Board of Governors election results

By Justin Chandler

After their slate swept the Ryerson Students’ Union elections in February, three Unify members won all three student seats on Ryerson’s Board of Governors (BoG).

Incoming RSU execs Savreen Gosal and Salman Faruqi won student representative positions and so did Unify’s RSU volunteer Obaid Ullah. Gosal will be the RSU vice-president operations next year and Faruqi will be the vice-president education. Ullah was the RSU president last academic year. Polls were open March 5 through 8.

Unify ran a platform to support faith groups and improve athletic facilities and infrastructure.

The BoG and its sister organization, the Senate, govern Ryerson University. The Senate is in charge of academic matters and the BoG is in charge of Ryerson’s property, revenues and how it conducts its business and affairs. Positions are voluntary and unpaid.

According to results obtained by The Eyeopener, Faruqi, Gosal and Ullah all received vote totals of at least 800. None of the other 13 candidates for student rep received more than 450.

Just 4.9 per cent of eligible student voters cast ballots in the election. That’s 2001 ballots.

The Eyeopener previously reported many RSU executives run for BoG positions during or after their terms on the RSU. Board members told The Eye the trend persists because the BoG, with its much wider mandate, offers student politicians more opportunity to make changes on campus.

Correction: In a previous version of this article, Obaid Ullah was attributed at Unify’s campaign manager, when he was really their volunteer. The Eyeopener regrets this error.