Council" was simplified to "Students' Administrative Council". At an annual general meeting on 16 November 2006 University of Toronto students voted to change the name to University of Toronto Students' Union.
The mandate of UTSU until 1971 can be found in section 34 of the University of Toronto Act, 1947. SAC's original offices were located in Hart House, but are today based in the Louis B. Stewart Observatory at the centre of Hart House Circle, just south of the Hart House building itself.
The Union is governed by a Board of Directors which includes elected representatives from each of the schools' federated and constituent colleges and professional faculties. The number of directors from each division is proportional to the population of that college or faculty.
The Union runs through commissions, committees, and its board. The bulk of the Union's work comes from the five commissions: Campus Life, Community Action, Sustainability, Social Justice & Equity, and Academic & Student Rights. Any student can participate in the Commission meetings that are held at least once a month. Members of the Commissions are full-time undergraduate students who would wish to attend, all of whom have voting abilities. The committees are made up of members of the board of directors and deal with specific issues of operations and services. Projects and budgets move up through the commissions and committees.
In April 2013, students of the Engineering Society (EngSoc), one of the UTSU federated bodies, voted to separate from UTSU following several years of tension between EngSoc and UTSU. After several years of negotiations, UTSU and EngSoc came to an agreement where UTSU recognised EngSoc as the main student government for engineering students, ensured that EngSoc would receive half of all UTSU levies and put EngSoc as the primary provider of student services to engineering students. EngSoc agreed not to defederate in return.
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