No nominees for the 2017-18 Students' Union Vice-President

Deadline extended until 4 p.m. Tuesday

The deadline to submit nomination forms to run for vice-president of the Students’ Union has been extended until 4 p.m. on Tuesday, January 10th. As of the original deadline, 12 p.m. on January 9th, no nomination forms for the vice-presidency had been submitted.

There are four prospective candidates running to be president of the Students’ Union. The nominees’ names will go public once campaigning begins after the all-candidates meeting on Tuesday night.

According to Jessica Fullerton, one of the Students’ Union’s three returning officers, nomination forms were made available on Dec 3rd in order to give potential candidates plenty of time to prepare their platforms.

Despite the high level of interest in the presidency, the lack of applicants for the vice-presidency continues an unfortunate trend of declining interest in the Students’ Union Executive. Last year, President Taylor Chase ran unopposed, as did Hannah Stordy, 2015-16 vice-president, the year before that. In both cases, there were three candidates for the alternate position.

“I was personally very disappointed that we received zero applications,” says Fullerton. “I feel like there’s a lot more people out there that are qualified to do the job.”

Current Vice-President Academic, Ryley Erickson

Photo: Devon Chisholm

The Students’ Union’s by-laws dictate that the Vice-President be responsible for all matters of an educational or academic nature and sit on committees and boards such as the Senate Steering Committee, the University Senate and the Library Committee.

Current Vice-President Ryley Erickson says his average day consists of “a meeting regarding organizational review, [running] to organize a dog den, pausing to have lunch with the deans, then preparing for a Senate meeting where I will be presenting.”

Eligible students will maintain an average of at least 60% and be vetted by Student Life for Code of Conduct violations. Generally, students on academic or residence probation and those who have lost their student privileges are ineligible to run. Nomination forms can be submitted to the Info Desk until 4 p.m. tomorrow.