2022 SU Election results are in
By Julieanne Acosta, March 10 2022 —
On March 10, the winners of the 2022 Students’ Union (SU) general election were announced in-person with candidates and students present.
This year, only three races were contested — vice president operations and finance, Faculty of Science representatives and Cumming School of Medicine representatives. There were no acclamations made this year, as students were asked to vote “yes” or “no” to uncontested candidates. In total, 2,390 students voted in the general election.
Successful candidates provided a statement to the Gauntlet on their win and what they plan on doing for students.
Nicole Schmidt will serve as SU president for the second year in a row with 86 per cent of the vote.
“Im feeling super excited right now to be elected president again,” said Schmidt. “I’m looking forward to doing a lot of advocacy work through the SU in this next year especially around potential tuition increases and also further post-secondary cuts. We have a really fantastic executive team and I can’t wait to get started.”
Uncontested candidate, Shaziah Jinnah will serve as the next vice-president academic with 84 per cent of the vote.
Vice-president external will remain vacant until the by-elections in the fall term due to an invalidation as a response to a Review Board decision.
In a three-person race, Taimur Akhtar will be the next vice-president operations and finance with 40 per cent of the vote.
“I feel great –– a lot of hard work was put into this campaign,” said Akhtar. “I’m looking forward to my initiatives and projects. We’re going into a big time, I’m planning on working on quality money projects in the spring and summer terms.”
With an 84 per cent “yes” vote, Adrian Alcantara will be the next vice-president student life.
Harold Zhu, Pragya Chopra and Sandra Amin will be serving as the next Faculty of Science representatives with Zhu getting the most votes at 28 per cent.
“I’m very happy, I got to meet a lot of people on the campaign trail,” said Zhu. “I hope [students] know that they can always reach out to me if they have any concerns about the SU. The first step is to look into the transition material ensuring there’s a smooth transition. I’m looking to be an open force for good.”
“It’s my third time in a row, so I’m very much excited,” said Chopra. “I’m going to continue the projects I’ve been working on — especially the scholarships, cause I know that’s what students want to see in effect. I want to get to know my fellow representatives. I haven’t worked with them before so I’m really excited.”
“I am ecstatic,” said Amin. “All the candidates were really amazing so it’s definitely crazy to think I won. The first thing I want to do is implement transparency. I want students to be informed of what’s going on. The first step is getting that transparency out there.”
Emily Macphail and Reeana Tarzeean will be the next Cumming School of Medicine representatives with 42 per cent and 31 per cent respectively.
“The first thing I’m gonna do is go back to the faculty and thank everyone,” said Tarzeean. “The main foundation comes from their voices and concerns. I plan on doing what I promised.”
All candidates in the uncontested faculty representative races were elected into their respective offices.
Rachel Cabalteja, Areeba Nadeem, Ermia Rezaei-Afsah, Siraaj Shah and Nathaniel Tschupruk will serve as the next Faculty of Arts representatives.
Daniel Fine will serve as one of the Haskayne School of Business representatives winning 90 per cent of the vote.
WInning 86 per cent of the vote Saliha Haq will serve as the next Faculty of Law representative.
Melody Chu will serve as the next Faculty of Nursing representative winning 100 per cent of the vote.
Dhwani Joshi will serve her second term in a row as the Werklund School of Education representative.
Another 100 per cent “yes” vote, Lauren Stoffregen will serve her second term as well as the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine representatives.
Arafatul Mamur and Armaan Sidhu will serve as the Senate Student-at-Large representatives.
Six offices remain vacant at this time — Board of Governors Student-at-Large, one Haskayne School of Business representative, one Faculty of Kinesiology representative, one Faculty of Social Work representative and two Schulich School of Engineering representatives.
This election, three referendum questions were posed to students. The first referendum question asked students if they were in support of annual increases based on inflation limited to a maximum of four per cent a year — 56 per cent of students voted no.
Following this, students were asked if they support a fee increase of $10 to maintain the current coverage levels by the dental plans — 53 per cent of students voted yes.
The final question asked students if they support a fee increase of $20 to increase the current coverage levels offered through the health plan — 50.4 per cent of students voted no.
These results become official on March 18 and elected officials will begin their term in May. The full list of representatives and executives in the 80th Student Legislative Council can be found on the SU’s website.