UTSU’s eXpression Against Oppression week is coming up again. From October 17th-20th engage in exciting events and seminars about the social injustices in Canada and around the world. For more information visit their Facebook page.
It has been a week since the UTSU elections. Let’s take a look at my predictions and see how they compare with the unofficial results.
‘Winner’: Unite For Action (UFA)
Wow! Really? Who would’ve guessed?
Sarcasm aside, the UFA executive candidates took home an average of 80% of votes. I really hoped VP Internal candidate Nathaniel Tang would have drawn more votes but alas, he ended with just 22% of the vote. Obviously, the uncontested candidates had no trouble ‘winning’ their positions.
Why did this happen? There could be a few reasons:
Obviously with just one slate, there can only be one winner. No matter how one votes, at the end of the day someone has to be sitting in that position, and, for the nth year in a row it is the incumbent slate. Does this count as winning, or does it count as ‘winning’?
Voter Turnout: Virtually Non-existent
Voter turnout was a meager 5.45%. Wait. What? Approximately 3,000 people voted. That’s about the size of a high school. Needless to say, for a school of around 55,000 people that’s just sad.
Part of the reason why so few votes were submitted had to do with a group of students encouraging others to boycott the election. I realize that boycotting an election is meant to make a statement and promote awareness, but without the appropriate media coverage it is simply a joke. (more…)
UTTV asks students what they would do if they were the UTSU president and how they feel about the fact that there is only one slate running. It seems that the general attitude toward the election isn’t a good one — not a surprise.
The interviewer also points out that the line at Second Cup is longer than the one at the voting station.
Before I begin, I must clarify that as a guest blogger my opinions do not reflect the opinions of the blog. Everything said here is my opinion alone. Now, with that cleared up, let’s start!
It should come as no surprise when Unite For Action comes out with a clean win. Why? Because:
I will be the first one to say that I really do hope that Nathaniel Tang, the incumbent running against Corey Scott for VP Internal, gets a spot on the executive board. Unfortunately, unless the tides turn, I don’t see that happening. Sorry Nathaniel. I really do love your 5 pillars. They make sense. They have a purpose. Much better than the rather confusing “let’s bring more life into our services because I want to be able to cook food for you guys and extend it to other faculties” — an answer Corey gave us in the recent debate.
Having said that, this should not deter anyone from voting, or at least finding out why they are the only real slate running in the executive positions. When you think about it, the issues that our university faces will not change. We will always want lower tuition. We will forever want affordable public transit. We will always want an “SU that listens to YOU” (you can thank me later for that catchphrase). The difference is who is leading these initiatives and how they plan on doing it. This is where our voting becomes important. It doesn’t matter how many votes they do get when a certain number of them are spoiled. I know that Students First (the “banned” slate, according to many people) candidates are boycotting the election, and I am sure that many of their followers are doing the same. However, all that achieves is a cover on The Varsity and an even lower voter turnout. (more…)
It’s that time of year again, folks! UTSU elections are underway and you can have your say on who gets to be the next king of the world… Er, I mean the next big shot UTSU board of directors over the next few days. But how many people actually know what’s going on? In this post I’m going to try and give a basic overview of the 5Ws and H of the election, as well as the ins and outs of what has been going on so far. Ready?
Who: UTSU and YOU.
In terms of who is running, the election is usually divided into slates (you can think of them as parties) that each provide their own panel of candidates. These include: President, VP Internal & Services, VP University Affairs, VP External, VP equity. All students vote on these positions. The students of each college and faculty also vote on their respective college and faculty representative. Independent candidates can also run for these positions.
The only slate running is Unite For Action. That means that they have a full roster in the four main positions as well as all the A&S college positions. There was another slate running in the executive positions earlier in the election process, but that’s a story for another day. (You can, however, learn more about that in The Varsity. There is also an independent running for the position of VP Internal.
To read candidate statements (I suggest you do!), click here.
It’s the age of the internet and although egregious procrastinating is one of the various ways you can use the internet, don’t forget that it’s a very important tool for your classes and research. Here are a few links you want to know about.
