TWUSA executive elections underway

Posted by admin on Feb 2, 2011 in News | 3 comments

Campaigning for the 2011-2012 Trinity Western University Student Association has officially begun. The first round of elections is for the executive positions, which is the council of five elected and two appointed positions who lead and set the vision for the rest of student council. Go to the News page, for information on each candidate.

Photo courtesy of: TWUSA.ca

This year has seen high number of applications for executive positions, particularly for the position of president, which has four candidates.

The current presidential race includes two current TWUSA council members, including Executive Vice President Nathan Giede, and Associate Director of Operations Christian Sawka as well as newcomers to student council Caitlin Lavallee and Jason Vander-Hoek. (Click on each candidate’s name for their Q&A’s with Mars’ Hill.)

Which raises a common question in elections: is it better to vote for experience or for a fresh perspective? This past year, Dan Folkman, an outsider of council at the time, won the presidency though it was against another fresh face to TWUSA.

Campaigning of all executive candidates will continue through Feb. 10th. Candidates will make their official speeches in Chapel on February 8^th. Voting will open, on student portal, immediately following speeches and a question and answer forum will be held at noon in the cafeteria, with polls closing and results being announced Thursday, February 10^th.

One issue that has come up this year is questioning whether student leaders should be required to sign a statement of faith. The issue becomes particularly prevalent each spring as applications for the next year’s leadership pour in, and while TWU does not require students in general to be Christian to attend the school, some wonder if a statement of faith is necessary for leaders to ensure the Christ-centered mission of the school is upheld.

Further discussion has centered around different positions mainly focusing on the idea of discipleship group leaders or resident assistants to be held to a different standard than TWUSA council members or even student orientation staff.

While Student Life is not officially considering implementing such a policy at this time, many students have brought forward the idea of a student leader statement of faith, which perhaps may begin a discussion that next year’s executive will participate in with administrators.

And with every election the concern over the use of student fees is a concern. With TWUSA taking in approximately a quarter of a million dollars each year, candidates aim to provide answers for how to spend the student’s fees.

Meanwhile applications for TWUSA representatives are still being accepted for their campaigns beginning next week.

Be sure to complete Mars’ Hill’s live poll on which candidate you support.

*Online poll results are not an official ballot and do not reflect or affect actual results.