There are 13 Student Senators representing the undergraduate student body on the McGill University Senate. Each Senator is elected for a one-year term by their respective constituents, typically the undergraduate students in a specific Faculty or School.
The McGill Senate is a governing body of the University tasked with general control and supervision over academic matters. It is composed of 113 voting members broadly representative of the University’s constituencies (faculty, staff, students, administrators, Governors and alumni).
Senate meetings regularly take place on the third Wednesday of every month, at 2:30 PM in Room 232 of the Leacock Building (see the dates here). Meetings are open to the public and are live-streamed online (archived for one month).
The more detailed aspects of the Senate’s work take place in various university committees, most of which have undergraduate representation coordinated by SSMU. Seats for student representatives on these committees are filled by Senators as well as students-at-large through an application process.
McGill University is a large institution, and underneath the McGill Senate, there are many University-level Committees. This is where planning, discussions, and consultations take place for various issues concerning various bodies in the University. This is also usually where the SSMU Senators, as well as undergraduate students like you, can start advocacy projects and initiatives. This document will list the University-level Committees with open student seats and provide descriptions for each. Unless otherwise noted, most committees consist of 20-30 members, 2-3 of which are students. The remainder are a combination of University Administrators, members of the Senate, members of the Academic staff, etc. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to ua@ssmu.ca or uasecgen@ssmu.ca.