The new president-elect of the University Of Institute of Technology Student Union (UOITSU) says he wants to give students a platform for their voices.
Owen Davis, a 21-year-old London native, in the nuclear engineering and management program, officially takes office May 1.
Davis says his inspiration to run for in the February election started when UOIT president Dr. Steven Murphy announced the rebranding of the school name. Murphy initially floated the idea of calling the school OnTechU, but the university recently announced a branding of Ontario Tech.
“I kind of felt like I needed to stand up and get involved in it in order to give students a better representation and greater say in the decision on the meaning,” Davis explains.
He also says renaming the university will be beneficial to the school’s future.
Davis is hoping to change the students’ perspective of the student union by “increasing transparency and accountability” of what the organization does. He says he wants students to have an impact on the school and not feel like outsiders like he did in his first couple of years at UOIT.
Davis says the student union has started to give feedback forms via Instagram stories and he’ll use those feedback to create a better platform for students.
Although Ontario premier Doug Ford has implemented a new policy allowing students to opt out of certain student union services and corresponding fees, Davis says it won’t have a major effect on UOITSU’s finances as they also rely on outside sponsorships.
Current UOITSU president Jessica Nguyen says Davis is a great addition to the team.
“He’s very like-minded to myself and shares the same goals that I have for the future of this organization,” she says.
Although leaving as president, Nguyen, 22, will be returning to the student union as vice president of student affairs and will also be finishing her undergraduate studies in the kinesiology program.
The unofficial results of the 2019 general elections:
President
Owen Davis 602
Dev Sivanesan 326
Vice President of Downtown
Kate Cinco 363
Miguel Agudelo 301
Arani Naguleswaran 190
Vice President of Student Affairs
Jessica Nguyen 729
Gabriel Betlen 185
Vice President of Student Services
Tiffany Best 627
Garie Kala-Ananthan 200
