By Chieu Luu Luong
Jennifer Long, RyeSAC’s events commissioner and v.p. administration-elect, took it easy on election day last Wednesday.
She slept until noon, went to get her hair done, had dinner with friends and arrived at the Ram in the Rye after 8 p.m. to find out if she would be the next v.p. administration.
More than two hours later, when results were posted, Long learned she got 676 votes, beating her opponent, Amirmakin Aziz, by 360 votes.
Long spent the rest of the night with the other members of the newly elected RyeSAC executive — president-elect Erin George, v.p. education-elect Cory Wright and v.p. development and finance Vladimir Vasilko.
The quartet bought each other shots from the bar and celebrated their victories until the Ram in the Rye closed at 1:30 a.m.
Long said she knew she was going to win after the advance poll results were announced — she led Aziz by more than 200 votes.
Aziz, who did not go to the pub to see the results, congratulated his opponent the next day.
Long has already started planning events for September’s orientation and says she wants to increase involvement in RyeSAC events.
Long also plans to send information sheets about RyeSAC to first-year students during the summer, along with the information packages mailed by the university.
Unlike Long, who relaxed on election day, Wright, educational issues commissioner and v.p. education-elect, had a class at 9 a.m. and spent a few hours doing some last-minute leafleting to encourage students to vote.
“I was so nervous,” he said. “I called my mom, and she kept telling me that everything was going to be okay. She was confident that I would win.”
Wright, who got 588 votes, defeated his opponent George Jacoub by 218 votes.
“I’m so relieved it’s all over,” Wright said. “I’m really surprised. I thought I was going to lose.”
Jacoub wished Wright a successful run as RyeSAC’s v.p. education, finding a positive note to his defeat. “I hope to try and graduate next year,” Jacoub said, instead of spending an extra year in school to work at RyeSAC.
The first thing Wright wants to do is meet with George, this year’s v.p. education, and last year’s v.p. education Gord Tanner.
Wright’s plans during his term include enumerating students for the next provincial election and working with the Canadian Federation of Students to lobby for both a tuition freeze and an end to fee deregulation. He is also gearing up for a student strike in 2000.
Leave a Reply