Governing Documents

General Documents

URSU is governed by a number of written documents to ensure stability in its operations. Modifying, updating and improving these documents is one of the primary functions of the Board of Directors and the membership.

The URSU Strategic Framework is primarily developed by the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors. It provides the vision, mission, values, and goals for the organization.

The University of Regina Act contains a number of clauses that relate to the University of Regina Students’ Union. URSU is also a Membership Non-profit Corporation, which means it is governed by the Saskatchewan Non-profit Corporations Act (English version / French version). Both of these pieces of legislation are controlled by the Province of Saskatchewan and can only be changed by elected officials of the Province.

Constitution

The URSU Constitution forms the foundation of the organization’s operations. It includes clauses relating to the goals of the organization, the membership of the organization, the terms, rights and responsibilities of officers and directives relating to elections and general meetings. The terms of the constitution cannot be superseded by any bylaw or policy. The constitution may only be changed at a duly called Annual General Meeting or Special General Meeting of the membership of URSU.

Bylaws

In the hierarchy of organizational documents, Bylaws are one step below the Constitution. Bylaws are typically documents that relate to relatively static aspects of the corporation that shouldn’t need to be changed that often. Bylaws cannot be in conflict with the Constitution. Bylaws can be changed at any time by the Board of Directors (and those changes come into effect immediately) but changes to these documents must be approved by the Membership of the Corporation at the next duly called Annual General Meeting. If the changes proposed by the Board of Directors are rejected by the membership, then the old version of the Bylaw shall be adopted. URSU currently has the following Bylaws:

Policies

Policies are the lowest form of organizational document because they are superseded by both the Constitution and the Bylaws – that being said, they are by far the most common and widest-ranging in their scope. Policies are typically the primary tool used by the Board of Directors to provide directives on the governance of the affairs of the corporation. Currently policies govern everything from posters to organizational finances. The creation, modification and removal of policies requires only a majority vote of the Board of Directors.  URSU currently has the following policies:

HR Policies & Procedures