SU Elections 2025 Q&A: President

The Students’ Union (SU) president is the chief representative of the SU and all University of Alberta undergraduate students. The SU president sits on the Board of Governors (BoG) and General Faculties Council (GFC) and acts as an advocate to university administration and all levels of government. 

There are four candidates in the 2025 SU presidential race:

• Pedro Almeida, a fifth-year immunology and infection student and 2023–24 vice-president (academic) (VPA)
• Ofure Eigbe, a third-year women’s and gender studies student
• Sophie Martel, a second/third-year criminology student and current president of the Indigenous Students’ Union (ISU)
• Joseph Sesek, a second-year psychology student

The following interviews have been edited for brevity and clarity. Candidates were given 1 minute and 30 seconds to answer each question.

Why have you decided to run for president? 

Pedro Almeida: I decided to run because I think there’s a lot of opportunity within the SU to make change for students and, having been an executive before, having been president of the Interdepartmental Science Students’ Society (ISSS), I’ve really seen what positive and effective student advocacy can do for students. Whether it was having the highest levels of Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) at the time or stopping the Academic Materials Program (AMP), I want to bring back to the SU the focus on the priorities that matter to students, by bringing in recourse from our advocacy and taking some of that proven track record to the role of president. We hear a lot from students on a lot of different issues that they’re facing, and I sometimes feel a bit of disappointment having seen candidates campaign and make promises one way, but then when they’ve gone to the job, failing to follow through on those. And so my hope is to come to students with an accountability focus, so that they know that in my campaign, whatever they do see, my platform is not only what I hope to get done, but what I believe can be done, and what in the past I have shown real efforts to make progress in. And so, with all of that in mind, I think I am running because ultimately, I’m ready and hopeful to make change for students here on campus. 

Ofure Eigbe: I decided to run for president because I’ve seen some issues around campus that are not meant to still be around. Our campus has over 34,000 students, and some issues can usually be fixed due to human capital. And I feel like there’s a need for a leader that is innovative and creative and I feel like I could do the job because I came from a smaller campus, which is Augustana Campus, and we have been able to create solutions to problems with a small amount of people. And I feel like due to the fact that we have more students, there’s a larger capacity to actually solve some issues that are still occurring. 

Sophie Martel: Really just the change that I think that we need to see. There’s such a lack of Indigenous representation in these kind of higher governance levels and I believe that a big part of what we need to do at the university is start decolonizing higher education and, while decolonizing education, and decolonization in general, should be Indigenous led, it is for everybody. So when I see the kind of issues that not only Indigenous students are facing as unique barriers on campus, I’m starting to see how these things are affecting all students. I’d really love to be able to see the SU run in a completely different lens and a different perspective than has ever been seen before. There’s been no Indigenous SU presidents, and I think there’s only been one vice-president. 

Joseph Sesek: So firstly, I’m a very proud student at the U of A. I love this university. I love the facilities, everything we have here. I’m not typically a politician. This is not something I normally do, but seeing the SU last year and the elections, that kind of piqued my interest. And as a result, I looked into things and honestly, I wasn’t too impressed by the job that the SU is doing. I feel like they’re not doing everything they can for the students, and that’s something I wanted to address. And I really want to reiterate, I’m just a student, politics is not really my thing, but I think that’s something we need right now. 

What would you say are the three main takeaways from your platform? 

Almeida: I’m hoping my platform can really tackle the three levels of advocacy that the SU can do. So in terms of attacking our academics, I’m hoping to address the issues that students have brought up to me in my several rounds of consultation, whether it be the uneven performance of academic advising in certain faculties or issues with exam deferrals, so that students don’t have to choose between either having to go to an exam sick or risk having their deferral denied a few weeks later. When it comes to the internal work that we do, I’m hoping that the SU can better support our student groups. I think there’s a lot of unnecessary restrictions that we place upon our student groups that prevent them from continuing to build community every day here at the U of A. And since they are at the core of what makes this such a great place of belonging, I want to get out of the way of their ability to do so by removing some of these restrictions, working on the events approval process, working with them to help them achieve their goals, instead of being a barrier to them. And then finally, externally, I’m really hoping to take use of the upcoming municipal and federal elections to push priorities that really matter to students, whether it be having meaningful conversations on addressing safety with the LRT and putting the resources behind it so that students can feel safer coming and going from campus. 

Eigbe: My first platform point is going to be that I believe in creativity and innovation. So we have things like the food bank crisis. It’s not just affecting people on North Campus because it’s affecting those in Augustana, Campus Saint-Jean (CSJ), and also the ISU. So I have ideas already on how we can try to get the funds needed, because what I’ve seen is the university doesn’t really provide funds for the Campus Food Bank (CFB) and this is an alarming situation. So I already have some plans on how we can try and get some funding for the CFB. I also believe in effective communication, for example, deep consultations with CSJ, Augustana, and the ISU. And they’re all talking about how they want to have effective and consistent communications with vice-presidents, as well as the president. So my job, if I get to become the next president of the SU, is to make sure that everyone is connected, because we are a huge connected community. And the next point is accessibility, because, for example, we have the CSJ students. Some of them do not speak English, so they need resources that help them with their language skills. 

Martel: So like I said, decolonization is a big one. I think it’s something that everybody benefits from, regardless of who you are. So that leads into a lot of my other platform points of just coming from the specific unique lens that nobody else running is coming from. Another bigger one is safety, security, and accountability. Because those are issues that, again, not only Indigenous students are facing on campus, regardless of the unique barriers we see, but that everybody is facing when it comes to thefts, assaults, uncomfortableness on campus, and not feeling that there is the idea of being taken seriously by the university, who should, first and foremost, be putting safety and security above anything else. And then my third one would be building, not just campus community, but campus solidarity. I think when we work together, we have a stronger voice and the SU doesn’t need to be that one sole voice, but we need to be able to help amplify everybody else’s. 

