With the Student Union Society (SUS) board of directors already halfway through its year long term, a by-election has been called in hopes of filling the five vacant positions.
Third-year philosophy student Cody Alex Lucas-Dumas, who is also the only candidate in the election, will be running for aboriginal representative.
SUS vice president internal Ashmeet Saran explained that the low amount of candidates was unexpected following the high amount of interest in SUS’ general elections earlier this year.
“In relation to the last election’s turnout, we were expecting a few more applicants,” she said. “However, it’s usually unpredictable how many people will apply because it’s the fall semester and many students are more focused on settling into the new academic year.”
The remaining vacant positions, college of arts representative, faculty of access and continuing education representative, faculty of applied and technical studies representative, and school of graduate studies representative, will remain open and will be up for election again in SUS’ annual election next year.
“The purpose of all positions on the SUS board of directors is to make sure that every department has a representative who channels the department’s concerns or ideas that need to be communicated to an upper-level management,” Saran explained. “By having representatives of each department on the SUS board, the UFV community (as a whole) is represented on the SUS board of directors.”
Although the election won’t be a tight race, Saran still encourages students to participate by voting.
“Each representative position carries as much importance as executive positions because the SUS board of directors oversees the organization as a whole,” she said. “Even if a position is uncontested, essentially it is yet an election. Students yet have a right to express their opinion by being a part of the voting process.”
Students can vote in the election on October 24 to 25 through their myUFV accounts. For more information, visit ufvsus.ca/elections.
