SU vice-president external resigns, leaving position vacant for upcoming year

By Jason Herring, April 19 2018 —

Puncham Judge has resigned from her position as the Students’ Union vice-president external, the SU said in a statement released Thursday. Judge also will not take office as part of next year’s SU executive.

“Puncham has been a valuable member of our Executive team since assuming the role in October. We would like to thank her for her contributions and wish her the best,” the statement reads. No reason was given for Judge’s resignation, but current SU president Branden Cave said her resignation was for “personal reasons.”

Cave also explained the process for filling the now-vacant role. He said that the SU’s Nominations Committee — the SU committee that appoints candidates to various committees and boards and deals with vacancies on Students’ Legislative Council — will recommend an incoming faculty representative to take on the job. SLC will then vote on whether to accept the committee’s nomination and officially appoint a new vice-president external.

“Then in October, there will be a byelection so the general [student] population can run,” he said.

Cave added that the SU doesn’t have a timeline for filling the position, but says that the Nominations Committee will be formed at the May 8 SLC meeting.

Judge entered the role of VP external in October 2017. She was appointed to the role after her predecessor, Shubir Shaikh, resigned from the position. She was set to continue as VP external in the 2017–18 academic year after winning the position with 52 per cent of the vote in the SU’s March general election.