Christina VarvisFollow along for commentary on the first forum of the Students’ Union elections, featuring all races. Starts at 5 p.m.
Jared Larsen delivers a capable, succinct delivery for the Sustainability and Capital Fund
– Payton
Albert Hu believes the solution to our financial issues is the U of A endowment fund, and that this is the time to cut spending that is not related to student education and switch our focus to offset the cost to students. He wants to try to prevent student abuse before it happens, but instead of punishment have a high risk evaluation program for students who may be experiencing harmful thoughts.
– Payton
Dave Konrad says he sees a division between governance and students, where neither understands the other’s needs. He wants to contribute to this cause by increasing board transparency and providing opportunities between students and board members, as well as consulting students to know what we need. He wants the BoG to remember students by building relationships.
– Payton
Question for the presidential candidates: how do you combat online misinformation and provide students with the correct information
Yiming Chen: first we have to look at the information itself and who is impacted. We don’t have a concrete solution because the problem varies by the situation. Yiming will create a temporary way to look at the situation, but her answer seems unsure.
Luke Statt: increase the capacity of the SU to respond and make connections, and expand these connections across campus. He thinks students should hear responses right away from the SU itself and then their residence next. This was a rather strong response.
Joel Agarwal: stress on being transparent in the role and showing what actually happens in the organization, provide reports online, and communicate whats going on with services and advocacy events. A little bit of a canned response, but still alright.
– Payton
Question for the presidential candidates: they all talked about being angry, but students are angry and seeing no places to channel that, how will they support students and push back against cuts made by the UCP
Luke Statt: SU has done a lot to grow that this year, including the upcoming strike which is a student lead initiative. The SU has 300 employees and there are too many problems to handle themselves, so they need to distribute money to student groups across campus.
Joel Agarwal: they should look at affordability within the classroom, he hosted a fair and gave students the tools they need. They should throw the ball in the students court, who have been at the forefront this year, and connect and unify the faculty association voice. They need to show a united front on this. The government wants to divide students, and we need to unite student voices.
Yiming Chen: we need to solve the problem and the emotion, provide a feedback system. The SU will be more transparent so we can build a community, let people connect and think of a solution by supporting each other. This way we can solve the problem and solve the emotion at the same time.
– Payton
Question for the presidential campaign: the president is figurehead, and students have been good at organizing. Would you commit to being strong and vocal against what the UCP is doing right now? What about keeping the executive as a block accountable?
Joel Agarwal: absolutely, we need to have a united front and show that students are not silenced, the budget is not a one time thing and the president needs to take bold actions. We should put the tools in the students hands, and that is a commitment that he prioritizes. We need to be pushing the government harder both at a provincial and a federal level. This is a very strong response from Joel, and the most vocal he has been on this issue.
Yiming Chen: she doesn’t think advocacy is as important as organizing the SU better, and thinks we advocate enough. We should focus on how we build our SU services. This is an extremely weak response from Chen, and it will be hard for her to reconcile this with students.
Luke Statt: absolutely, the president should be president. The SRA’s need to be a part of this, and they can advocate with the authority of the SU or on behalf of the SU. The international students association can be stronger, and advocate more on international student problems.
– Payton
Question for the presidential race: they all talked about advocacy on behalf of international students, but there is a disconnect between those students and the SU because of language gap and discomfort. This should’ve been tackled the previous years, how do you plan to address this issue?
Yiming Chen: she cares a lot as an international students because she is one. Lister is not the only residence on campus, and we see the disconnection of international students because of language barriers and lack of confidence. We want the president to connect with international students. We have food here in Lister, but different cultural backgrounds have different foods and different cultural events. Chen ran out of time, but this was a good point.
Luke Statt: a key platform point of his is better supporting int students on campus. The SU needs to make itself more available, because one in five students will be international soon. The website needs to be in more languages, but the international students association can have a seat at the table with the SU. He will be meeting with them monthly and will attend both bi-annual meetings. This is a well-planned response, and his preparation made his confidence in this point work.
