According to this year’s Concurrent Education Student Association (CESA) executive candidates, it’s all about reinvigorating what they see as a tired faculty society.
“ConEd has a reputation of being a bit cliquey, a bit reserved and quiet. …We want to change all of these perceptions,” said presidential candidate Anna Burnett. “We just want to take off the goody two-shoes, and put on some stilettos.” Burnett, along with running-mates Patrick Tye, VP (external) candidate, and Sinead Fitzsimons, VP (internal) candidate, all ConEd ’08, are confident they can breathe new life into CESA.
“We wanted to change things … we saw some stuff that we didn’t like so we are taking steps to change it,” Tye said. “We want to put CESA out there”.
The group’s motto is “Results ASAP” (an acronym for Anna, Sinead and Patrick), and the three said they’re ready to take on anything if elected.
They said they also hope to make CESA a more accessible organization.
Burnett, Tye and Fitzsimons are the only candidates running in this election, which Fitzsimons said isn’t ideal for them.
“We never wanted it to be like this,” she said. “We don’t just want this handed to us. … We’re still going to campaign, we are still going to work hard. … We want 85 per cent of the vote.”
This is the first year that CESA’s executive candidates are elected as a team rather than individually. The team said that worked out well for them.
“We know each other very well … We agree on lots of things, but even when we disagree about ideas we work together to make things work,” Tye said. “We really compliment each other”.
Although the rule to run in executive teams was made official this year, it’s not a new concept, said CESA Chief Electoral Officer Ali Rollwagen.
“Groups have run together in the past,” she said. “The turn-out is generally one or two teams, so this year really isn’t out of the ordinary. … Con-Ed is a small program and therefore has a much smaller pool of potential candidates.”
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