‘The most important thing we can do is to hold a democratic election in spite of the university’
The Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) has announced its election candidates nearly two weeks after Ryerson University terminated its agreement with the union. This means that there will be two student government elections this year — one that’s recognized by the university and one that isn’t.
“The university has actively attempted to not recognize us and undermined our election, so we have to run an election without their assistance,” said the RSU’s vice-president operations James Fotak at the union’s semi-annual general meeting held on Feb. 3.
Fotak added that “the most important thing [the RSU] can do is to hold a democratic election in spite of the university.”
Shortly after the university terminated its agreement with the union, they announced a separate election for early March. In an email sent out on Jan. 31, Jen McMillen, vice-provost students, outlined the process for students to elect a new government.
The RSU’s election candidate list consists of 38 students from two slates, Inspire and Rise, and one independent candidate.
In the upcoming election, the RSU will go back to a five-member executive team structure. A sixth executive position, vice-president marketing, was introduced this past year but students voted to remove the role at this week’s semi-annual general meeting.
The RSU election will take place Feb. 12-14 in the Student Centre and will only accept paper ballot votes, according to Fotak. Students must provide their OneCard and proof of full-time enrollment at Ryerson, such as a timetable, in order to vote.
The full list of candidates is as follows:
President
Charmaine Reid – Inspire
Ali Yousaf – Rise
Vice-president education
Ezra Li – Inspire
Siddhanth Satish – Rise
Vice-president operations
Zaima Aurony – Inspire
Liora Dubinsky – Rise
Vice-president equity
Robert Molloy – Inspire
Vaishali Vinayak – Rise
Vice-president student life and events
Tafyra Poyser – Inspire
Usama Sheikh – Rise
BOARD OF DIRECTORS-FACULTY REPRESENTATIVES CANDIDATES
The board of directors is responsible for maintaining committees that carry out the functions of the RSU.
Arts (3)
Alexandra Nash – Inspire
Gabriele Douglas – Inspire
Iqra Iqbal – Rise
Anika Zaman – Rise
Kartiki Sharma – Rise
Engineering and Architecture (3)
Maryam Marei – Inspire
Carley Haakenson-Tetzlaff – Inspire
Umar Abdullah – Rise
Salar Syed – Rise
Zain Choudhry – Rise
Communication and Design (3)
Ashan Mahendran – Inspire
Aidan Falkenberg – Rise
Nu Hai Anh (Cassie) Ton – Inspire
Ted Rogers School of Management (5)
Tyler Lontok – Inspire
Syeda Azad – Inspire
Hilla Yaniv – Rise
Preet Patel – Rise
Akif Anwar – Rise
Homra Ghaznavi – Rise
Abaan Ahmed – Rise
Science (2)
Kajetha Jeyapalan – Rise
Elwad Gedleh – Rise
Community Services (3)
Steph Rychlo – Inspire
Dusty Luck – N/A
Sabrina Ahmed – Rise
Danish Khalid – Rise
Jasmeen Thandi – Rise
International student representative
Amruta Nikte – Inspire
Amr Shaikh – Rise
