The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) board of directors appointed Matthew Thomas as the union’s Vice-President External.

Thomas, a University College student, has held several positions on the University College Literary and Athletics Society, such as University and Academic Affairs Commissioner, Athletics commissioner, and First Year Representative, and was the newspaper’s Science editor in 2015.

The Vice-President External is responsible for organizing advocacy campaigns, liaising with student unions outside of U of T, and serving as the official representative to the Canadian Federation of Students. The position became vacant following the resignation of Lucinda Qu in October.

As per the UTSU bylaws, the vacancy needed to be filled by the UTSU board of directors because there cannot be an election outside of the designated fall and spring election periods.