If you don’t know this website, then you’ve been living under a rock. Or you don’t go to U of T. Or something strange. In any case, I’d just like to point out the degree navigator which can be accessed in the sign in box right underneath where you sign in for ROSI. This tool can tell you your degree requirements and there’s another function that helps you visualize your degree. It shows you what courses you’re taking or have taken and what requirements you’ve fulfilled or haven’t fulfilled yet. Useful stuff. One of the few flaws of it is that transfer credits don’t show up so if you have high school credits or credits from an exchange, don’t worry if you don’t see them in the degree navigator.
You would think that by now, more people would know about this link. I’ve seen 4th year friends go through a long process involving my.utoronto.ca to access the login page for their UTORmail and I’ve never understood it. (In fact, I think the reason why people use the long way to access UTORmail is because upper years don’t know about this link and therefore teach froshies to use the my.utoronto.ca link. ) Using common sense back in first year, I found this link and have never gone back to going back to the long UTORid sign-ins.
Rather than going through the U of T libraries website or the main UToronto website to access blackboard, this link will connect you right to a page which has a little icon saying “log-in to portal”. However, I usually log into my UTORid via webmail first (because I usually check my e-mail before going to portal) so when I type in that link, I go straight to my blackboard.
This is your friend, the library catalogue. You can check your due dates and renew books online here.
The official webpage of U of T. Exam dates, general information on GPAs and other information can be found here. After looking for grad school information for other universities, I can tell you that like other universities, the U of T official website can get really confusing. Consequently, sometimes, the best way to find something is to just do a search for it in the search bar on the top right corner.
Students at U of T pay for health and dental insurance coverage in their tuition fees. However, if you or your parents are covered under another plan from work or other circumstances, you can opt-out and get the money you paid for insurance refunded. For full-time undergraduate students at the St. George and Mississauga campus, the link above is what you use to opt-out. You will need some information (mostly plan identification numbers) on your insurance plan in order to opt-out. The process takes about 10 minutes and you will get a cheque for about $200 or so in April or May. If you are a student at another campus, a part-time student or a graduate student, check ROSI for your respective opt-out links.
The Arts and Science Union website has information on course unions (a union of students representing students of a certain department or PoSt) and it also has an electronic copy of the anti-calendar, the booklet with students’ evaluation of courses.
The UTSU is the University of Toronto Student Union that represents most students at U of T.
The Toronto University Student’s Book Exchange is a great way to buy and sell textbooks at a discount price. The service is free and easy to use!
Anyways, that’s it for now. Please tell me if I forgot anything!
Image by Reveus from the blogUT Flickr pool
We read the news so that you don’t have to!
UTSC students voted in favor of contributing money to build a “high-performance athletic facility” on their campus for the 2010 Pan Am Games. The facility will include two Olympic-sized swimming pools and a dive tank. Full-time students will be paying $40/semester and part-time students $8/semester. However these numbers will go up significantly to $140/semester and $28/semester in 2014, which is when the facility is supposed to open. A representative of the campaign against the levy says that students were fooled into paying for the construction when it would have been opened regardless.
A construction worker and recent immigrant from Turkey, Hilit Mutlu, passed away last week after falling 10 meters through UTSC’s new Instructional Center. Sadly, the incident was cited as “preventable.”
On a lighter note (I guess), the UTSU election was a rather dramatic event, with a lot of controversy and both sides — “Change” and “Stronger Together” — harassing campaigning all over campus for days. Stronger Together came out on top, winning all of the executive positions. The voter turnout was approximately only 16.4%.
After years of student complaints regarding marks appearing late on ROSI, U of T is finally doing something about it by transitioning to electronic mark submission (professors currently have the option to submit marks on paper). Now if they could only address all of the other problems we have with ROSI…
As of this year’s admission cycle, 250 spaces in PhD programs will be cut, while 500 spaces in Masters programs will be created. The change was decided after receiving demands from students, though the details of how this will affect each department are not mentioned.
In the year 2008, U of T lost $1.5 billion from its pension and endowment funds — nearly 30% of its total value. The U of T Asset Management Corporation invested in high-risk assets and suffered the worst losses out of all other Canadian Universities with more conservative investments.
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