Eight candidates began campaigning Feb. 25 in this year’s Board of Governors race, marking the two governing positions as the most contested they have been in years.
Ali Abu-Alhawa, Fahd Alhattab, Sarah Cooper, Michael De Luca, Samantha Cameron, Spencer Perry, Maddy Porter, and Christian Robillard are running.
The Board of Governors is Carleton’s highest governing body.
Anne Bauer, secretary of the Board of Governors, confirmed the last time there was such a high interest in the two governing positions was when six candidates ran in 2011.
Alexander Golovko, winner of the 2011 election and current board member, speculated that perhaps the media coverage the board has received this school year has encouraged more students to run.
“The board has garnered more media attention than it usually does, whether that be due to certain individuals on the board or important motions being discussed,” Golovko said.
Golovko said regardless of the reasons students are running, it is good to see student interest in campus politics.
“We are looking forward to working with the two representatives on the several projects . . . we have on the go this year,” he said.
This election will determine which two nominees will join Carleton University Students’ Association’s Alexander Golovko and Graduate Students’ Association’s Kelly Black as student representatives on Carleton’s highest governing body.
The Board of Governors’ bylaws state that the number of undergraduate representatives and graduate representatives alternate annually. One year the board runs elections for one graduate student and one undergraduate. In the following year, two undergraduate students are elected.
“We alternate that because there are more undergraduate students at Carleton than graduates,” Bauer said.
“Every second year, we reflect this by appointing two undergraduates so they can bring more of their concerns to the table.”
Although both positions available are identical, Bauer said the student that receives the most votes will have a longer term than their runner-up since the former student representative Zane Colt resigned.
“The board passed a motion in January to fill the rest of his term rather than leaving it vacant until July,” Bauer said.
Bauer said this means one of the candidates will serve an extra three or four months.
The candidate that receives the most votes will have access to the longer term. If he or she does not wish to fill the vacancy, the second representative voted in will fill the position.
“Their role will be to govern the university and to ensure that we are doing things in a responsible manner,” Bauer said. “While students can bring their issues to the board, their first priority must be the university.”
According to Bauer, the board is not responsible for some of the changes the eight candidates would like to see at Carleton.
“There are only certain things that the board is responsible for approving. Some of the platforms I see are great, but even if candidates’ hearts are really in it, they’re focused on the administrative issues, like homecoming,” Bauer said.
Candidates’ platforms are available on the Board of Governors’ web page.
Undergraduate students can vote for the 2013 Board of Governors on their Carleton Central accounts between March 11 and 13.
The new student representatives will be announced online March 15.
