Home » News » New USC board elected

New USC board elected

March 15, 2010
By Shreya Tekriwal

Last weekend, members of the University Students’ Council elected four members of the board of directors for 2010-11.

The Process:

Vice-presidents of the USC are voted in during the second part of the USC’s Annual General Meeting.

According to Scott Courtice, public affairs officer for the USC, the incoming and the outgoing councils get together to elect the vice-presidents.

“This is the point where last year’s council and this year’s council both exist as one [...] for the sole purpose of electing the vice-presidents. The rationale [is] that the incoming council that has to work with the vice-presidents next year should have a say in who they are, but the outgoing council has experience working with vice-presidents this year, [and] has a different perspective,” Courtice said.

A similar procedure to that of the USC is also used by McMaster Students Union.

“They are elected by the new Student Representative Assembly at the first meeting of the new assembly [...] Each election takes several hours of intense questioning of each candidate by the members of the Assembly,” Nick Shorten, deputy returning officer for MSU said.

However, the student government at Queen’s University, known as the Alma Mater Society, uses a slate system when electing their vice-presidents.

“Presidents and vice-presidents are elected on a slate [...] Before executive elections, there is a nomination period where the candidate teams collect 675 signatures [...] from the student body to nominate the slate for the election,” Lucas Anderson, commissioner of internal affairs for AMS, said.

Courtice added there are advantages and disadvantages to both election procedures.

“[With the process used by the USC], the council can determine and see the temperament of the incoming president and what they want to accomplish and can vote for candidates that are a good fit with that president’s vision and [...] fit personalities together,” Courtice said.

He also mentioned students, on the other hand, may perceive this method to be less democratic.

“This system is designed so the Assembly can determine the right person for the job,” Shorten explained. He added the system is also criticized as one which empowers inexperience.

“Not many people at this age really even have the experience […] to run an organization as large as [MSU],” Shorten added. “Changes could definitely be made but I think this problem is more associated with student politics than the system itself.”

According to Ross Gibbons, political science professor at Western, both processes used by the USC and AMS can be viewed as democratic: “Both processes can make claims to being ‘democratic.’ USC council members are democratically elected as representatives so anything they do carries some legitimacy. On the other hand an election-at-large is clearly and more directly democratic.”

The Positions:

Similar to the USC president, those assuming positions as VPs will be working on a full-time basis for the USC. These individuals either take a year off their academic commitments or spend a year on the board upon graduation.

“[I am] responsible for USC media, publications, elections, media relations, internal and external promotions, alumni relations and the Info Team,” Carolyn Hawthorn, current communications officer for the USC, explained.

The communications officer is hired by the incoming president on the advice of the outgoing communications officer.

“I want to make sure that every single initiative of all of the other vice-presidents are being communicated to every single student at Western [...] Internally, I want to make sure all the different commissioners, co-ordinators, council executive as well as staff […] knows what each other is doing and there is really that cohesion there,” Nicole Fassina, incoming communications officer, said.

Justin Arcaro, current VP student events, focuses on developing USC programs that build community and offer positive learning experiences for students, including managing orientation week programs and the clubs community.

“I am excited to empower the different commissioners and co-ordinators within the portfolio — just because there’s so much to do and I am only one person. So really [looking forward to] working with them and focusing on being a team,” Justin Mackie, VP-elect for student events, said. “Events will be had, Western.”

As VP university affairs, Dan Moulton is the chief advocate for students on all internal and external student priorities and is responsible for managing the relationship between the university administration and the USC.

Meaghan Coker, VP-elect for university affairs, mentioned her priority will involve being a chief advocate for students on campus and off-campus: “Putting students first [...] and by recognizing that we have a lot of potential on campus for other students to also be advocates and to support them in their capacity to do that.”

According to current VP campus issues Will Bortolin, the role of his position involves working with commissioners to address the social, cultural and societal issues that may limit the educational experience and quality of life of undergraduates at Western.

“The key for us I think is to push outwards and engage the every day student, who is walking to class and not necessarily looking to get involved or get educated on the issues [...] We want the entire campus to be safe, welcoming and inclusive of students of every time,” Scott Kerr, VP-elect for campus issues, said.

According to Sacha Kumar, current VP finance, his portfolio is responsible for managing the current budget and also creating the budget for the upcoming year.

“Vice-president finance is held accountable to every projected target in the budget, so it is imperative that [the individual] becomes an active participant in decision-making in each portfolio,” Kumar added.

“I truly believe, because Vision to Lead clearly outlines that the only reason that we are here is for students, we have to get back to asking them what they want,” Ely Rygier, VP-elect for finance, commented on his focus for the upcoming year.

Follow the Gazette on Facebook and Twitter.