Photo Courtesy / Anna-Maria Kalesoski

UTSC students will see a new way of campaigning and representation in the upcoming SCSU elections.

Slating, the new elections policy introduced this academic year, gives candidates seeking an executive position the option to run in teams rather than just as individual candidates.

Any student running for either the positions of the President, VP Students and Equity, VP Academics or VP External could join forces with up to three fellow students running for different executive positions, forming a ‘slate.’

According to current SCSU president Pagalavan Thavarajah, “Teaming up with individuals who are running for other positions gives you the chance to create a more robust campaign.”

Slating is not a new policy at the University of Toronto – the St. George and Mississauga campuses allow slating. Up until now, SCSU elections policy strictly prohibited slating and any form of joint campaigning. However, this policy was reversed as a result of a vote, which passed the motion to slate during the union’s Annual General Meeting on November 16, 2011.

The union hopes students running in slates will put forth a collective vision for the future of the organization, helping to make campaigning less about the individual and more about what they can do together for students.

One concern that has been brought up about the policy is that students running in slates may have an unfair advantage over students choosing to run as an individual.

However, Thavarajah wants to make it clear that even though students may be running as part of a slate, voters do not have to vote for candidates from the same slate. Instead, on the ballot they can choose candidates from different slates and/or individual candidates.

One of the larger concerns about the slating policy is that it could lead to racialized slates or slates based on other factors, rather than on a collective vision for the SCSU.

Thavarajah says the union does recognize this concern. “People can come together for the best intentions or the worst intentions, but it is up to the voter to be very critical of how genuine the message is.”

Candidates begin campaigning for the upcoming SCSU elections on Jan. 23, and voting takes place from Feb. 13 to 15.