Before her leave of absence, AMS President Esmé Decker had been learning on the job as she worked to accomplish her goals around relationship building with student groups and transparency — although her priorities related to food security remain uncompleted.
In May, Decker became the first non-AMS staff member to be elected the society’s president since 2017, winning under the pseudonym Remy the Rat. While Decker said she has felt supported during the transition by permanent AMS staff and managers, she said the learning curve has been challenging.
On November 9, Decker announced she would be taking an indefinite leave of absence, starting November 13. At the time of publishing, AMS VP Academic & University Affairs Kamil Kanji is currently serving as acting president as the AMS searches for an interim.
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“It's a very big role,” Decker said in a November 6 interview. “It's not just the student government side of things, but especially in the president role, you're also working with all the managers on a catering business and all the different food outlets and events."
Still, Decker said being the AMS president has been an “incredible honour.”
Over the past seven months, Decker said she has prioritized reconnecting with several student groups to meet their needs and creating partnerships to coordinate shared advocacy efforts.
She led the signing of a new agreement with the Interfraternity Council in September after four years of a pause in relations and, alongside the AMS VP External Office, supported the Disability United Collective’s #Access4All advocacy campaign in October.
But, there have also been challenges, particularly when it comes to the AMS’s relationship with its resource groups.
While this relationship was already strained before Decker took office in May, her oversight of the AMS’s review of the PC1 and PC2 policies on workplace and sexualized violence made things worse. Resource groups like the Social Justice Centre and others complained at multiple AMS Council meetings earlier this year about a lack of student consultation, as well as some of the proposed changes to the policy.
“I had hoped to have more like sit down conversations with resource groups during the summer. But the scheduling didn't work out that well,” Decker said.
“I do regret how [the PC1 and PC2 review] turned out.”
Following students’ concerns, AMS Council approved the creation of an advisory group with third-party expert consultants — something Decker said she hopes ensures PC1 and PC2 work better for students in the future.
In terms of transparency, Decker said she has pushed for her fellow student executives to be as specific as possible in their updates to AMS Council and for council updates to be included in the same document as meeting minutes to make it easier for students to access.
She added that she has set up a Calendly to host office hours — and has encouraged other executives to do the same — and is hoping to start having in-person town halls in the new year.
When asked about the lack of promotion around this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) — which typically includes a question period for students to voice their concerns — Decker said this year’s meeting “was kind of an engagement experiment.”
Decker pointed to the recent AMS Food Bank expansion as a success in the area of food security, but acknowledged that some of her goals on the issue have taken longer to complete.
She said work on the food security initiatives allocation table is still ongoing, and that she and other AMS execs are continuing to talk with VP Students Ainsley Carry about support from the university.
“Food security is always an important topic that we are addressing and advocating for,” she said of the talks with Carry.
Decker said she was planning to support the development of policy guides for students to learn about AMS governance structures, as well as turn her attention to promoting the AMS Elections in March to increase voter turnout in the remaining months of her term.
With her leave of absence, the timeline of these remaining goals is unclear.
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