I want to get involved in student government.

How do I become a candidate/run for a SRA position?
Is there information somewhere about this?

I'm in the sciences department and I've heard that they are full (I'm guessing this means people have a certain term maybe? how long is that? or do they get re-elected every year)

But I was also told that a lot of the science SRA members are upper years and they may need some newer people.

I'm in life sciences first year in case you guys want to know.

Any help or info on this is much appreciated.

- Richard

Hey aviaf!

My name is John McIntyre, I am currently an SRA Science member. Good timing on your questions actually, coming up at the end of February is nomination period to run for a seat on next year's SRA (term runs April 1 - Mar 30). Following the nomination period, campaigning will run for about a week or two culminating in the two poll days on March 11/12.

Currently our seats are full, but each year every candidate needs to re-run for their seat. To my knowledge, several of those currently on the SRA are graduating - but regardless that should not stop you from considering running as it is our constituent's decision as to who gets elected.

Information would be sparce right now because the elections committee is focussing on the upcoming presidential elections at the beginning of February. If you have any further questions, please send me an e-mail at [email protected] and we could set up a meeting to discuss the process and your plans. Unfortunately, you want to be cautious as to how things are phrased on open forums like this just because the elections committee could see it as pre-campaigning when they run the election in March. The elections committee is very dilligent in ensuring elections are run fairly for all candidates, and as such there is only a certain time period in which people can campaign and although asking questions is completely fair game, I would suggest to steer away from declaring your interest in candidacy. Please though, send me an e-mail and we can set up a meeting and as both an elections committee member and current SRA member, I can answer any of your questions.

Cheers,
John McIntyre
SRA Science

Or you can just stop by the SRA office during office hours, which are between 11:30 and 5:30. It's MUSC 204. Members will be in there between those times and would definitely be happy to answer questions!

You can also still get involved this year on different SRA or MSU committees. Currently, the SRA university affairs committee is looking for msu members to take a seat on it. The elections committee is also looking for people to join their team.

Or, you can always just show up to any committee meeting at any time. All of them are open to students. What to do there is to email the committee chairs to find out when the meeting times are. I've listed the SRA committees and contact emails and meeting times that I am aware of.

Bylaws and Procedures - [email protected] r.ca - Thursdays @ 1:30, SRA office, MUSC 204
External Affairs - [email protected] ter.ca
Finance - [email protected] er.ca
Services - [email protected] ter.ca - Thursdays @ 1:30, MSU Committee Room, MUSC 201
University Affairs - [email protected] ca
Operations - [email protected] a - Friday @ 2:30, MSU Board Room, MUSC 201

Getting involved on a committee will give you a great taste of what it's like on the SRA/what you can do. If you have any questions about what each committee does, you can email the chair, stop by the sra office and ask, or check out this bylaw that has each committees mandate on it.

Huzzah for SCIENCE!!