Rector Johsa Manzanilla officially resigned at AMS Assembly Jan. 31, setting the stage for a rector-only election on March 10 and 11. The nomination period began Feb. 1.
Although the rector is technically a three-year position, Manzanilla said it has become customary to resign after two years.
AMS Chief Returning Officer Joanna Adams said this is the first rector-only election she knows of. She said the election is expected to cost about $7,000, and she expects the cost will be split evenly between the AMS, the SGPS and the rector’s budget.
She said rector elections are the same as the AMS faculty elections except the budget for each campaign is $250 instead of $800.
The election couldn’t be held concurrently with the AMS winter elections because Manzanilla didn’t give notice of her resignation two weeks before the opening of the executive elections. She said she didn’t resign in the fall because she wanted to fulfill two of her potential three years in the position. She didn’t know about the two-week policy in time to make the winter elections but hopes having the rector election by itself will draw more attention to the position.
After reg her position as rector at AMS Assembly last Thursday, Johsa Manzanilla said she thinks her approachability was her greatest success.
“The position is not well publicized. Making the position more well kniown to students was one of her primary goals.
“I think that’s what I’m most proud of.”
Hers and student trustee Michael Ceci’s votes against the rest of the Board of Trustees on the issue of raising international students’ tuition was also a notable accomplishment, she said, because it was the first time since 1996 the student representatives voted against the rest of the board.
“We were the first student trustees in a long, long time … to vote against a motion.”
She said she tried to incorporate awareness of the issues into everything she did, including sitting in on istration hiring committees, where she helped hire Associate Vice-Principal (Facilities) Ann Browne and Vice-Principal (Advancement) David Mitchell.
“Because I’m really ionate about the issue, I made sure that those were brought to light in the deciding who to hire.” She was also involved in facilitating the first fully-accessible computer lab in Goodwin Hall last week.
She said the position of student advocate was often a frustrating position to be in.
“What I found during my term was a lot a lot of talk and not a lot of follow-through.”
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