The Student Union Society (SUS) General Election is set to take place this April 1–4. That may seem like a long ways away but the nomination period has been open since Feb. 9, and will remain open until March 2. The election is to determine who will fill SUS’s executive positions and student board representatives for the coming school year. There are four executive positions up for grabs: president, vice president internal (VPI), vice president external (VPE), and vice president students (VPS). Last year the positions of president and VPI ran uncontested. Two students ran for VPS and two for VPE. UFV students are able to nominate themselves or a fellow student to be considered to run for the election.
SUS looks after various services on campus such as the campus connector bus, Fair Grounds cafe, health and dental coverage, and the U-Pass program. As students we pay a small fee ($351.66 a year for full time students) for these services that SUS has control over.
Even with plenty of opportunities to enhance one’s resume and make change in the student body by working for SUS, UFV continues to see low turnout for both executive position and student board representative positions.
“[It] was a choice of our students. I think it’s a challenge everywhere to have more candidates!” Gurvir Gill, the current SUS president who ran uncontested in last year’s election, said over email. “There are three societies (CJS and CIVL) on campus and I’m sure SUS is not the only one facing a low number of nominees. Also being a SUS executive does have some demanding components that may not be the right fit for a student.”
I wonder if larger universities experience these same issues regarding low turnout, or even universities with a larger population living on campus. Maybe it’s an issue unique to UFV.
Now that the nomination period is upon us, Gill states: “We can do all the marketing, the explanations on the roles, provide as much details as we need to. But that’s half the piece of the puzzle; we cannot force students into student governance, or take time from their personal interests. The best we can do is provide the opportunity, but the final decision for students to run in these roles are up to them.”
This is true. I’m sure it goes along with other clubs and associations at the university that are facing low participation; we simply can’t force our peers to participate.
Since the majority of students don’t live on campus, many of us have a commute to account for, plus a job to support our studies, then the classes with endless papers to top it all off. Often there isn’t time for extracurriculars regardless of the resume boosting possibilities or potential pay.
Often a big motivator for students is money. Maybe if SUS provided their executives with a competitive pay we might see more students apply; it would be a job that provides students with good life experience plus good pay, as opposed to a job stocking shelves at Walmart.
If you’re interested in nominating yourself or someone you know for a position at SUS, you can head over to ufvsus.ca/elections for nominations packages, which can be submitted online or in person at the SUS office.
Image: Cory Jensen/The Cascade
