Winning in Watts

MCRC team wins with vote of confidence

Dorothy Yu (left)
Image by: Justin Chin
Dorothy Yu (left)

With 86 per cent of the vote, the only team running for Main Campus Residents’ Council (MCRC) executive quietly celebrated Wednesday night.

The incoming executive, team CYL, waited for the results in Watts Hall with a group of 15 supporters.

“I was terrified that not enough people would vote,” incoming president Tuba Chishti said.

She cited alcohol in residence as a key issue.

“There’s a big alcohol culture at Queen’s. We find that problematic,” Chishti said, adding that MCRC is unique in that none of its events condone drinking.

She said her team supports the Frosh Week alcohol ban in residence that was introduced last September.

“We saw [its] benefits,” Chishti, ArtSci ’14, said. “Based on our experience, we think it’s a good idea.” The voter turnout must be at least 10 per cent for an uncontested team to be elected. Thirty per cent of main campus residents voted in the Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 election.

Chishti cited University-wide student engagement as the source of the high turnout rate. This could be the result of three teams running she said.

“When student engagement is high, students are driven to be engaged.”

CYL ran a small campaign without any official volunteers.

“Everything came from us,” Chishti said.

CYL’s campaign focused mostly on connecting one-on-one with residents. Instead of having class talks, the team campaigned mostly outside residence cafeterias.

“We tried to utilize the structure of the MCRC,” incoming vice president of residence affairs Dorothy Yu said.

One approach was speaking to dons, hoping they would encourage their floors to vote, she said.

Now that campaigning is over, the team plans to return to their current jobs at MCRC. Chishti is events co-ordinator, Yu is house president for Adelaide and Ban Righ halls, and incoming vice president of discipline John Liu is residence facilitator at McNeill House.

Liu, ArtSci ’14, said the team is looking forward to going over MCRC applications for next year and transitioning into their new positions.

Tags

Campus elections, MCRC

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.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to content