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No votes for students on exchange

February 16, 2012
By Cameron Michael Smith

Paul Craig is like any other student at Western—he wants to exercise his democratic rights and vote in the University Students’ Council elections. The only problem is Craig is on full-year exchange in Singapore, disqualifying him from voting.

“I first tried to vote [Tuesday night], around midnight, which would have been 11 a.m. in London. I entered the username and email address that I use for Western Mail, but to no avail,” Craig explained.

At first, he thought this was merely a technical glitch, but it quickly became apparent this was not the case.

“It was after confirming I could still log onto the Student Centre and Student Services but not the voting form that I realized something was wrong,” Craig said.

Though away from school for the year, Craig felt strongly that as a student who was affiliated with, and would be attending Western next year, his vote should be counted the same as any other student.

“Look, it’s true that I’m on exchange, but I’m a Western student. I pay my tuition to Western and my courses have to be approved by Western,” Craig said. “Voting is empowering—it’s a foundational principle of democracy.”

“We’re going to be looking into our bylaws and talking to the university whether a student is still considered a full-time student at Western if they’re on exchange,” Eliot Hong, communications officer for the USC, explained. “This is something we’re going to be following up with the university and with our own bylaws.”

According to Craig, though full-year exchange students are not allowed to vote, students on half-year exchange are. He suspected this is because half-year students still have to pay a USC fee, while full-year exchange students do not.

“Half-year exchange students have had no problems voting. Full-year exchange students are the ones who haven’t been able to vote,” Craig said

. “What happens in this election is going to affect me personally, whether I paid the fees this year or not.”

The USC is currently looking into the reasons behind the voting prohibition of full-year exchange students, to see if the concerns are justified. No change in current policy is yet scheduled, despite the re-vote to take place after reading week.

“If I am barred from voting, this is a failure of democracy,” Craig said. “It would be indefensible.”

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