Second term for Chaput
Vp social reclaims position in his second election of the year
IT’S BEEN QUITE a year for Alex Chaput. After losing the February 2009 Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) election to former vp social Jean Guillaume, he chose to run in the fall by-elections for the same job, won the title, and, without the typical four months of summer to learn the ropes of the position, jumped right into planning social programming for the SFUO. Chaput has won an extension of his term after winning the support of 86.7 per cent of voters on Feb. 11.
“It feels great,” Chaput said after the results were announced. “I’m really pumped for next year.” During his campaign, Chaput told the Fulcrum that he wanted to revamp 101 Week by changing concert dates, and involve more students in SFUO activities by offering a variety of events throughout the year. Chaput also explained his intentions to strengthen traditional SFUO events while incorporating new ones next year.
“I’m going to decide within the next couple of months what I’ll be doing,” he said. “It’s definitely going to make this year seem very small by comparison.”
Chaput noted that he felt he was at a disadvantage coming into his position this past fall without having the summer to prepare.
“Coming in last minute, pretty much starting on [Oct. 25], my biggest constraint was time, because I didn’t have the time to take care of promotion and logistics as well as [I could have],” said Chaput. “There are a lot of things that I can improve on for next year.”
Chaput stated that he will be grateful to have the four months of summer to prepare for the upcoming year.
“It will definitely be to my advantage,” said Chaput. “I’ll have all summer to plan all the social programming for the year, develop a social calendar, and hopefully get marketing on board with all the poster designs—even before the year starts.”
