UTSU’s elections committee hired their chief returning officer for her lack of connections to U of T, but she was contacted for the job through a friend of the current executive who chairs the elections committee.

CRO Lydia Treadwell and Dave Scrivener, the chair of UTSU’s Elections and Referenda Committee and VP external, told The Varsity conflicting stories about her hiring. Scrivener denied soliciting any applications, but Treadwell said a mutual friend of her and Scrivener’s passed on her name. Scrivener said the ERC did not solicit applications, and that Treadwell probably surfaced in a stack of resumes. “We got enough by just putting it up on the Career [Centre] site and our own website,” Scrivener said, claiming that UTSU did not try to hand-pick anyone for the job. “We didn’t need to,” he added.

The Career Centre website is only open to U of T students and alumna.

Treadwell said she was contacted on Jan. 23, and that Scrivener got her name through a friend. She had met Scrivener earlier on a car trip. “Dave contacted the person from the trip to see if they knew anyone who would be a good CRO, and they mentioned my name,” she said.

The CRO is hired to administer the election as a neutral third party. Treadwell’s job includes upholding the Elections Procedural Code, authorizing all election materials, and organizing an all-candidates meeting. She will count the votes with the chief deputy returning officer.

The elections committee can overrule Treadwell’s decisions.

Scrivener said Treadwell’s lack of connections to U of T makes her a neutral third party. Treadwell is not involved with any club or college, and has never been elected to any position at a university—qualities that Scrivener said make her a more neutral third party than the U of T students who were up for the job. Last year’s CRO Gail Alivio had also never attended U of T. She is a deputy returning officer this year and will assist Treadwell.

Treadwell said her qualifications also include experience on three winning election campaigns, though she refused to identify these elections. “I don’t think it’s relevant and I’m not going to disclose,” she said. “I have a firm handle on elections, I know the process.” She added that she did not disclose the specifics of the campaigns when she was interviewed by Scrivener and UTSU director Angela Reginer. Treadwell works for the advocacy group Environmental Defence.

Treadwell officially became CRO on Feb. 12, too late for her to approve election notices, which came out on Feb. 5. That notice, published on the UTSU website and in The Varsity, gave the incorrect numbers of board members for Woodsworth College, New College, and the engineering faculty. The error has since been corrected on the UTSU website.

Scrivener estimated the ERC was struck in November or December. At press time, the meeting minutes with the exact date were not available online.

According to UTSU bylaws, president Sandy Hudson, VP internal Adnan Najmi, and VP university affairs Adam Awad should sit on the ERC. Instead, UTSU execs are represented by Scrivener and Khota Aleer, VP equity. The other four seats are filled by UTSU directors Meghan McPhee, Sarah Ali, Maria Galvez, and Jacqui Wilson.

With files from Naushad Ali Husein