ACT Now! slate sweep executive and win a majority on Student Association board as Student Voice is reduced to two seats
Gagan Deep was elected as the director of communications and internal affairs with the most number of votes in recent SA election history at 1577. Deep’s slate ACT Now! won a decisive victory and a majority of the SA’s board of directors.
Photo: Michael Nugyen/The Dialog
This year saw a huge win for the ACT Now! slate in the Student Association election as they swept the executive and took a majority of the seats on the board of directors, winning 18 of the 21 positions.
“There was more hard work than last year. First thing I’m planning is more awareness during Frosh Week,” said Gagan Deep, who was elected the director of communications and internal affairs. “I’m also planning more accountability among the board members. We’re really excited to get started as it’s going to be a legendary year for the Student Association.”
Deep was elected with 60 per cent of the vote beating out Alex Stewart of Student Voice who had 40 per cent.
According to the chief returning officer Ewa Cichewicz 2853 students voted in this year’s general election. That works out to about 14 per cent of full-time students at the college.
Jatinder Maan of the ACT Now! Team won the race for director of education with 61 per cent of the vote while Masini Dermott of Student Voice got 39 per cent.
Thomas Hadwen of the ACT Now! Team was elected to director of operations with 54 per cent, while Brittany Andrade of Student Voice had 46 per cent.
In a three-way race, Jaycel Murphy of the ACT Now! Team won out to become director of equity with 50 per cent of the vote while Samantha Brown, an independent was next with 34 per cent and independent Love Kumar Maheswari picked up the remaining 16 per cent.
Brown was still optimistic about her chances running again, after having campaigned as an independent.
“I would run again, but probably with a team next time. I saw all the effort they were giving each other. I ran as an independent because they were already full and didn’t really have the same views on equity as I did,” said Brown. “I’m definitely still in this game.”
The five-way race for director of campus life saw Rachel Grace of ACT Now! claim a decisive victory with 52 per cent of the vote. Marriepossia Tang-Hoggins of Student Voice came in second with 22 per cent. Independent candidates Samantha Chizanga earned 14 per cent with Lemar Holmes getting eight per cent and Andrew Murrel had five per cent.
“I’m absolutely elated and proud of my team, I’m very excited to start making positive changes and start presenting my ideas. George Brown better get ready,” says Grace.
Sam Dorani of ACT Now! won the Casa Loma campus director by the largest margin of the election with 74 per cent of the vote demolishing Fidel Benjamin of Student Voice who had only 26 per cent.
A tight three-way race for St. James campus director saw Student Voice’s only win as Geneve Gray’s 45 per cent of the vote beat out ACT Now’s Shivam Khullar who pulled 37 percent. Nik-Keisha Moodie placed third with 18 per cent.
This will be Gray’s third term on the board after serving for the past two years as the director of finance and operations. Gray was ineligible to run for the executive this year as SA bylaws limit directors to two consecutive years on the executive.
The liberal arts representative race had the closest margin yet as Arceo Carlos of Act Now! won with 75 votes. This left only a 7 vote difference compared to Camille Nanavati who had a total of 68.
Coty Zachiariah, who was the Aboriginal Representative in 2013-2014, was elected to the position again with 13 votes against the 8 cast for Leslie Van Every.
Independent candidate Carolyn Mooney was elected the first accessibility representative with 27 votes while Melanie McIntosh of ACT Now! placed second with 18 votes. Laura Enarson claimed two votes.
The George Brown College Board of Governors race saw Shivam Khullar, who lost to Geneve Gray in the St. James campus director race, turning the tables on Gray winning 50 per cent of the vote as Gray came in a close second with 44 per cent. Rutvik Shroff would earn six per cent.
Also elected to the board was Fahima Hussein for business, Rooh Chema for health sciences and Shuai (Jerry) Gou for international students.
6.7 per cent of the 20,542 ballots were spoiled, down from 9.3 per cent in 2014.
The candidates acclaimed to the board were:
- Jamie Jamieson of ACT Now! for Waterfront Campus Director
- Angel Mbikay of Student Voice for Satellite Campuses Director (Ryerson, Sunnybrook, Distillery, etc.)
- Prabnoor Anand of ACT Now! for Arts and Design Rep.
- Biko Beuttah of ACT Now! as the Women and Trans People Rep.
- Murray Rowe of ACT Now! for the LGBTQ Representative.
- Humaid Moin of ACT Now! for the Hospitality Representative
- Dimitrije “Lav” Vujcic of ACT Now! for Community Services Representative
- Anthony Gallardo of ACT Now! for Construction and Engineering Representative
Will this election’s winners take their promises to heart? Our newly elected board will prove themselves once they take office.
