RDC students elect 2016-2017 Executive Council
The 2016 Students’ Association Executive Elections are now at an end.
Welcome and congratulations to the 2016-2017 Executive team!
2016-2017 Executive
President: Maryanne McGrath
VP College Affairs: Ben Fleury
VP Operations: Nonso Onwuekwe
VP Student Life: Aiden Bridger
Maryanne McGrath is set to serve her second consecutive term as Students’ Association President after garnering 78 percent of the vote. Ben Fleury also returns for his second consecutive term as Vice President College Affairs, acclaimed to the office with 66 percent YES votes. Joining them is the new Vice President Operations Nonso Onwuekwe, who received 56 percent of the votes for that office. Rounding out the team is Aiden Bridger, Vice President Student Life elect, voted in by a 40 percent margin.
The Students’ Association broke from a very exclusive club and introduced an electronic ballot this year. Primarily – but not exclusively – the purpose was multi-fold: to increase accessibility to voting, to generate awareness of the candidates and the Association, and to uphold standards of transparency and accountability.
To say that we have been pleased with the results is an incredible understatement. In only a single day of voting, we surpassed our entire voter turnout of nine percent from the Council and VP College Affairs by-election this past October. From 4,773 eligible electors, 589 students voted for a 12.3 percent final voter turnout.
This is an inspiring accomplishment that is owed to many players:
Thank You!
Thank you to all the candidates for having the courage to declare their intention to fight for and represent students by running for office.
Thank you to all of the Students’ Association staff for the ceaseless work they do to make every Association endeavour the absolute best it can be.
Thank you to Trish Nuyten, Tanya Grainger, and Kim McCallister, and all the lovely and accommodating folks in the Registrar’s office for continuing to ensure our access to accurate voter lists.
Thank you to the IT department, specifically Mike Brennan, for working so closely and diligently with the Association to integrate and test the new voting system.
Thank you to Anne Marie Watson, Lillian Teh-Frenette, and the entire Library staff for hosting several campaign events and loaning us laptops for our voting stations.
Thank you to Wayne and the janitorial staff for making sure we had the space and set-up to execute effective campaign events.
Thank you to the very select volunteers who sacrificed their time to help out with promotion and voting stations.
Also, thank you to Paule Ferland for offering her expertise and enabling the Students’ Association to include bilingual ballots for the first time in its history.
Finally, thank you to all the students who attended the campaign week festivities, engaged with and supported candidates and their platforms, and made their voices heard by voting!
Here’s to a fun and exciting 2016-2017!