Alexander Golovko will be the Carleton University Students’ Association’s (CUSA) next president after receiving 2,135 votes in the Feb. 15-16 election, according to preliminary results posted to CUSA’s website.
Golovko, who won by just 79 votes, said he’s ready to take CUSA in a new direction.
“I think . . . students spoke clearly and loudly in support of a new direction,” Golovko said. “What it means for Carleton . . . is first of all a greater focus on student issues, student unity and second a commitment to uphold the rules of CUSA . . . and the spirit of democracy.”
For Golovko, the win comes after a failed bid for vice-president (internal) last year with current president Obed Okyere, and after two weeks of working “day and night to connect with students.”
“The way people put it . . . is I’m the comeback kid,” Golovko said laughing. “I don’t know how to explain it, it just feels amazing.”
He said he was “fairly skeptical” of making a second run at the CUSA executive.
“The support of . . . students on campus has just been phenomenal. That’s pretty much what carried me this year.”
After celebrating their big win, Golovko said his team is ready to go to work.
“I think co-operation and community is very important and something that’s been lacking this past year at CUSA,” he said, adding that one of A Better Carleton’s first priorities will be scholarships for students “to fight rising tuition fees.”
He said he also intends to work hard to ensure CUSA has a good relationship with other organizations on campus.
“CUSA has been to a certain extent disconnected from other important organizations on campus,” he said, such as the administration, the Carleton Academic Student Government (CASG) and others.
After three years at Carleton, including a year as the president of CASG and as a student representative on the Board of Governors, Golovko said he doesn’t see student politics as politics so much as he sees it as student activism.
“Everything I’ve been doing for my past three years at Carleton has been trying to motivate students and if you get to know my friends and acquaintances everyone will confirm that,” he said. “If you don’t get involved and you don’t vote then you’re pretty much giving up on an opportunity to have your voice heard.”
The biggest obstacle Golovko said he thinks he’ll face with CUSA next year is his “diplomatic background.”
“My personal diplomatic background where I try to resolve conflict and unite people and try to understand everybody’s approach . . . has always been to a certain extent criticized because I tend not to always take sides, I try to understand everybody, I try to get everybody together and I believe that might be an issue to certain groups on campus.”
For now, he said he’s just going to focus on uniting CUSA and turning the focus back to student issues instead of internal fighting.
“[There are] a lot of things going through my mind right now,” Golovko said. “We’re really looking forward to a great year and a better Carleton.”
Related coverage:
Meet the 2012-13 CUSA executives
CUSA council election results
Unofficial results: A Better Carleton sweeps 2012 CUSA election
