From 2002 to 2008 I was a student at Simon Fraser University, a mid-sized university located in the obscure city of Burnaby in British Columbia, Canada.

I didn’t do a whole lot of extra-curricular junk until my later years, at which point I started getting involved with student politics and student journalism. I ran for president of the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) in December of 2006, and after I lost I was appointed the Society’s Chief Electoral Officer in a patronage concession by the new regime. I was reappointed to a second term in 2007, which I served until 2008, at which point I got appointed as opinions page editor of the student newspaper, The Peak. I did that job until I moved to Japan in December of 2009.

Here is a collection of stuff I wrote during my time at SFU.

Failed Presidential SFSS Candidate (2006)

I ran for president following the impeachment of the previous president, and much of his executive committee. The scandal that led to their impeachment was very difficult to follow, and was mostly an internal issue of little relevance to students outside of the student government subculture. Frustrations over this fact influenced my decision to run, and the experience of running only exposed me to more evidence of how closed and self-interested the subculture was. I wrote the following editorial about my experience as a candidate.

The Weird World of the SFSS, January 15, 2007

Chief Electoral Officer of the SFSS (2007-2008)

As chief electoral officer of the student society, it was my job to administer any on-campus elections or referendums the student board decided to hold. I ended up presiding over three major events in this regard: the 2007 student board general election, the 2008 general election, and a special referendum between the two, asking whether or not students wanted to continue with a particular subsidized train and bus pass program the student society had been sponsoring.

SFSS Election Reports (all PDF mode):

My Report on the 2007 General Election

My Report on the 2007 Universal Transit Pass referendum

My Report on the 2008 General Election

The 2007 General Election included a non-binding referendum on whether or not SFU students wished to leave the Canadian Federation of Students, a controversial organization which dominated SFSS politics at the time. After some questions were raised about the legitimacy of that referendum (in what would prove to be a very fortitious omen of things to come for the binding, 2008 one) I wrote the following editorial in the student newspaper:

The CFS referendum was as fair as I could make it, October 15, 2007

(under construction)