ASFA Elections Underway
Search for a CEO
The first meeting of the Arts & Science Federation of Associations Council kicked off with the loss of an executive on Thursday, as President Alex Gordon read the resignation letter of VP External Affairs and Sustainability Asma Omar.
“[Omar] had personal issues over the summer,” said Gordon. “Due to that, she felt that she wouldn’t have the time to commit to being VP External. Definitely her personal life is more important than ASFA and I totally understood that.”
The council moved to call a by-election for the VP External and Vice-President of Communications positions. The nomination period will run from Sept. 19 to 23, and polling will be held on Oct. 5 and 6.
Charlie Brenchley, the councillor for the School of Community and Public Affairs, asked the executive if any steps would be taken to ensure the commitment of the candidates, to avoid future resignations.
“We will make sure that people running will be committed,” said Gordon. “I will make it explicitly clear, and the Chief Electoral Officer will as well, [so that the candidates] know exactly what they’re signing up for.”
The president reiterated that Omar’s resignation was not due to a lack of will.
Along with the vacant executive seats, no chief electoral officer had yet been appointed. The CEO monitors and arranges ASFA elections and by-elections.
“What was motioned at the end of the meeting is that our Internal and Administrative committee will be seeking out and appointing a CEO,” said Gordon after the meeting. “That decision will be ratified by council.
“For the moment, no one has applied for the position,” he continued. “I am very confident that we will [have a CEO by Sept. 19.] We will be going full throttle with our advertising. I think we might take a bit of a different approach with regards to finding a CEO.”
Gordon explained that there are many posters promoting different events and different groups within the University. He added that a poster about a CEO job would easily be overlooked.
Members of the ASFA Council will speak to student groups, associations and professors for student recommendations. They will also attempt to enter classrooms in order to speak to many students directly.
The president also moved to add two referendum questions on the ballot. The first was to change the title of VP Communications to VP Communications & Promotions, while updating the position by adding the duty of acting as ASFA’s external marketer.
The second was to add the seeking of sponsorship and fundraising initiatives duties to the VP External’s responsibilities.
The council meeting also appointed members to sit on the oversight committees of ASFA and on the external committees, though some positions remain vacant.
“Unfortunately, by the time we got to the internal and external committee appointments, we did not have every single councillor remaining in the meeting,” said Gordon, referring to some councillors having to leave the meeting before the end. “But 95 per cent of the seats were filled and I think we can safely say that we have an enthusiastic bunch of councillors.”
If you are interested in applying for the ASFA CEO position, send an e-mail requesting more information to internal@asfa.ca
This article originally appeared in Volume 32, Issue 04, published September 20, 2011.
