BUSU president resigns after his reinstatement
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/08/2020 (1861 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
After launching a lawsuit to regain his position, the president of the Brandon University Students’ Union has submitted his resignation less than a month after being reinstated.
Olusola Akintola won the presidential election to remain the head of the union earlier this year, but his election win was not immediately ratified after accusations of intimidation led to an internal investigation.
Along with his wife Janet, who was elected vice-president internal but also did not have her win ratified, Olusola filed a lawsuit against the student union in May to regain his position. Janet was reinstated as of June 3, but the news was not announced until later, leading to confusion on social media when she appeared in BUSU ads while the lawsuit was still in progress.
Several members of last year’s BUSU executive and disciplinary board were named as co-defendants.
Olusola’s election win ended up being ratified as of July 13 after the union’s internal disciplinary board determined that the accusations could not be substantiated. That led to the discontinuation of the lawsuit.
Early Monday afternoon, BUSU general manager Ashley Taron sent out a job posting via email to students soliciting applications for the positions of president and vice-president external. Gaynell McCatty, who won the election for vice-president external, resigned her position on May 4.
In an email to the Sun later Monday afternoon, Taron said Olusola is resigning effective Aug. 17 for “personal reasons.”
Reached by phone, Olusola was asked why he was resigning so soon after the months-long fight to get his job back.
“I needed to move on,” he said. “Actually, I just wanted to fight to get my name back. I didn’t like the way I was being treated and I fought to get it back. Once I got it back, I just felt ‘well, let me just leave.’”
According to him, he had not considered leaving the position before he filed the lawsuit.
He said he would not be continuing his studies at Brandon University because he completed them earlier this year. Asked why he ran for student union president when he was no longer a student, he said it was because the union’s bylaws did not prevent him from doing so.
He said his proudest achievements as president were being the first international student elected president and being part of an increase in the number of international students elected to BUSU’s council.
» cslark@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @ColinSlark