On February 14, SSMU President Darshan Daryanani officially ended his leave of absence by announcing an intention to return to his position as SSMU President to SSMU Executives and Directors. In an official email obtained by the Daily via an anonymous source, Daryanani not only spoke for one of the first times in months but went a step further: in the email addressed to VP Internal Sarah Paulin, the SSMU Executive Committee, and the SSMU Board of Directors (BoD), Daryanani announced his intention to “immediately resume” his “role and duties as President of the SSMU.”
Elected President for the 2021–2022 academic year on April 19, 2021, Darshan Daryanani proved the overwhelming favourite in the polls, winning by a comfortable 19.6 per cent of the vote. However, his Presidency took an unexpected turn following his leave of absence beginning on September 23, 2021.
Since then, speculation behind Daryanani’s leave has been suppressed by his fellow executives’ silence – VP Internal Sarah Paulin even went as far as instructing staff to “not respond” to communications from student run media outlets.
In addition to articulating his plans to return as President, Daryanani also announced his commitment to begin re-serving as the “SSMU Representative to the McGill Senate,” as the SSMU Representative to “the McGill Board of Governors,” and on “the respective committees to which [he] was appointed.” The 2021–2022 SSMU President concluded his letter by indicating his eagerness “to complet[e] my mandate as President” and his desire to “ensure the platform, upon which I ran my campaign and for which I was elected, is implemented.”
The Daily reached out to Daryanani and SSMU’s Communications Coordinator for further comment on his return and on criticism levied against his absence. They did not respond to the request.
If you have tips regarding Daryanani’s leave of absence or return, please email news@mcgilldaily.com.
Note: As Illustrations Editor Eve Cable is employed by SSMU, she did not have a role in the research or production of this article.
A previous edition of this article implied that Daryanani would be replacing VP University Affairs Claire Downie in her position on McGill’s Senate. In fact, the VP University Affairs holds a position on Senate regardless of the President’s absence. The Daily regrets this error.