More Governing Council candidates are running for election this year than there have been in more than 15 years, said a GC official after nominations closed on Monday.
Cristina Oke, chief returning officer (CRO) for the council, confirmed there will be no acclamations (candidates elected unopposed) in this year’s GC elections. For the first time since 1986, there will be more candidates than positions for each constituency.
Oke believes this is good for democracy at U of T, and will boost the profile of the Governing Council. “I think it will mean more visibility, which is absolutely wonderful,” said Oke yesterday.
Sean Mullin, a full-time undergraduate representative on the GC, said he was “enthralled” to hear that there were so many candidates. “With acclamations, you can get good people in there, but a race makes it better,” he said.
The gender balance of the race has already drawn criticism. Out of the five constituencies represented, (two full-time undergraduate sections, one part-time undergrad, and two graduate sections), four have male-only candidates.
Oke said the off-kilter gender balance was a surprise. “Past experience has been that there [was] a balance between male and female candidates,” she said. “I don’t know why it happened this way. This is unusual.”
Mary Auxi-Guiao, Equity Commissioner for the Students’ Administrative Council (SAC), was unavailable for comment.
Mullin said the gender imbalance was “kind of disappointing,” noting that only one (Durré Hanif) out of eight student governors this year was female.
Another change this year is that Governing Council elections and SAC elections will be held at the same time. Students will be able to vote on ROSI during the same election period, from March 10-14. It remains to be seen whether this will simplify the election or overwhelm student voters.
“I think it’s a good thing,” said Mike Foderick, who is running for the full-time undergraduate constituency (Disclosure: Foderick is also Chair of Varsity Publications). He called the former system, in which the elections were held a week apart, “a recipe for confusion,” and said the combined elections will simplify the process for voters.
“I think it’s a great idea,” said Faran Umar-Khitab, another candidate. “[This way,] people don’t have to log on two or three times.”
The official candidate list will be announced by Oke on Friday, including two candidates whose applications are still pending. She also encouraged people to suggest ways she can improve elections: “I, as CRO, would welcome suggestions anyone has about making Governing Council more visible.”
