Within the past few weeks, many University of Ottawa students may have noticed the multitude of posters and campaigning strategies filling the walls of the library, cafeteria, and other buildings around campus. All of these efforts lead up to the SFUO by-elections, which took place around Halloween. These elections determined who would be installed as the new student executives representing us within the University. While many of you maybe didn’t have the chance to vote or closely follow what was going on during the election process, I’m here to provide some highlights for you from two of the elected officials within the SFUO!
John Davies is one of the elected Social Sciences representatives sitting on the elections committee who oversaw the elections. He offered some insight into what the election process, and subsequent Student Federation involvement, looks like. He began by expressing how excited he was to see how the referendum on General Assemblies works out. “Although I’m not campaigning, as I’m on the elections committee, I think the Marxist Student Association did excellent work in getting so many students involved with the petition. Now it’s up to the whole student body to decide if they want them going forward!. His focus on the agency of the students is one of the consistent themes present within these elections. According to John, it is our job as students to go forth and become educated on the individuals pushing to gain a seat within our SFUO, as they do hold so much control over many functions of the University. They represent us in a variety of ways and so it is important that we are represented by people who we choose for ourselves!
Davies also continued to explain how this coalition on campus, he feels, will bring forth excellent and promising results. “It’s great to see the executive working with them and actively trying to accomplish their election promises. I’m glad to be part of a board that’s trying to include as many students as possible and also; hopefully, get more students engaged and speaking out for themselves”. Candidates of this past election worked hard to reach out to their voters, holding forums addressing their platforms, displaying posters around campus, and updating Facebook groups explaining what they hoped to change within our institution and why we should vote for them. Davies also provided some insight into what the election process entailed, both past and future. “As for the past elections, I really enjoyed getting involved with the process. We had so many great personnel working to make sure everything went smoothly, and the number of contested seats was quite high. I know for the upcoming referendum and elections in February we’re going to have a lot of the same great staff getting things done and we’ll be able to improve on the process ourselves after we’ve completed a review of this election”.
Anne-Marie Roy, the current President of the SFUO, also provided a statement regarding all of the newly elected officials. “I’m looking forward to working with the newly elected VP Services and Communications, Ikram Hamoud, and all new board members over the next six months to work towards bringing positive changes to campus”. Keep an eye out for these two hard working SFUO representatives in the upcoming months. Remember it is important to become involved in the University with which we spend so many years of our lives being a part of. Educating ourselves on the election process and candidates is one way of ensuring the best University experience possible!
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