"Vote Act Now" v. "Team FAST" battle for control of the University of Victoria Students' Society

Elections to the Board of Directors of the University of Victoria Students' Society (UVSS) are in full swing, and for the fourth consecutive year, the election appears to be a classic battle between right- and left-leaning slates. "Putting Students First," a left-leaning slate, had held firm control of the students' union until 2004, when "Students for Change" won two executive seats and four director-at-large positions. In 2005, the "Coalition of Independent Students" won seven director-at-large positions, without winning a single executive position. The 2006 elections were the most contentious, leading to a lawsuit over the position of Chairperson, eventually won by Penny-Lane Beames. In the end, "Students for Progressive Change" won three out of four executive positions, while "Students for Students" won nine out of eleven director-at-large positions.

This year, the left is running under the banner of "Team FAST," where FAST is a double acronym, standing for "For A Sustainable Tomorrow" and "Financial and Social Responsibility; Accessible & Quality Education; Sustainable Campus Life; and Transit & Services." Their executive candidates are:

• Tracy Ho for Chairperson (Facebook Group; Weblog)
• Caitlin Meggs for Director of Academics (Facebook Group; Weblog; Spiffy Website)
• Jamie Strachan for Director of Finance (Weblog)
• Dylan Sherlock for Director of Services (Weblog)

The right is running under the name "Vote A.C.T. Now," where A.C.T. stands for "Accountability, Change, Transparency." Their executive candidates are:

• George Robinson for Chairperson (Facebook Group; Webpage)
• Mark Bensler for Director of Academics (Facebook Group; Webpage)
• Arel English for Director of Finance (Facebook Group; Webpage)
• Erica Virtue for Director of Services (Facebook Group; Webpage)

Both slates are running candidates for director-at-large positions, though Team FAST is only running five candidates in contrast to Vote A.C.T. Now's full slate of eleven candidates. The full list of candidates - including candidates for the university Board of Governors and Senate - is available on the annual elections supplement (PDF).

The Martlet has reported on the initial debate between Tracy Ho and George Robinson. It noted that although Tracy Ho was an experienced candidate, her experience was in the Students' Unions of Vancouver Community College, where she served as Chairperson until Spring 2006, and not the UVSS. In contrast, George Robinson, though never having served as a students' union executive, does have two years' experience serving on Senate.

One thing that I noticed is the lack of incumbents in this race. With the exception of Jamie Strachan (running for re-election as Director of Finance) and Andrew Bateman (running for re-election as director-at-large), all of the candidates have never before served on the UVSS Board of Directors - although some have tried. Depending on the election results, it could end up being that very few of the new members of the Board will have had actual experience serving as a director. A similar situation occurred at the Simon Fraser Student Society in 2006, to decidedly mixed results....