Commerce student Logan Edgar (left) has been re-elected
president of the Otago University Students Association and
will be joined by his younger brother Ryan (right) on the
executive next year. Photo by Gregor Richardson.
Scarfie politician Logan Edgar was re-elected president
of the Otago University Students Association in a landslide
victory yesterday.
A total of 3590 votes were cast, equivalent to about 18% of
the student population enrolled at the University of Otago, a
significant increase over the last election, OUSA returning
officer Jonathan Rowe said.
Mr Edgar (20) claimed his second term as president with 2454
votes - a 68% share of the total - from Dan Benson-Guiu (19),
an arts student, who received 909 election votes.
"I'm ecstatic. I was confident about the result, but I was
also nervous about whether [students] may have gotten sick of
me during the past five months," Mr Edgar said.
Mr Edgar, a commerce student majoring in marketing, will lead
the association into a new era as it contemplates a fiscally
restrained future, brought about by the recent introduction
of voluntary student membership.
A student referendum approved a 2012 budget for OUSA, which
has slashed operational costs almost in half from more than
$2.5 million to about $1.35 million.
Mr Edgar said OUSA was at a "pivotal point" and his main goal
was to ensure it remained a "long-standing and successful"
fixture of student life.
The drop in forecast revenue was expected and the OUSA budget
"realistically reflects that", he said.
"We'll have to make do and tighten our belts," Mr Edgar said.
He will be joined on the OUSA executive by his younger
brother Ryan (19), a first-year commerce student, who now has
to choose either the finance and services or colleges and
communications officer positions.
Mr Rowe said the student association constitution prevented
any elected member from holding dual rolesRyan said he would
"probably" choose the finance and services role on the
executive - a decision which Mr Rowe said would probably mean
a by-election early next year, given there was no other
candidate to take up the colleges and communications role.
Art Kojarunchitt was elected administrative vice-president
with 2430 votes.
Francisco Hernandez becomes welfare officer with 2225 votes,
Aaspreet Boparai secures the role of education officer, with
2480 votes, and Blake Luff has claimed recreation with 1620
votes.
Victoria Koszowski will be the postgraduate representative.
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