By Julieanne Acosta, Eula Mengullo and Nazeefa Ahmed, October 13 2023—
Candidates and students were present for the Students’ Union (SU) by-election results that were announced today in the South Courtyard of Mac Hall.
Students enrolled in the Fall 2023 semester had from Oct. 11 to 13 at 4 p.m. to vote or abstain for the open positions. This year, only faculty representative positions were left — two representatives for the Faculty of Arts, one for the Schulich School of Engineering, one for the Faculty of Nursing and one for the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.
Successful candidates provided a statement to the Gauntlet on their win and what they’re excited to accomplish for students in their upcoming term.
Tanner Neigel and Naomie Bakana will be the Faculty of Arts representatives winning 24.8 per cent and 21.2 per cent respectively.
Neigel spoke about how he hopes to critically consider the Ahead of Tomorrow strategic plan released by the U of C during his term.
“I chose to focus on one policy that most students have never heard of in my platform and it turns out that students have had their say,” said Neigel. “We need to take a serious look at the Ahead of Tomorrow Plan”
Naomie Bukana remarked that she looks forward to making a difference during her term.
“Now that I’m in my fourth year, I hope that I can make a big enough impact before I leave campus,” said Bakana. “I'm honestly excited and I wanna thank all of my supporters for rooting for me. I just wanna make sure that this campus is more accessible for all students, make sure everybody has the opportunities to do everything that they want and please.”
For the Schulich School of Engineering, Seniru Ruwanpura will be the new faculty representative with 65 per cent vote.
“I want to say thank you to all the voters for putting some trust in me and I think we made a statement this time that we’re gonna do things differently at Schulich,” said Ruwanpura. “And I wanna thank also all the other candidates who put their names forward, it's a great election and I think all of them had good suggestions at the end of the day and I look forward to not only implementing my solutions, but theirs as well.”
Colton Channon will be the new faculty representative for the Faculty of Nursing with 50.4 per cent vote and Nancy Ngo will be the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine representative with a 100 per cent vote.
These results became official on Oct. 13, at 5 p.m. The full list of executives, representatives and student-at-larges in the 81st Student Legislative Council can be found on the SU’s website.
