Hammad Motiwala | Staff Writer || Justyna Korczynski | Contributor
Featured image: The Schulich School of Business’ Undergraduate Business Society held elections for the 2018-2019 Academic Year. | Basma Elbahnasawy
The Schulich School of Business’s Undergraduate Business Society’s (UBS) Elections for the 2018-2019 academic year came to a close on March 12.
The UBS elections began on February 14, when UBS held their Town Hall Meeting, which covered a range of topics including the UBS’ semi-annual report.
This was followed by the announcement of the start of the UBS elections period. The nomination period began immediately after this meeting, and an All Candidates Meeting was held on February 26 to clarify any elections rules and finalize the final candidate list.
Speeches were held on March 1, where candidates were asked questions about their campaign, platform, and vision for their role. Candidates were questioned about their experience, future mission and vision, and platform claims.
There was a Q & A period for the general speeches directly after each speech, where candidates had an opportunity to answer impromptu questions. The meeting concluded with a debate where the presidential candidates each had 30 seconds to reply to the initial question, with one minute given afterwards for an unprotected debate.
Candidates campaigned from February 26 until March 5. A number of UBS positions had up to four candidates, while other UBS positions remained uncontested.
The positions in the UBS included the President, Vice-President (VP) of Operations, VP of Finance, VP of Corporate Relations (CR), VP of Academics for BBA and for iBBA, VP of Student Life, VP of Communications, VP of Athletics, and the Second Year Representative for BBA and iBBA.
Jatharasan Paramthillairajah was elected president; Ika Janiszewski was elected VP of Operations; Jonathan Ho was elected VP of Finance; Marco Perri was elected VP of CR, as well as BBA VP of Academics; Afreen Miah was elected iBBA VP of Academics; Mahest Pohkriyal was elected VP of Student Life; Alyssa Gallop was elected VP of Communications; now responsible for communicating campus-wide news to all the members of the school, which includes faculty, staff, and students; Abeishon Sriskanda was elected VP of Athletics, and will be taking over the responsibilities of extra-curricular activities pertaining to athletics; Yusuf Khan and Balaaj Durrani were elected second-year representatives for BBA and iBBA respectively, ensuring the students in their year are represented adequately and needs are met accordingly.
“Elections this year hosted some amazing candidates proving for some fierce competition. It was pretty amazing to see so many candidates who were passionate, dedicated, and invested in improving the Schulich community. UBS is full of incredible students who have strong visions for the future of Schulich and solid plans to implement them. I’m looking forward to see how they perform and the current UBS is happy to provide mentorship and guidance to ensure a smooth transition” says Antoinette Muraca, Elections CRO and UBS 2017-2018 VP of Operations.
Voter turnout for the Schulich UBS voting period was 516 out of a potential 1,301. For some individual positions, which limited the specific voting pool, the voting turnout was approximately 30 percent of the total eligible Schulich voting population. These positions with limited voting polls include the VP of Academics (BBA and iBBA), Second Year Representative (BBA and iBBA).
Only second-year students in the BBA program and iBBA program were allowed to vote for their respective candidates. Voter turnout was maximized through various steps, which include social media online promotion in addition to in-person speeches and meetings.
“We created visually striking graphics and event pages to be present on their news feeds and show them how to vote and stress the importance of making their voice heard to shape the community,” says Muraca.
She also hopes that “the candidates who were not chosen remain as strong student leaders and will make their impact in some way, shape, or form, regardless of their title. ”
Muraca says: “There is an elections committee to oversee and organize the elections process. This year, the committee was composed of myself (CRO and UBS VP Operations), Carolina Pimentel (Elections Director and UBS President), and Sara Lee (Elections Director). This party is independent from UBS in the sense that nobody on the committee was able to vote or run in the election to avoid any conflicts of interest. In our case, we are all graduating students and are composed of UBS and non-UBS individuals.”