Joel Agarwal: it breaks his heart when he hears the statistics, and he knows it’s harder for international students. The SU needs an international strategic plan to include international students in government and advocacy, and revitalize the international students association. He met with executives, and would like to help them through discover.
– Payton
When asked about fostering connections to faculty associations and involvements with SRAs, Eric Einarson spoke briefly about selecting representatives from each organization to participate in focus groups to more effectively address their needs.
– Damian
Rowan Ley suggested that governments respond to constituents and we need Albertans on our side. Grassroots driven leadership and centering response around those who are most hurt, bringing together network and collaborative decisions. Put pressure on the provincial government and address rape culture. An inquiry would be a start, but not a permanent solution, and he wants to push to become a province with framework to support survivors of sexual assault.
– Bree
Robert Bilak wants to look into how the university is seen in Alberta. Bilak advocates for fighting back against the UCP, hiring protest organizers, meeting with student representatives and taking those goals to the government. As for supports for sexual assault survivors on campus, Bilak looks to the Students Not Silent movement as an example going forward to be more effective to serve off-campus students.
– Bree
Alana Krahn, a candidate for vice-president (operations and finance), has a good introduction, focusing on the difficulties that students can have when it comes to accessing mental health services. She says it’s important for students to have access to a range of services.
– Mitchell
Samantha Tse, the other VP OpsFi candidate, focuses on getting students more value for their SU fees that they pay. In this, she strongly pushes her policy of having a dollar section at SUBmart where students can get the supplies they need.
– Mitchell
Talia Dixon, running for vice-president (student life) gives a passionate and strong opening statement where she mentions that, during her time living in residence, it felt as though residency services didn’t care about her. During her introduction, she outlines her platform, focusing on developing a sustainable meal plan, getting RA’s sexual assault training, and expanding the Peer Support Centre to help residents. Altogether, this feels like a great introduction.
– Mitchell
Katie Kidd, who is also running for VPSL, spends her opening statement outlining her policy proposals for on-campus residents. She specially focuses on improving meal plans on campus, advocating for a new feedback system, as well as her plan to expand mental health resources for residents. Although Kidd properly articulates her well-formed policy ideas, her introduction seems to lack passion.
– Mitchell
David Draper referred to the bylaw reform regarding SRAs along with his experience operating with various departments withing faculties and associations as a good foundation to begin conversations about academic affairs.
– Damian
The amount of questions coming in this year is heartening. It’s good to see students getting involved and caring about student governance.
– Payton
Question for the BoG representative candidates: what experience do you bring to this position that makes you an effective representative for students, and how do you plan to sway the board?
Dave Konrad: He’s worked closely with Ley and tried to get an understanding for how he advocated to the BoG. He has leadership experience he hopes will help him, wants to bring education to people about the board, and making relationships in the BoG. He seemed to really struggle for this answer.
Albert Hu: He served for three years in different boards, he also worked with Michael Fehr so he has some key relationships already developed. He wants to have an online platform where people can input their concerns and upvote them, and he will have the top three with him at all meetings. He has to keep the interest of the university in mind too.
– Payton
Question for the BoG representative candidates: currently there is no Indigenous representation on the board, how will he fix this?
Albert Hu: He already mentioned the upvotes, but he thinks the number one thing is education. He thinks it would be great to even have the board do a retreat on a reserve,
Dave Konrad: Rowan Ley has been pushing this during his term, he will work with him. Konrad goes on to mention the fact that we need to understand Indigenous statistics, but again seems to struggle for his answer.
– Payton
Question for the BoG representative candidates: the SU is taking steps toward sustainability, how will they push towards climate justice at the level of the BoG?
Dave Konrad: Chatted with Kate Chisolm, he wants to hear more about what people’s plans are. He derails the question to focus on other people’s solution and says he loses perspective sometimes. He says he would like to work with VPSL. This was a weak response.
Albert Hu: The administration needs to be held accountable for what they do, and they need to focus on financial stability as well as environmental stability. He threw shade and said that there are some high-paid people who could be doing their jobs better, and he’s not sure what they’re doing. This was an average response.
– Payton
