Students’ Union election season comes to a close

The Wilfrid Laurier Students’ Union election ended last Thursday night as Megan Spenler was announced the incoming 2023-2024 president and CEO on Jan. 26 at Wilf’s. 

Voter turnout was 15.32 per cent with 2,980 total student voters; Spenler received 92.72 per cent “Yes” votes and expressed her gratitude and excitement to take on the role in May.  

“I’m really grateful for everybody that helped me with my campaign,” Spenler said. “…I’m really excited for the upcoming year and I’m really grateful to continue to be a part of the Students’ Union, even after I graduate.”  

Moving forward she hopes to work on transitioning into the role under the guise of the current president and CEO, Shane Symington.  

“I’m going to start transitioning with Shane right away… start planning for the upcoming year and kind of figure out how I can actually implement everything that I said on my platform,” she said.  

“It’ll take a lot of work with Shane up until his term is finished, but I’m really excited to get started.” 

Some key factors of Spenler’s campaign included implementing gender neutral washrooms at the Brantford campus, improving student leadership and initiatives, and supporting collaborations between the Students’ Union and other Laurier members, including the centre for student equity, diversity and inclusion. 

“I promise to put students at the front of everything I do, and I’m really, really grateful for this opportunity,” Spenler said. 

The directors who ran for board of directors and were acclaimed are Mohammad Abu-Rshaid, Patrick Baldinelli, Sebastien Corrie, Daniel Rubinoff, Gabrielle Russo and Alfredo Duncan Spizzirri. 

The other six who were elected in Thursday night are Josh Hamilton, Colton Phillips, Madison Tsoutsoulas, Hailie Ellis, Jack Sloan and Amir Noori.  

Mohammad Abu-Rshaid was elected into the Wilfrid Laurier University Board of Governors with 1,220 votes; Sophia Guardado and Noah Espiritu were both acclaimed into the Wilfrid Laurier University Senate. 

All five of the referendum questions received a “Yes” vote, ranging from 87.99 per cent “Yes” to 98.8 per cent “Yes.” 

This means that 1) KPMG is the auditor for the Students’ Union for the 2022/2023 fiscal year, and that 2) the Grand River Transit’s U-Pass with unlimited GRT bus and ION train use has been renewed.  

Furthermore, in order to become compliant with the now implemented Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, the last three referendum questions that have been approved by students include language changes in the Students’ Union Constitution; removing Article V, Section 7, and adding Article IV, Section 7; and supporting certain changes to how the Students’ Union holds its Annual Meetings.

Additional information on each of the referendums passed, and the incoming presidents of each Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Associations can be found on the Students’ Union website.