For many McGill students, SSMU is a mysterious entity in the background of student life, bringing life to student organizations and events. Maybe you’ve been in the SSMU building once or twice; maybe you voted in the organization’s Fall referendum; or maybe you’ve attended every general assembly since your first semester. Despite its large presence on campus, the internal processes of the university’s Student Society continue to be uncertain for many undergraduates – a governing body whose inner workings are largely unknown to those it represents.
While the organization thrives off of civic engagement and democratic participation, student involvement has waned as students critique SSMU’s lack of transparency and its inability to produce monumental change through legislation. At such a large institution, building a strong relationship between the organization’s board of directors and all of its students is a near-impossible task. As questions of funding and resource allocation are raised by members in the midst of pushback against leadership, voter turnout has decreased by over 50 per cent between the Fall 2023 and Fall 2024 referenda. In 2024, the disconnect between students and SSMU became increasingly clear, leading members to wonder whether 2025 will bring new efforts by the organization to restore this essential relationship.
The past year was a whirlwind of activity in both pushback and progress for SSMU. The organization had a busy year, from fighting tuition hikes in February to dealing with legal issues on support for Palestine throughout the summer and into the fall – all while managing a deficit of up to 1.3 million CAD.
SSMU’s Fall elections, including the Fall 2024 referendum, general assemblies, and special elections, were definitely on students’ radar this fall. The Fall 2024 referendum gained attention after SSMU was unable to increase its membership fee for the fifth year in a row. 58.1 per cent of voters said “no” to an increase to the mandatory base fee for all undergraduate SSMU members, which would have increased the expense to 85.81 CAD for full-time students and 41.22 CAD for part-time students. According to SSMU, the fee would have allowed the student association to provide members with “assets of better quality” and more opportunities for student success while also alleviating the pressures felt by inflation and allowing the organization to operate more comfortably within their budget. Students, already struggling with the increasing cost of living in Quebec, were apprehensive about a fee increase, the use of which was unclear due to the organization’s lack of transparency. McGill undergraduates are frustrated with how the organization’s leadership communicates with
its constituency.
The year culminated with a Special General Assembly on December 5 regarding the removal of President Dymetri Taylor from office. In November, Taylor sent out an email that misconstrued the legal implications of the highly contentious Policy Against Genocide in Palestine, which has been under injunction since November 2023. This came weeks after McGill asked SSMU to sever its relationship with Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) as a student club, claiming a violation of the Memorandum of Agreement between the University and the SSMU, which is still being debated between the two legislative bodies.
Ultimately, President Taylor was not impeached, but the issue was highly important to those involved in SSMU affairs and brought a large turnout to the event. For many in attendance, the assembly marked a turning point in SSMU’s relationship with McGill students. The Special General Assembly demonstrated unity among students in their desire to enact change at McGill “Being at the [general assembly] in December was one of the only times I’ve seen so many McGill students come together with the same goal,” a student wrote in a statement to the Daily. “I recognized a lot of people who don’t typically show up to events like this on campus, which I think sets a strong precedent for students engaging more with the SSMU democracy in the coming semesters.”
As we enter the new year, SSMU has the chance to strengthen their relationship with the student body and be more transparent about the policies and inner workings of the institution. “I would like to see way more transparency from SSMU this year,” another student wrote. “I like to think that I’m a student that’s very tapped into what’s going on, and still I feel so out of the loop. […] Since it’s such a big part of our student fees, information about what the SSMU is doing should be readily available.”
Representing 24,000 students is not an easy task, especially when the student body is incredibly diverse – in identities, fields of study, and desire to become involved within McGill’s legislative body. The SSMU is designed as a vehicle to enact change at McGill, but this only works when we take advantage of the organization’s dedication to hearing our voices and representing our opinions in university affairs. We cannot critique democracy while remaining apathetic an uninvolved in its processes.
SSMU will be holding its annual Winter General Assembly on Monday, February 3, at 6:00 p.m. in the third-floor SSMU ballroom on McTavish. This meeting will allow members to enact change by participating in direct democracy as SSMU executives outline their plan for the new year.