Despite tempting pay offers, few students were interested in taking on a full-time job on an elections committee for new SCSU elections during the crucial last weeks of class.
In a logistics report presented at an SCSU board meeting on Friday regarding the proposed re-run of the SCSU executive elections, SCSU’s VP human resources Lou Michael Tacorda explained that the current elections committee refused to facilitate the re-election because they had already fulfilled their original contract and were facing the crunch of the spring term.
After the elections committee’s notice of refusal was officially given last Tuesday, Tacorda and SCSU president Raj Gunaratnam decided to send out an emergency call for employment.
The hiring process for the elections committee normally takes place over three weeks, but students had only three days to submit applications, and one day to interview for the positions of chief returning officer and deputy returning officer.
Tacorda’s report explains that, because he received such a small number of applications, it was impossible to hire a complete elections team. The rushed timeline for the re-election didn’t allow for an extension for applications, as ratification of hiring would have had to take place last Friday. Appointments made by SCSU were out of the question for the arms-length committee.
Adding to this sudden reversal of plans was vice-chair Jemy Joseph’s ruling regarding a violation of elections policy, announced at Friday’s board meeting.
With the placement of an ad in The Varsity, the nomination period technically started on March 15. SCSU policy requires a period of seven working days for nominations in an election. However, because application packages were not publicly available until last Tuesday, Joseph speculated that potential candidates only had four days to file nominations. Since extending the nomination period was not possible, Joseph ruled the re-election illegal.
Ultimately, the results on SCSU executives for next year depended on a small parliamentary guidebook. After extensive consultation with Robert’s Rules of Order (which the SCSU officially follows for meetings), SCSU chair Susie Vavrusa found that the process in which the recount took place on March 9 was illegal.
This meant that the board’s initial decision to ratify the Elections Committee report was still valid. Based on this ruling, next year’s SCSU executives will consist of current VP academics Rob Wulkan as president, vice-chair Joseph as VP academics, current social science director Chris Smith as VP external and Ahmad Jabbalah as VP students and equity.
It remains to be discussed how future SCSU boards might avoid a similar situation.
SCSU president-elect Wulkan said he was glad the ordeal is over.
“It’s unfortunate that the image of the SCSU has been pulled through the mud so to speak,” Wulkan said.
“I will do all I can to ensure this image is restored to its former glory and beyond.
