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By Ryan McNutt - March 25, 2010
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| Computer engineering student Chris Saulnier is president-elect of the Dalhousie Student Union. (Ryan McNutt Photo) |
The results are in – the next Dalhousie Student Union executive will be led by a Sexton student.
Computer engineering student Chris Saulnier was elected DSU president Wednesday night after two ballots. The announcement was made to a packed house at the Grawood during the finals of the Dalhousie’s Got Talent competition.
“It was really great – and a huge relief too,” says Mr. Saulnier, who like other candidates had basically put their schoolwork on hold for two weeks while campaigning. “It was a really hard-fought campaign and I honestly had no idea what was going to happen.”
Taking office in May, Mr. Saulnier says he hopes to move quickly on working to improve operations and communication both within the executive and with the DSU council. He’s also excited about bringing a Sexton perspective to the rest of Dalhousie.
“I’m coming from a group of students that is highly active,” he explains. “We’re known as being a strong community and that really shows with the number of engineering people involved in DSU politics. I want to bring that sense of community to other places at Dal.”
Three other members of the DSU executive were elected on Wednesday evening. One of the election’s closer races was for Vice President Internal. Kayla Kurin, a psychology and classics student, had a solid lead after the first ballot, but it took three ballots to get to a majority. Physics and neuroscience student Hannah Dahn ran unopposed for Vice President Student Life and was elected soundly.
The one point consistency between the old and new executives will be Vice-President Education Rob LeForte, who was re-elected to the position with a 63 per cent majority.
“The team that I worked with this year was fantastic and I think there’s a lot of potential with this new group,” says Mr. LeForte. “I have a lot of faith that it will continue to be just as solid a team.”
Mr. LeForte says he’s excited to be able to advance some of the accomplishments of the past year, including a student rating of instructors policy that was recently approved at Senate and acquiring late-night study space for students during exams. That said, he expects that his second year in the job will have a greater focus on external activities, including the negotiation of a new Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Nova Scotia.
Aside from the executive, Senate representative positions were also up for grabs, with Maggie Lovett, Ben Wedge and Carly Nicholson earning the three available spots.
Voter turnout ended up around 15 per cent – a drop from last year.
“It was really surprising, since it didn’t match what we were hearing on the campaign trail,” notes Mr. Saulnier. “It goes to show that we really need to work seriously on addressing student involvement.”
For complete results, visit http://www.dsuelections.ca
Readers Say
March 26, 2010 9:17 AM
I am pumped to see what next year has in store for us!
March 26, 2010 9:24 AM
7.7% of our student population voted for our new President.
Perhaps if the DSU actually did something, people would care more.
I hope you are better then your predecessors Chris.
Make us interested again.
March 26, 2010 9:41 AM
March 26, 2010 10:33 AM
Turnout should have gone up. A part of the problem, though, were the roadblocks put up by university administrators in promoting the election. After years of having agreements with Faculties on limiting posters to one area of campus, putting them all in one place, a number of buildings revoked that privilege this year.
This is far from the only reason turnout was low. But it was a simple thing that made things a lot worse.
If the university is going to be unsupportive of promoting the election, then that's fine. I say we go back to the days where candidates made it their job to stick up hundreds of posters all across campus, plaster their faces on every wall.
Sure, it forces candidates to spend time putting up posters rather than talking to students. Sure, it's way more of a postering nightmare for the university than restricting them to one or two places per building. But if the university is going to be a roadblock to promoting the elections, preventing things that have happened in previous years, then I don't see a strong case for the DSU acting as enforcers for the university's rules.
So much for building student engagement, or promoting the student experience.
On a more positive note, congratulations to the winners!
March 26, 2010 10:58 AM
March 26, 2010 11:39 AM
March 26, 2010 11:46 AM
March 26, 2010 12:15 PM
March 26, 2010 12:21 PM
Why not? It is not meaningful to me. I don't have time to read up on the candidates platforms, I don't know what issues are at stake, and at some level I feel that the student union does not have any real power anyway. I guess I think of it as a sort of 'model parliament' for aspiring young politicians.
If someone asked me what the student union does, I would say 'put on events': trivia night, balls in the McInnis room, student appreciation night, Frosh week, concerts, and other things that I don't really consider important.
In other words, I am likely ignorant and definitely disengaged. Along with the other 85% of students!
March 26, 2010 1:31 PM
The Student Union should represent us students, but do they? I paid $258 (or $253, I can't recall) for the DSU insurance. But was I ever sent information about how to make use of the insurance? NO. They ripped me off. The Student Union may have people who are dedicated to serving the student community but as a whole unit, it can achieve nothing. I didn't vote this time, I won't vote next time either.
March 26, 2010 2:24 PM
Congratulations to all of the students elected and good luck to them next year.
March 26, 2010 2:30 PM
March 26, 2010 3:05 PM
March 26, 2010 3:40 PM
Chris, no offense, but I feel that the only reason you won, was because you were able to mobilize the engineering students.
March 26, 2010 6:22 PM
Good luck to the entire DSU next year!
