With a six-figure budget at stake, SGPS is struggling to fill a key financial role.
The Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS) is hosting a by-election to elect a new Vice-President (Finance and Services). This position is responsible for leading budgeting and reporting, and overseeing the Financial Assistance Program, among other duties. SGPS first announced this position would be hiring in an Instagram post on Sept. 25 with a call for nominations.
After the nomination process ends, the campaign period will begin on Oct. 2, including an all-candidates’ debate on Oct. 5, with voting taking place on Oct. 9 and 10.
Initially elected vice-president, Oishik Bhattacharya, explained to The Journal that he resigned in March after deciding he wouldn’t be continuing at Queen’s beyond this academic year. “Given that the role requires continuity and a longer-term commitment to serve students effectively, I felt it would be in the best interest of the SGPS for me to step down,” he said.
The Journal spoke with the Deputy Speaker for SGPS, Nan Ma, JD ’27, about why the society waited until now to host a by-election when the resignation took place in March.
“The resignation took place close to the end of the year,” Ma said. “We’re less active during the summer because most people aren’t doing school or they’re doing summer work, and there aren’t a lot of people in Kingston and on campus.”
In the interim, the duties of the vice-president have been fulfilled by the 2024-25 occupant of the position, Katie Zutautas.
“She agreed to stay on as a financial assistant, because we really do need someone to fill at least part of the roles,” Ma said, “But because she isn’t elected to sit on the council, she can’t represent us as an elected official, which is why we’re hosting the current by-election to try and fill this role.”
While the position offers $1,389.01 per month, the SGPS hasn’t seen as much interest in the role as they had hoped during this most recent nomination period.
“We’re absolutely looking for more interest,” Ma said. “And even if we did have more applicants, this is a position that we want to represent the general student population, and the students, so the more options that we have for the students to vote on, the better.”
In addition to an all-candidates’ debate, Ma explained that candidates are welcome to advertise themselves to students by launching their own platforms on social media and submitting a short description of their campaign promises to be posted on the SGPS website.
The election results will be announced on Oct. 11.
Tags
Election, SGPS, Society of Graduate and Professional Students, Vice-President (Finance and Services)
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.