U of T’s undergraduate students will be voting in some new faces this week.
The Student’s Administrative Council is holding a by-election in order to fill several key positions on its Board of Directors and Executive. While several board seats have already been acclaimed, many are contested. The positions on the board that are in contention include one of two Woodsworth College seats, and the seats representing Scarborough, Nursing, and the Transitional Year Program (TYP) each of which are entitled to a single seat. The board positions held by the Faculty of Music and OISE, and the other Woodsworth College seat have been acclaimed. Both of UTM’s seats have also been filled without contention. Several executive seats are also up for grabs. They include: Vice-President Student Life and Vice-President University of Toronto at Mississauga.
Last Spring, SAC revoked the appointment for the VP Student Life position due to a technicality problem. According to Howard Tam, Vice-President University Affairs for SAC, a campaign statement made by one of the candidates was not uploaded online. The race was very close and many felt that had the statement been uploaded, there would have been a more decisive result. In addition, during the week of the campaigning of last year, an email was circulated claiming that one of the candidates was anti-Semitic. With all the confusion and vicious politics surrounding the VP Student Life election, the board of directors decided to nullify the election results.
Three candidates are running for the spot this year. They are Justin Woong Kim, Dylan Rae and Jason Young.
Occurring simultaneously with the by-election will be a referendum asking students if they support increasing the funding for the U of T Women’s Center. Currently all full-time undergraduate students pay 50 cents per term in the form of a levy that goes to help fund the center. Students will be asked if they support increasing that levy by one dollar.
Rebeka Tabobondung is co-coordinator of the Women’s Center at U of T. She says that the extra funds will go to help expand the range of services that the center provides. She also hopes that the money will allow the center to stay open later in the evenings and on Fridays. “One of our aims is promote accessibility”, she explains. She says that an increased budget would potentially allow for services like childcare for single mothers during exams, and translation services for ESL students who need the assistance of the center. Tabobondung suggests “the [increased] levy will bring our funding in line with other campus women’s centers such as those at York or Queen’s.” She is confident the majority of students will vote “yes” in the referendum, because she thinks “students recognize the value of having a women’s center on campus.” She also notes the center has not requested any funding increases from the undergraduate student body since the center’s inception in 1986.
Voting will take place on ROSI www.rosi.utoronto.ca Oct. 8-10, 2003. On Oct. 8 and 9, voting hours are 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.; on Oct. 10, the voting hours are 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Results will be announced on Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. Students who have trouble voting on ROSI can obtain ballots in the SAC office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on voting days.
