Where there’s politics, there’s controversy. The idiom holds true for U of T’s Scarborough Campus Student Union, where Zuhair Syed won the Fall election for presidency after being controversially disqualified from the race in Spring. After an intense campaign, Syed won with 212 votes to opponent Massey Ahmar’s 113.

Syed was disqualified in the Spring election for emailing the Elections Committee using his official SCSU account, and for sending a text message after campaigning period was over. The Board of Directors subsequently rejected this disqualification and hired Syed as the interim president until the Fall election.

The elections this October gave students an opportunity to formally elect a president.

For several years, UTSC has been notoriously apathetic when it comes to elections. This year’s voter turnout speaks for itself. On a campus with over 10, 000 students, a mere 325 students cast votes for their president.

However, Syed believes that the reason for his win has been a recent rejuvenation of student enthusiasm.

“I think students have shown that they like that what they’ve seen over the last two months. They appreciate the changes within the student union and they voted to have that continued,” Syed said.

In addition to improving student life, Syed’s platform was based on expanding the UTSC Student Centre in order to provide more student space for the increasing campus population. He hopes to work towards the addition of more food vendors with longer hours, an extra computer lab, a lounge area,and additional club offices.

“The students have put trust in our leadership and I’m ready for the opportunities ahead,” said Syed.