Results of elections for Governing Council, the University of Toronto’s highest governing body, were released Tuesday, following an 11-day voting period.

Members of the U of T community voted in 12 constituencies representing Governing Council seats.
Members of the Academic Board, which informs Governing Council, were also elected.

The most highly contested category was that of full-time undergraduate Arts & Science student director. In that race, 10 students competed for two seats.

The successful candidates were running mates Lawrence Zhang and Ridwan Olow, who received 555 and 335 votes respectively.

Though Zhang won his seat by a considerable margin, the competition for second place was hotly contested. Third-place candidate Victoria Wicks of Trinity College was only three votes behind Olow at 332, while Susan Cui of Victoria College was not far behind Wicks at 309 votes.

Zhang, a third-year political science and international relations student at New College, attributes his victory to exhaustive efforts at making connections throughout the campaign period. “At the end of the day it was really just about connecting with people, getting them to not only know about but care about these issues that we have on campus, and getting them to see eye to eye with me,” says Zhang.

Zhang says he took advantage of every opportunity to meet students — visiting all three campuses and engaging in class talks.

His platform focussed on combatting grade deflation, increasing research opportunities, advocating for international students, and promoting a more environmentally friendly campus.

While many other candidates raised the same points, Zhang says he was able to reach out to more people in the short campaign period.

Zhang, co-founder of the Woodsworth Performing Arts Collective and vice-president of the University of Toronto League of Legends Association, says that he ran for Governing Council with the hope that he would be able to learn the ropes and collaborate with other governors to improve life for University of Toronto students.

Olow, a student at the University of Toronto Mississauga, sits on the board of directors of the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU).

Zhang says that the two connected while Zhang was campaigning in Mississauga, and decided to become running mates.
Olow did not respond to a request for comment.

Sandra Hudson, executive director of the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU), also made a successful bid for a seat on Governing Council.

Hudson, who attends the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, will represent humanities and social science graduate students.

Hudson says that she will not have trouble separating her responsibilities as executive director from her responsibilities as governor. “My employment status is no more a concern to me than my status as a student, volunteer, community organizer, athlete, photographer, writer, mentor, daughter, sister or friend,” says Hudson.
She adds that she hopes to use her role as governor to help students meet their goals through governance.

Riaz Sayani-Mulji of the Faculty of Law and Faizan Akbani of the Faculty of Engineering were elected as full-time undergraduate professional faculty governors, with 92 and 115 votes respectively.

Alex Ivovic was elected as the physical and life sciences graduate director with 97 votes.

Susan Froom of Trinity College, who currently serves as vice-president, external with the Association of Part-Time Undergraduate Students, and Ray Khan of UTM were acclaimed as the two part-time undergraduate representatives.