Photo Credit: The Mike archives
A recap of the University of St. Michael’s College Student Union 2021 spring elections
Lorenzo Canneri, News Editor
The University of St. Michael’s College Student Union (SMCSU) general elections have ended, and the winners were announced on March 21 on all of SMCSU’s social media pages. The electoral period took place from March 15 to 19. Eleven position were up for elections this year: President, Vice President (VP), VP of Academic Affairs, VP of Arts, VP of Athletics, VP of Communications, VP of Community Life, VP of Finance, VP of International Community Outreach, VP of Mental Health and Accessibility, and VP of Religious and Community Affairs. The winners of 10 of the 11 positions available have been announced, with only the Vice President role left open. SMCSU will be planning a by-election in the fall in order to fill the VP position. Specific dates have yet to be announced. The voting was conducted entirely online due to the ongoing pandemic.
The positions of VP of Arts, VP of Athletics, VP of Communications, and the VP of Finance were all run unopposed. They were respectively won by Keano Hourani, Giovanna Macedo, Alessia Debattista, and Kamil Mansoori.
Idara Okon will become the new SMCSU president after acquiring 49.7% of the vote. Chun Ju (Clare) Liang won her own race for VP of Academics by a wide margin, beating out her competitor by more than 15 points. Four candidates ran for the position of VP of Community Life. Angela Sidsworth beat out her three other competitors in the tightly contested race winning 27.2% of the vote with her nearest opponent falling just short of the mark with only 24.6%. Warren Liu, Maya Martin-Spisak, and Kamil Mansoori all won their races by rather wide margins and will next year take on the roles of VP Religious and Community Affairs, VP International Community Outreach, and VP Finance respectively. Lastly, Evangeline Cowie was able to secure her position as VP Mental Health and Accessibility after acquiring just over 50% of the votes.
Voter turnout was far lower than in previous years. For the 2020–21 SMCSU elections, 686 students turned out to vote, but this year that number dropped to only 191. The drastic decline in voter turnout may be due to the fact students have had to conduct this academic year online and have not been able to be on campus for just over a year. There were roughly 5,000 students who were eligible to vote in this year’s elections, and only around 4% voted.
The new members of the SMCSU will take office in September and will hold office for the duration of the 2021–22 academic year.
