A special resolution to remove the 2014 Student Development Committee Convenor, Andrew Shim, was passed through the SDC on Wednesday night.
The meeting, presided over by Arc Chair, Chris Mann, was over after little more than half an hour, suggesting that most, if not the full 75% of votes required in favour of the resolution were in place prior to the meeting. Mr Shim did not attend.
As per Arc regulations, the removal can only come into effect after a further special resolution by the Arc Board. This discussion is expected to occur at a meeting of the Board on Monday night. The requirement for Board to affirm due process by the SDC is considered to be merely a formality, given that four Board members – the CEO, Chair, SRC President, and PGC President – are all members of the SDC and were present at the meeting.
Mr Shim’s tenure as Convenor is understood to have been a difficult one, marred by administrative errors, absenteeism, and factional rifts in what is traditionally the largely apolitical SDC.
In the initial ballot for SDC Convenor in 2013, Mr Shim secured three of the six available votes, bettering two other candidates. This failed to satisfy the strict majority required by Arc regulations, thus initiating a second ballot in which Mr Shim and SDC Volunteers Representative Henry Sit both secured three votes. As per regulations in the event of a draw, a candidate’s name was drawn randomly, and Mr Shim was selected as Convenor. This atypical selection process appears to have contributed to questions within the SDC and Board as to his legitimacy to lead.
More relevantly, Mr Shim’s absence from core representative duties, and the failure of the SDC to meet regularly and complete basic administrative tasks, seems to have rendered his position untenable.
While Mr Shim was originally selected by the six elected SDC members, it was not solely their decision as to whether he would continue in the role, with the three ex-officio members (the Arc Chair, and SRC and PGC Presidents) and two new SDC Sports Representatives also allowed to vote for or against his removal.
Both Mr Shim and Mr Mann declined to comment on these matters at this time.
Crystal Moran
@manlycarrots
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