UVSS Governance Review
On March 8, 2022, the UVSS announced that it will undertake a governance review to address concerns expressed by student leaders and its members alike regarding the structure of the UVSS Board of Directors. These include representation, compensation and workload of board members. We believe that it is a step forward to ensuring that the UVSS is a place where students can realize their vision of supporting their fellow students and that its services are relevant to their needs today.
To complete this task, UVSS hired an independent third-party consultant with expertise in governance, non-profits, and student leadership. The governance review started in May 2022, and was a four phase project that included the following:
- An analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges of the current UVSS board structure, based on interviews of members of the UVSS Board of Directors over the past five years.
- A review of a separate equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) assessment that was conducted by a different third-party consultant in 2021, and incorporating relevant insights into the governance review.
- An environmental scan of 20 student organizations that discuss their governance structure and compensation models.
- The final recommendations report, which is informed by the findings of the reports above.
The governance review was completed and presented to the UVSS Board of Directors on February 6, 2023. For transparency, the Board recently voted to share the complete governance review to all members by uploading it to the UVSS website. Future UVSS Board of Directors have the ability to decide which recommendations to implement, and how to do so.
It is our hope that in sharing the full UVSS governance review, our members feel our commitment to ensuring democratic participation and enhancing student experience. We also hope that this review will compel students to run for a position in the UVSS Board of Directors, in order to ensure that the UVSS has a clear direction forward.
To access the reports, please click here.