News in brief: March 31, 2010

Pre-trial appearance set for former OneCard manager
Following a court appearance last week, May 10 has been set as the pre-trial date for former university employee Nick Tomljenovic, who was committed to trial for fraud over $5,000 in late January.

At the upcoming superior court appearance, the trial will be scheduled, which David Russell, a lawyer representing the crown attorney’s office, predicts will be sometime this upcoming fall.

Tomljenovic was the former manager of the OneCard office; however, sometime during a forensic audit at the OneCard office, which lasted from November 2007 until February 2008, Tomljenovic was no longer an employee of the university.
–Laura Carlson

Official WLUSU election numbers still not released
Despite the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union election taking place nearly two months ago, official voter turnout numbers are still not available.

Although WLUSU has released the number of votes for each candidate and a breakdown of votes by faculty, not included in these totals are spoiled ballots and e-mail votes from co-op students.

As a result, there is no official student-voter turnout.

Totaling the votes for presidential candidates, there were 1987 votes cast – around 14 per cent of the undergraduate student population – however, this does not take into consideration people that might only vote for referendum questions or board, senate or board of governor candidates.

WLUSU board chair and chief governance officer Saad Aslam said he is still unsure of when the final numbers will be released by the union.
–Laura Carlson

Incoming board elects secretary
On Monday night, the 2010-11 Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union board of directors met and elected director-elect Chris Walker as secretary of the board.

Walker defeated directors Chris Oberle and Ted Brown for the position.

The first-year political science student emphasized his experience and interest in public policy and passion for student politics in both his platform and when speaking to the board after the vote.

“I just want to foster a good environment for the directors and help their ideas come forward in the coming year,” he said.
–Mike Lakusiak