After two of the Graduate Students’ Association’s (GSA) vice presidents resigned in the past two months, council unanimously voted at a virtual meeting on Nov. 22 to directly appoint a replacement vice president (external) and vice president (operations).
The decision comes one week after vice president (operations) Kimberley Keller announced her resignation due to personal reasons and almost two months after former vice president (external) Hesam Farahani resigned citing workplace toxicity in the association.
As per section 9.2 of the GSA constitution, the council may, at its own discretion, either hold a by-election or directly appoint a replacement executive in the case of an executive seat becoming vacant.
While Keller resigned, she said she will stay in the position to train her replacement.
Breanna Kubat, councillor for the School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies, said a by-election would take too long to fill the vacancies.
“It’s something to consider, not making [Keller] stay longer than they planned. So, I think we should be considerate of that, especially when we have a full vacant position,” Kubat said.
A by-election could also be costly, according to vice president (finance) Hemant Gupta. Gupta said a by-election would cost approximately $5,000. He added the majority of that cost would go to the Carleton administration for use of its voting software.
Mackenzie Mumby, councillor for the School of Public Policy and Administration, wrote in the Zoom text chat that appointing executives would not alleviate the allegations of toxicity against the GSA.
“I think rushing into an appointment won’t help the executive’s already damaged credibility right now,” Mumby wrote. “[The] GSA [e]xecutive has already been accused of a toxic environment—I don’t know if it wants to add shady appointment processes to the list.”
Notably missing from the virtual meeting was GSA president Chi-Chi Ayalogu, who is on a leave of absence due to personal matters.
Following a call for councillor nominations, the GSA will meet on Dec. 13 to appoint the new vice presidents.
Featured graphic by Sierra Mclean.
