BY GABRIELLE ESTEVES
The SSU elections are upon us.
You should care because the Sheridan Student Union empowers and gives a voice to all Sheridan students. The nominations period runs from September 16th-24th. According to the SSU website, students that consider themselves leaders, care about student life and creating a positive community are encouraged to nominate themselves for the 2019-2020 student board of directors.
Emma Kip, a student from the Bachelor of Craft and Design program believes that having student elections is important. She said, “It’s good to have a voice for the students. It wouldn’t make sense to have someone who isn’t a student make decisions for students.” Emma hopes that this year’s nominees for the SSU tackle the shuttle bus issue.
“I think we pay more than enough money to attend this school and not have these types of services be free.”
Shaina Eleazar, a student in the Bachelor of Film and Television, is excited for this year’s elections. She said, “I think students should be paying attention to the nominees and all things election because it’s good to have a sense of community and trust, but that can’t exist if we don’t do our part and at least vote and educate ourselves on the issues and the people who are wanting to work for an organization that wants to better our student experiences.”
Eleazar also said that nominations are important because they are a first step in the democratic process.
“The more people that nominate themselves for the election, the better. It’s nice to know who wants to make a difference in our community, and I think it’s also much more effective to give students multiple voting options. If only one person runs for a certain part of the SSU and no one opposes them, we might get stuck with someone who doesn’t care or has no idea what they’re doing. However, if more people nominate themselves we have better options and students can make a more educated vote on who they think will do the best job.”
SSU president Ben LeBlanc says that the number one thing for the SSU is trying to educate students on who the SSU is and what they do. He says the board of directors is the governing piece in letting people know that.
Students hoping to nominate themselves for the upcoming elections are instructed to pick up their nomination packages from the SSU and submit it to their office by the deadline of September 24th.
