And here we go for another year of rule under Walied Khogali. Since he was elected in 2007, utmsu executive salaries went from $7,200 per executive to $20,000 per executive. wonder how much it’ll go up next year.

It disgusts me that her points were cut by more than half. It’s criminal. It’s absolutely ghastly and criminal that these people will be representing the students come the end of April. How can I respect someone who has no regard for rules and has no characteristic integrity, much less a group of people?

I can’t.
I won’t.

This isn’t over.

In response to “This is appauling, this is criminal…and ANother Year under the Rule of Walid”

Honestly the only year students voices were heard or things got done around here was the year he was President…..Get over yourselves…get a life and realize its only student government at the end of the day nobody takes you serious so stop shouting like these election procedures are bloody murder…

Last time I checked talking negative about people on public forms shows your lack of character, respect and dignity and you are the reason this world is full of negativity start appreciating people for what they have to offer and not their faults…Here is where you will probably counter with free speech argument which is something someone who is on a rant would say….Well to that and all the above I say this….Nothing is wrong with voicing your opinion if it is done in an articulate thoughtful and respectful manner and does not take personal shots at someone to put them down

PS Its only student government get over yourself you get more angry than federal government with issues

John Smith -

it’s only election results, please stop making a big deal about it by posting long comments. Thank you. (also, what’s the deal with freaking out about other people’s comments, supposedly for not being thoughtful and respectful, and then starting off on ad hominem attacks. Shame on you, that kind of cognitive dissonance makes you look like a troll.)

As for the results, I think all of the Renew team should be able write articles in the Medium expressing their view. United will have a soap box to increase their visibility for another year, and the Medium should recognize that.

Taken into consideration how this entire election had been, I find it appropriate to declare this results unconstitutional, and a sad defeat to common sense.

How in the world in a logic sense, could you undo a mistake that has been committed? You made a mistake and it costed you $50; you appeal and now you pay $25. Does that change that fact that the mistake is still there???

Today is a sad day for UTM.

Try to be civil. Everything will be fine. It stinks that so many demerit points were issued and appealed, but that is how it is.

Looking at the Clubs who endorsed the yellow team and the fact that the yellow team had more votes…Demerit points or no demerit points people wanted the yellow team and not the blue team so you can cry out demerit points or formalities all you want but the votes speak the loudest and UTM wants the yellow team so get over the fact that your desired team lost and show the yellow some support in whatever form it may be so they can achieve positive change…the more negativity you bring towards them the less effective they can do their job

@ James…James the problem with people like yourself who only blog is you are talkers and your passion for change will not go beyond talking or writing articles….Why don’t you get involved in the politics (if you havent already and lost) to try and do something about it instead of just sitting back and complaining about it…as towards your cognitive comment I say NO SHAME ON YOU there is a difference between an ill led retaliation out of anger and a well articulted argument….

Finally, the blue team got demerit points too last time I checked but seems like this one sided form wants to ignore those

Personally, I do not think many people care about student politics. Why do I say this? Well, the 30% voting turnout rate kind of gives it away. It is obviously clear that the majority of UTM students (70%) do not care about who is in charge of its student union. Why? Because of occurrences like the “demerit points scandal.” A rule/policy was in place, candidates broke them, and no consequences were enforced.

Rules and policies are in place for a reason. They are meant to create fairness and promote ethic behaviour. However, if rules can be broken, and policies can be ignored, then these “regulations” never existed in the first place. They are only there to create positive images for organizations like UTMSU and the Elections and Referenda committee.

So when things like this happen, I believe that students begin to realize that there is no appropriate governance, and/or that the political drama is too much for them to handle. I feel that these (constant) occurrences inhibit students from caring, and in the end, cause them to believe that any UTMSU student body will do whatever it pleases.

If many UTM students, like myself, feel this way, then what’s the point of voting?

The initials of “John Smith” (JS) seem to be similar to that of a UTMSU president. Oddly enough, the tone JS used is also of the same nature as the president’s response to various other editorials.

Hmmm….

OUR VOTING does not affect demerit points .The students voted and made their decision. If it were all about demerit points, then the students’ voices are ignored – and then a team is selected not by us, but by default because they successfully got the other team disqualified.

Who wants to win that way?

Yellow ran a strong campaign. It’s that simple because in the end …you guys are right – most students DON’T care about the elections. They end up choosing the team that appealed to them the most. They don’t have demerit points and appeals in mind.