Oluwapelumi Sobowale appointed as SCSU vice-president campus life

The Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) held its final Board of Directors meeting of the year on December 1. Members appointed a new vice-president campus life and two directors to serve on the Elections and Referenda committee. The committee also presented the schedule for the spring executive elections at the meeting.

Appointments

The previously vacant vice-president campus life position was filled after members discussed the candidates in a closed session during the meeting.

The position has been vacant since the resignation of TJ Ho, the previous vice-president campus life, in October. Ho resigned from the role to focus on his studies.

Following their closed discussion, the board members appointed Oluwapelumi Michael Sobowale as the new vice-president campus life. Sobowale was the orientation coordinator for SCSU’s Frosh 2021, and was outspoken about his disappointment with Ho’s lack of involvement in planning the event.

Director of Critical Development Studies Muntaha Malik and Director of Biological Sciences Gautham Krishna were also elected by the board to serve on the Elections and Referenda committee.

SCSU spring election schedule 

Malik, on behalf of the Elections and Referenda committee, presented the schedule for the SCSU’s spring executive elections. She said there will be two weeks for nominations and campaigning followed by three days for UTSC students to vote. This schedule is the same as previous in-person elections. 

Director of Political Science Nafisa Nawal inquired about whether, for accessibility reasons, there will be an online voting system. SCSU President Sarah Abdillahi answered that the SCSU is working with what the university is telling them about the winter semester — that is, the winter semester will be largely held in person — and that the union is therefore planning for an in-person election. 

She added that doing a hybrid model would be quite expensive. However, if the circumstances change due to COVID-19, the SCSU will implement the election plan that was used in the 2021 elections.