Internal Affairs Restructure Announcement
We’re excited to announce that the AMS Board of Directors has approved a proposal presented by Secretariat Sylvie Garabedian and President Owen Rocchi to restructure the Internal Affairs Office, effectively immediately.
The restructure of the office focused on three pillars:
(1) Meaningful Experiences. All volunteer and wages positions have been reviewed to ensure that positions remain meaningful for students and provide professional development opportunities that are unique and valuable.
(2) Conflicts of Interest. Following a restructure of the Judicial Affairs Office announced earlier in the year, all positions where a conflict of interest might threaten the integrity of governance proceedings have been reviewed and measures placed to mitigate the impact of any potential conflicts of interest.
(3) Financial Equity. Under the new changes, all positions in the office are compensated either with an honorarium or as waged staff. The restructure aimed to make wages and honoraria consistent and reflective of the contributions of students to the Internal Affairs Office.
CHANGES TO THE ELECTION TEAM | Previously, the Election Team was chaired by the Chief Electoral Officer who worked in tandem with a Ballot Deputy, Disputes Deputy and Finance Deputy. Under the new restructure, the Election Team will see the addition of a Chief Returning Officer who will co-chair the Election Team with the Chief Electoral Officer. The CEO and CRO will work in tandem to execute all society elections, and ensure they adhere to our policies and procedures. Additionally, there will be 4 election deputies, whose roles are more broadly defined and focused on the in-person election effort.
These changes come from the recognition that a de-slated election will at minimum triple the workload of the election team, and having measures to mitigate and address potential conflicts of interest will be crucial for a smooth election season.
CHANGES TO THE GOVERNANCE TEAM | Previously, all affairs related to the AMS Assembly were handled directly by the Secretariat, who was supported by the Assembly Scribe in the release of the meeting minutes.
Under the new structure, the assembly scribe role has been expanded into the Chief Governance Officer role, who will, under direct supervision, oversee affairs of AMS assembly, and related standing or ad-hoc committees. This change comes from a reflection on the role of the Assembly Scribe and improving the experience of students involved in the role to be more meaningful.
CHANGES TO JUDICIAL AFFAIRS | In 2023-2024, the Board of Directors approved a restructure to the Judicial Affairs Office which saw the role of the Judicial Affairs Manager split into the Judicial Case Manager and Judicial Policy Manager.
Following the May Assembly, the AMS announced changes to the hiring of the AMS Judicial Committee in line with our commitment to ensure the diversity thought and experiences of students in different faculty societies are represented. Please refer to the announcement for more detail.
We are confident the new changes will set up the Internal Affairs Office for success in the upcoming school year, and ensure it is efficiently meeting its constitutional mandate to provide students with fair governance proceedings.
For more information, please direct questions to the Secretary of Internal Affairs, Sylvie Garabedian by email:
Hiring for the Internal Affairs Office is open on http://apply.myams.org/