By Dessa Bayrock (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: January 23, 2013
Following the surprise resignation of SUS’s vice-president finance Sam Broadfoot in November, vice-president internal Greg Stickland says the remaining SUS board didn’t quite know how they were going to fill the position.
“We first were scratching our heads,” Stickland describes.
Ryan Petersen, who has been a rep-at-large for the past five years, was the SUS member who stepped up to fill the role of VP finance.
“He had been on the Finance Committee for five or six years … so it seemed like a natural choice,” Stickland explains. “He’s also a big part of [the SUS Governance Committee].”
Jay Mitchell, Debbie Ellis, Zach Soderstrom, Nick Willms—all seasoned reps—also put their names forward for the position.
Petersen, a geography student heading towards a double major in international and urban studies as well as a minor in English, says he feels comfortable in his new role.
“I’ve been on the financial committee for the entire time I’ve been on the Student Union board,” he says, “So I’m fairly familiar with how things are run and how things have been run.”
Petersen has been a rep-at-large his entire time at SUS, except for a brief period where he stepped in as trades representative. He was immediately welcomed by trades students, he says, entirely due to his facial hair.
“It was funny, all the guys who saw my picture online – they were like, ‘Yep, that’s a trades representative. He’s got a beard,’” Petersen says with a laugh.
There are several things he says he’d like to tackle as VP finance – the gap between VP and rep, for starters. Petersen notes that he was always a part of making SUS decisions as rep-at-large, but never really saw how that decision was carried out.
“I always knew there was a gap in the requirements of a rep and a vice-president, but I didn’t quite expect such a large gap. And I think that’s something that I’d also like to address,” he explains.
Otherwise, he’s currently knee-deep in figuring out the fallout of the new budget adopted at the November Extraordinary General Meeting.
“It was unfortunate that it came about in such an abrupt fashion that had a lot of serious repercussions for many students,” Petersen says, “but for the most part we can still make something good out of this.”
One of the sections of the unprecedented student-led motion instituting the new budget describes the formation of a financial oversight committee manned by students outside of SUS. This committee would be responsible for overseeing how SUS pulls from its contingency fund or goes into deficit – both a help and a hindrance, Petersen explains.
“Just how the committees and how the board works – it always seems to be the same group of people doing it over and over again. So you know what? A fresh pair of eyes would be welcome,” Petersen says. “As soon as I can get everyone in the room at the same time to make this work.”