March 26, 2010 7:20 PM
Check dsuelections.ca. Chris won by 330 votes on the second ballot. Even if every single Sexton student who voted backed Chris (which is unlikely), I highly doubt that as many as 330 Sexton students voted. So, I'll have to say I am skeptical of your claim that a bloc of Sexton students gave him the win.
But even if you're right, and even if Chris won because he mobilized Sexton students, why does that make his win less legitimate? That just points to Neil's failing to mobilize other students.
I'm also a Sexton student -- I voted for Chris not out of some Sexton loyalty, but because he had a concrete platform that wasn't littered with buzzwords.
March 27, 2010 3:44 AM
That being said, the students have to WANT to be involved. Polling stations were readily available, and candidate information was available at each. I think that each student who is disillusioned with the DSU but still wants it to work for them needs to think twice about taking 2 minutes to vote, maybe for someone who wants to bring in change.
Low voter turnout can be blamed on all kinds of things, and I think there is merit into looking at all of them, but to me one thing that hasn't been addressed so far is taking a little blame ourselves as students. Maybe the DSU hasn't done anything to inspire you, and you say it's THEIR fault we're apathetic. But, if you don't vote for change, I think it should follow that you don't get to criticize the job they do. Just my 2 cents.
March 27, 2010 3:20 PM
Smaller schools get a larger percentage of the votes because the candidates' circle of friends and colleagues makes a larger dent on a small student body.
So I wouldn't blame this years executive, or put too heavy demands on Chris and his team. If there were an obvious solution, the problem would be solved already.
I think the great Josiah Bartlett (of TV's 'The West Wing' fame) handled a similar situation well when cornered:
"Here’s an answer to your question that I don’t think you’re going to like. A man once said this, "decisions are made by those who show up." So are we failing you, or are you failing us?
"A little of both."
WWJBD
March 27, 2010 9:46 PM
I'm not advocating for an anarcho-syndicalist union, but there is something utterly corrupt about people who say they hold power within a democratic structure despite not even having the majority of students vote on their legitimacy. Sure, it's the voters' fault they didn't show up, but it's also the politicians's CHOICE (I want to use italics but I can't, so I'll capitalize instead) to be at the helm. A politician without supporters who still retains the privileges of power cannot be said to be a "leader", and insofar as they retain that privilege without the scrutiny of voters to re-elect them or not, the threat of corruption increases.
We at Dalhousie live in the sphere of the "necessity" of government. It is those who take the chance at playing politics that are able to take power, and as they follow the series of rituals that guide them to the gilded halls and garner a few followers to attend council meetings, a community develops that exists on a completely different social level than the average, apathetic Dal student.
Indeed, Saulnier won this year because he is well integrated into DSU politik, as are his supporting cast, and those who associate with them will continue to win in the coming years. Despite his buffoonery, Debogorski's only been telling the gospel truth when he speaks of the DSU "insider culture".
So I suggest this: If the sycophants continue to run for office and students continue to vote in minuscule proportion, throw out the student "representatives" and let DSU General Manager Craig Kelly run the show. Somebody who has to worry about keeping their job for more than one year will be more accountable and definitely won't be into the sort of resume padding the current executive engages in. If he's lucky, he might even get people to give a damn.
March 28, 2010 6:19 AM
managed to get elected at the DSU in recent years.
March 28, 2010 4:21 PM
Let's hope that voter turn out goes up next year, by getting students more involved with campus life.
I am very disappointed with the voter turnout, I want to go to a school where students CARE about the student union.
March 28, 2010 7:13 PM
March 29, 2010 12:04 AM
Until the chalk drawings started appearing, I wasn't even aware that Dal had a student council that was voted for. I think a greater presence is required if we want voter turnout to increase.
That said, congrats to the winners. Perhaps you could try incorporating ideas of those who did not have the popularity to win (if you found the time). :)
March 29, 2010 2:49 PM
March 29, 2010 5:32 PM
There are many reasons for a low voter turn out, but most of the people I said should vote simply said they didn't care enough.
March 29, 2010 9:01 PM
March 30, 2010 2:10 PM
211 Sexton Engineers voted and nearly 50% of Studley engineers voted(About 200 or so) so actually more than 330 engineers voted. Just FYI.
March 31, 2010 4:29 PM
Isn't discovering the gospel truth the whole point of University? Buffoonery?
Congratulations Mr Saulnier
April 11, 2010 6:41 AM
Chris I wish you every success in the coming year. You really stood out in Engineering as a student who really cares about other students. I remember your contagious enthusiasm and your ability to bring people together - and make them feel good about who and where they are.
I have every reason to believe you will do a supurb job as DSU President. I am very proud of you, and am sure everyone on Sexton Campus is as well. You are a super person, with some terrific ideas.
You do have quite a job ahead of you. I have every confidence that you will not only do a great job for the one year, but will leave something substantial for those who come after you to build upon.
Congratulations and every best wish to you and your team for a great year!!!
Leigh
February 17, 2011 7:40 AM