The Students' Union's Chief Returning Officer delivered a post-mortem speech to members of the Students' Legislative Council on Tue., Mar 18. In his discourse, aptly titled "Democracy is not a Spectator Sport", CRO Shuv Majumdar reflected on the election and offered both words of advice and words of warning to the campus politicians, especially those who won positions on next year's council.

Originally posted: 2003-03-12

The U of C will remain in CASA for at least another year. On Tue., Mar. 10, the Students' Legislative Council defeated by 6-8 a resolution to discontinue its membership in the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations.

In response to the Students' Union decision, CASA Government Relations Coordinator Rob South said he was pleased with the outcome.

Sadness and disappointment filled the Gildenstern room among scant cries of merriment on Fri., Feb. 14 as election losers made way for jubilant victors. Thirteen candidates tried for executive positions, five did not lose.

President

Current SU VP Academic Jayna Gilchrist garnered 1,383 votes, handily defeating nearest competitors Kyle Gould who received 563 votes, and Mohamed El-Rafih who earned 550 votes.

SU General Elections 2003 Results

President

El-Rafih, Mohamed- 550

Gilchrist, Jayna- 1383

Gould, Kyle- 563

Blatch, Christopher D.- 394

VP Academic

Nicolaides, Demetrios- (Acclaimed)

VP External

Batiuk, Lauren- 1841

Doig, Kari E.- 875

VP Events

It's encouraging that the SU VP events forum was entertaining and well-attended--hopefully it proves prophetic for that portfolio next year. Last Thu., Feb. 6, two of the three would-be VPs--Lawrence Bailey and Richard "Krafty" Bergen--spent an hour answering questions from current SU VP Events Irene Enyedy and numerous audience members. Third candidate Anant Patel missed the forum because of a conflict with his workplace.

Many tragedies have been built around dysfunctional families fighting over who should be the new leader. Should it be the brother returning from abroad, the financially-adept sister, or the intelligent but ugly step-child? Such is the question with this year's SU General Election as three internal candidates campaigned for the VP operations and finance position this Tue., Feb. 11.

Current Academic Commissioner, Gavin Preston started with the possibility of reducing SU fees.

On Wed., Feb. 5, SU vice-president external candidates Lauren Batiuk and Kari Doig participated in a candidate forum.

When asked about the three most important issues in the external portfolio, Batiuk mentioned tuition, student loan allowances, and parental contributions in student loans.

Doig also thought that tuition was an important issue.

One hundred students listened to Students' Union presidential candidates speak about their plans for the future on Mon., Feb. 10. All candidates had ambitious goals, but apathy got universal attention from the field.

"There's more than 30,000 students on campus, only a select few end up caring," said Kyle Gould. "I'm that person who's going to incite people to stop and care."

Chris Blatch's idea for reducing apathy among students is to inform both them and members of the community about student issues.

A crowd of at least 30 students braved jazz saxophone music over the Tuesday lunch hour to hear five candidates explain why four of them should become next year's Operations and Finance commissioners.

Most candidates focused on issues relating to differential tuition, student clubs, and money.

Candidate Jarrod Fuhr said that the three main issues facing student next year would be differential tuition, clubs funding, and the Students' Union budget.

Without much fanfare, Students' Union Academic Commissioner and fourth-year Political Science student Jayna Gilchrist became the new Vice-President Academic. The Students' Academic Assembly--empowered last week by the Student's Legislative Council to fill the vacancy left by former VP Academic Rosie Nagra--voted 12-0 in favor of electing Gilchrist, the only candidate, on Mon., Jan. 20. Gilchrist was sworn in at the Students' Legislative Council meeting on Tue., Jan. 21.