Arthur’s most hotly contested elections in recent memory saw Zara Syed and Yumna Leghari chosen as editors of Volume 50.
Syed and Leghari ran on a slate of diversity and inclusion, while promising a non-heirarchical organizational structure. They also sought to bring back the Street Style column, add a Humans of Peterborough column, and see into starting internship and co-op programs for the paper.
Four editorial options were presented to the Staff Collective. Ayesha Barmania and Ugyen Wangmo both ran as singular editors, and Jack Smye and Renzo Costa ran as a co-editorial team.
About 30 Staff Collective members, including the candidates, showed up to the election, with seven more having their voices heard via proxy.
The staff collective was also larger than average, totaling 50 names after past-editor Miranda Rigby petitioned to be included. Several contributions she made to the paper are reused in each issue, including the Sadleir House graphic on page two.
Paul Sanderson’s name was mistakenly left off the list, increasing the total to 50.
The large slate of candidates made for lengthy proceedings. Each team had 10 minutes to present their platforms, and two minutes to answer each question. After only eight questions, the staff collective voted unanimously to proceed to voting. This came two hours into the meeting.
Acting TCSA President Mayra Asmar acted as the elections’ scrutineer.
An outpouring of interest was shown for Staff Collective Director positions on Arthur’s Board. Five candidates were nominated on the spot, and given a single sentence to pitch themselves.
Voting was delayed slightly to check whether Arthur’s bylaws stipulated that only three directors could be elected after one member in attendance suggested all five candidates should be acclaimed.
It was clarified by the editors that not only was it a bylaw, it was also a bylaw that the minority of the board must be paid staff positions. Since one member was paid staff already, only two more could be elected.
In the end, Miranda Rigby, and current staff members Keila MacPherson and Caleigh Boyle were elected to the board.
To the current editors’ chagrin, there was no leftover sushi by the night’s end.