HP left without VP after election nomination deadline
Jason Farley
Byelections have begun for roles in the Centennial College Student Association Inc. (CCSAI), but students at HP campus won’t get a chance to vote.
That’s because the only students who successfully submitted election packages either did so for roles on other campuses or were acclaimed to their positions.
The only roles that will see students get to vote in a byelection are Progress Campus vice president and the representative for the School of Business. Students can only vote for the school that they are a part of.
Although three election packages were dropped off to the HP student centre by the Sept. 15 deadline, none of them were accepted. Those unsuccessful packages mean that HP students will not have the opportunity to vote on roles such as HP vice president or the HP School of Engineering and Applied Science representative.
Those roles won’t go unfulfilled. According to CCSAI executive director, Penny Kirlik, applicants will be appointed to unfilled positions after an interview, much like a normal job hiring process.
Packages can be rejected for several reasons. Those trying to run have to get a minimum number of signatures from students, usually from their campus or school, depending on the role they want to run for.
Those signatures also have to have the correct student number for the student signing.
In addition, interested candidares have to have a minimum 3.0 GPA for the term before they run, unless they are entering their first term at Centennial.
Most students may not have known about a byelection, said CCSAI executive vice president Jason Farley.
Farley acknowledged that the byelections received minimal advertising.
“(It’s) sad because we’re here to represent students and we can’t truly represent students unless every student knows what is going on,” he said.
Farley also questioned how effective any advertising would have been. He pointed out the unusually high number of posters on the wall at the beginning of the year.
“To a regular student you’d just notice a poster on the wall,” he said. “You won’t actually stop and read it.”
The two byelections represent more interest in Centennial student government than normal, Kirlik said.
“We’re thrilled,” she said. “We’re happy people want to join. We must be doing something right.”
Three roles were acclaimed-Ashtonbee Campus vice president, director of social programming and school of community studies representative. The latter two roles have been filled by Progress students.
