ELECTIONS

Nomination Period Opens: March 14th, 12:00AM, 2023

Nomination Period Closes: March 31st, 11:59PM, 2023

Campaigning Period Begins: April 8th, 12:00AM, 2023

Campaigning Period Ends: April 21st, 11:59PM, 2023

Voting Opens: April 18th, 12:00AM, 2023

Voting Closes: April 21st, 11:59PM, 2023

All times pertaining to the UTGSU elections on this page and other UTGSU web pages are in Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Interested applicants must submit a nomination form to cro@utgsu.ca

In your application include your name, email address, phone number, student number and name of program. Applications without all of this information will be rejected. You must indicate which one of the positions you are applying for. You can only apply for one position. You must include a separate list of 15 to 25 students who wish to nominate you depending on which position you are running for.

Candidates running for executive positions are required to have 25 nominators.

Candidates running for the Board of the Directors must have 15 nominators. 

Nominators must be current UTGSU members. In other words the students must be enrolled in a Graduate Program at the University of Toronto. Undergraduate Students cannot nominate you for a position. The nomination form must include each nominator’s name,  student number, and telephone number. A simple way to have students nominate you is to make an announcement at the beginning of one of your classes. You can always ask one of your professors if you can make an announcement before the beginning of your classes (please note you must have permission to make announcements in classrooms).

You can send a Candidate Statement up to 800 words as part of your application (room to do so is on the last page of the nomination package). If your statement is over 800 words then only the first 800 words will be included. Your statement must be typed in size 12 font in Times New Roman without bold, italicized, or underlined text. Do not include any websites, hyperlinks, bullets,  or fancy graphics in your statement. If you wish to include a list, you can do so using numbers or letters or just write the list items in sentences.  You must send in your statement with your application. Late statements will not be accepted. Your statement is due by March 31st at 11:59PM.

The CRO has the right to change dates due to unforeseen circumstances.

For the aforementioned referendum, there may be one Yes committee and one No committee. The Yes committee will campaign for the “yes” vote, and the No committee will campaign for the “no” vote. These committees are the sole representatives of the Yes or No campaigns during the referendum. 

If you would like to form a Yes or No committee, you must email a completed registration form to cro@utgsu.ca by March 31st at 11:59pm EST. The form must be accompanied by: a full list of committee members and their signatures, a funding proposal and accompanying signatures (if you wish to qualify for funding), and a campaign statement (optional).
Please contact CRO Justin Patrick at cro@utgsu.ca with any questions.

There will be one referendum question in the 2023 general election, which is as follows:

Preamble 

Bikechain is a community bike shop serving U of T students located in the Student Commons building. We serve as a hub for cycling activity on campus by providing free bicycle lending for U of T students, educational Do-It-Yourself (DIY) repair services and affordable drop-off bicycle repairs. We also run organized group rides and offer volunteer and employment opportunities for students. 

Bikechain currently collects a refundable levy fee of $0.60 per session for full-time graduate students and $0.30 per session for part-time graduate students, indexed annually to cost of living. The proposed increase is $0.90 per session for full-time students and $0.45 per semester for part-time students. 

If the increase is approved, the total fee would be $1.50 for full time students and $0.75 for part time students and would be charged to all graduate students beginning in the fall 2023 semester. 

An increase in our funding would allow us to offer more educational and social programming for students, as well as to improve wages and service provision for our core programs. 

Question 

Do you support a levy increase to $1.50 per session for full-time graduate students and $0.75 per session for part time students, indexed annually to cost of living?

There will be one referendum question from Bikechain in the 2023 Spring election. To learn more, please read the referendum committee statements here.

You can find a description of each position in the UTGSU By-Laws here, see sections 4 and 7.

The UTGSU Election Rules can be found in the UTGSU Policy Handbook here, starting on page 15.

As the $100 candidate reimbursement limit per candidate is indexed to inflation starting from the Canadian dollar value on January 1, 2022, this year’s reimbursement limit per candidate is $105.92.

Candidates List

President

• Lynne Alexandrova

Vice-President External

• Neelofar Ahmed
• Walter Suarez Garcia
• Jesse Velay-Vitow

Vice-President Finance

• Willis Opondo
• Zoya Tawhidi

Vice-President Internal

• Aanshi Gandhi 

Vice-President Academics for Divisions 1 & 2

• No nominations

Vice President Academics for Divisions 3 & 4

• Noa Chazot
• Mohammadamir Ghasemian Moghaddam

Board of Directors Division 1 (Humanities)

• No nominations

Board of Directors Division 2 (Social Sciences)

• No Nominations

Board of Directors Division 3 (Physical Sciences)

• Friedemann Krannich

Board of Directors Division 4 (Life Sciences)

• Rohankrishna Harikumar
• Jady Liang
• Vida Maksimoska
• Chris Rodgers

Bikechain Referendum

• Yes Committee

Candidate Statements

To learn more about the candidates, please read candidate statements here.

To learn more about the Bikechain referendum, please read referendum committee statements here.

Voting will open on April 18th, 2023 at 12:00AM and ends on April 21st, 2023 at 11:59PM.

Only Graduate Students at the University of Toronto are allowed to vote in this election. Undergraduate Students are not allowed to vote. You will require your UTORID and password to vote.

The voting website will be: https://utgsu.simplyvoting.com

Voters are required to rank each candidate in order of preference with 1 being their first choice (in accordance with UTGSU Bylaw). For positions which only have one candidate, voters will have the option to vote “agree” or “disagree.” For referendum questions, voters will have the option to vote “yes” or “no.” If you attempt to vote before the elections open, or after they close, you will receive an error message.

Email the CRO Justin Patrick at cro@utgsu.ca if you have any questions or concerns about the election.