GSA to hold by-elections following resignations and disqualifications
The Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) has formally called a by-election for the vacant positions of President, Welfare Officer, Internal Officer and PGCE Officer.
News of the by-elections comes in the wake of the resignation of Internal Officer Davita Gunbay the GSA’s only elected sabattical officer, who has held the post of stand-in President previously. Her resignation follows the successive resignations of previous President Dan Carr and the Academic and Welfare Officer Nabilah Halal.
Gunbay explains that her resignation from the GSA is “only due to academic reasons and it was timed so that GSA’s operations wouldn’t be affected.” Her comment follows criticisms made against GSA’s organisation last term, with Gunbay admitting that it was in “chaos”. In a previous interview with Nouse, Gunbay revealed that she received no training and little support from GSA staff in the run up to the elections. She said she “was literally finding out about stuff I should be doing as an internal officer, stuff I should be doing as an acting President, stuff that I should be doing as a returning officer a minute, sometimes half a minute before I had to do them.”
In a press release written by the Executive Committee an acknowledgement of these organisational problems were made implicit: “We believe the changes made to our Electoral Regulations and the new Rules and Regulations for Campaigning recommended to the Returning Officer will fundamentally improve the manner in which GSA elections are conducted.”
Gunbay further attributes her resignation to “the heavy workload at GSA.” She further explains: “This term I renewed my registration because I need to complete my PhD and I am in my third year. My supervisors specifically asked me to cut down on my workload and I also teach at my department as well as being a tutor in James College… Several officers at GSA knew about the fact that I was considering to resign due to my busy research schedule and they were prepared for it.”
Nominations opened yesterday, January 26, and close at 4pm on Friday February 6. The Executive Committee’s press release exposed that a candidate ‘Question Time’ will then commence on Friday February 13, in Edge from 7pm. An EGM will also be taking place on this night in order to “engage the GSA membership on recent policy initiatives recommended by the Executive Committee.”
Voting will then open online at www.yorkgsa.org/vote from midnight on Saturday February 14. Voting will then close on Friday February 20 at 4pm, with the results then being announced during the GSA’s Bingo Night in Edge from 8pm that night. This is the first time elections will be conducted online.
The committee feel that “everything is well in place for the upcoming elections,” and that “they look forward to engaging the GSA membership better than ever before over the coming weeks and months.”
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You guys really don’t do this well do you?
Davita was our Internal Officer and while she has acted a President in the past, Dan Carr is currently the acting President. It is also worth pointing out that Davita was not the only remaining elected officer, merely the only remaining officer elected to a sabbatical post.
This article needs a quick correction. Davita has not resigned as acting president, as Daniel Carr has been in that role since December 19th. Davita has resigned as Internal Officer. Cheers.
Also, Davita is certainly not the last remaining elected officer. She was the last remaining sabbatical officer, but the GSA still has many elected officers in place.
There are so many things wrong with this story – please correct them ASAP.
First, Davita was not acting President when she resigned. Daniel Carr is, and remains in this role.
Secondly, the reason Davita resigned from her position of Internal Officer is because the workload she had to take on *last* term as acting President finally caught up with her. She rightly felt she had to prioritise her PhD, and because of her selflessness and continual desire to help the organisation, she waited until the new elections for President and Welfare Officer were about to start before handing in her notice. In short, she waited until the GSA were in a strong enough position to continue moving forward.
Finally, it’s also important to point out that the organisation are in the midst of an entire governance review, and one of the main points of discussion is how we can change our officer roles (particular those that are paid) to make them more sustainable for graduate students to take on. I’d also like to point out that we’ll be consulting our membership extensively on these changes, to make sure we remain democratic and student led.
Tom Flynn
GSA Treasurer and Deputy Returning Officer
This article has been amended following information provided by Tom Langrish, GSA Election Returning Officer.
Many thanks Henry.
Anonymous Massive! is impressed at the implosion of the GSA
CAN ME RUN FOR POSITION?
ME AM GRADUATE
BUT MAYBE NOT STUDENT
PROBLEM?