Sesek: So firstly, money affects every student. Money is a problem we all have. A lot of us are gonna be leaving school with $100,000 in debt, $200,000 in debt, for international students especially. That’s just all for the privilege of attending [the] U of A. I want to help those students as much as possible. I think that SUs do a really bad job at addressing these concerns. They’ve raised SU fees over two per cent every year. In the last year it was 3.4 per cent. I feel like that takes away a lot of their credibility. Another thing that has happened is the SU salaries have jumped up 24 per cent in the last couple years, and I think it’s a little outrageous for what they do. One of my promises is that I’m going to cut my salary by $10,000 immediately. And I’m really encouraging other candidates to do the same. We could use that $50,000 to immediately decrease SU fees by $1 for every student, and that’s just the start. The second issue is that six per cent of the population of Alberta is university students, and I feel like if we can mobilize those students, we can heavily influence federal, provincial, and local elections, and really push for the issues that affect us and help restore some things that we’ve lost. And lastly, it’s more of a tertiary problem and it’s one of my many other problems, but I want a mandatory list provided by teachers of class materials and syllabuses, before we actually get into their class. I want full transparency between the university and students so that the students can make informed decisions, because they’re paying a lot of money for their classes. I think that’s totally appropriate. 

Note: Since 2020, the SU President salary has increased by 17.83 per cent; vice-president (academic) by 10.28 per cent; vice-president (operations and finance) by 18.13 per cent; vice-president (external) by 17.86 per cent; and vice-president (student life) by 26.45 per cent.

How would you make sure every student in the student body is represented and feels supported by the SU? 

Almeida: I think that trust with the SU is something that definitely needs to be addressed. We have seen a bit of a trend of folks not sticking by their words, as I mentioned before, and their words when they’re campaigning. And so my hope is to take the time in the campaign to really listen to students, not only through consultation, but in the forums and in having these open dialogue discussions. But together with that, it’s about coming into the job and reconnecting the pieces of communication that the SU has with different groups on campus. When I was vice-president (academic) (VPA), I would meet with almost every faculty association, either bi-weekly or monthly, and that really allowed me to create a chain of communication that helped us push forward the priorities that either the SU had or the faculty associations had. And so my hope is to bring some of that culture of communication back to the SU that I believe has been missing this year. So not only with faculty associations, but together with other groups as well. I think that there are groups on campus that I believe have felt isolated from this team, and if elected, I would like to really create that culture within the executives that we go out and we reach out to student groups, we reach out to different students on campus, and we make ourselves available to have these conversations. 

Eigbe: For me, to make sure each student in the student body feels supported, I’m going to make sure, in my time in government, to be sure that we’re non-partisan, we are very neutral, and we support everybody. We make that very clear. We won’t support any agenda that goes against the safety and well-being and the mental well-being of students. And also take heed to all the current activities going on on-campus and always look for solutions to those issues right away. How I will do that is I will have an effective conversation with each student body and always keep in mind the fact that you need to speak with them to achieve everything here and to address each student issue on time. So we’re going to work timely and I’m going to have effective communication with each student organization and student body to make sure that the students are heard and students feel safe. I also will not be supporting any agenda that goes against the well-being of the student body.

Martel: I think a lot of that, again, just comes back to campus solidarity. I think there’s a big need for better communication between the SU and, not just faculty associations or student representative associations (SRAs), but being on the ground and talking to students that aren’t as well connected with these kinds of government spaces. I think it’s really important that we start doing the groundwork to talk to students about what they need, rather than just sitting at offices and meetings. I think it shows a lot of importance and a lot of dedication and commitment to the role when you take the time to actually talk to students about what they need that aren’t going to their different representative organizations. So I think just making sure that every student feels represented in a very genuine and personal way, and that we’re not so separated just because we’re in these kinds of higher title positions. I don’t think that that hierarchy should matter as much when you’re representing everybody. 

Sesek: So obviously, every student should feel included. I think the university is doing a pretty decent job at keeping everybody included. We have territorial acknowledgements on every web page, on every syllabus, and that’s perfect. One thing I think we can do is put a seat in council to represent those voices that aren’t really heard. We should have an Indigenous seat on BoG because these people have a lot of things to offer, and we never get to really hear their voices. We have a representative of Augustana and CSJ, we should have representatives of those unheard demographics. And I think that’d be a fantastic way to address that. 

Following the removal and review of the encampment last May, many students have expressed distrust with the university as it relates to their safety. As president, how would you address these concerns? 

Almeida: I think safety concerns are really top of mind for students, and it’s a key area of my platform. That not only goes within the internal work that I’m hoping to do and conversations there, whether it be expanding on the ONEcard access that I was able to secure alongside the vice-president (student life) (VPSL) at the time, but also working to improve infrastructure, so that lighting on campus can be better, working to create these conversations’ basis so that the different student groups on campus can make their voices heard. And so safety is a huge priority, but the other aspect of this too is really making sure that the SU is connected with the student heartbeat. I was disappointed to see the lack of response following the encampment removal, and especially [seeing] so many students feeling as though their freedoms and their freedom of expression had been infringed upon. I think that the SU could have spoken up more and done a lot more. Having found out now that the one thing that they did ask for ended up costing $135,000 — that being the third-party review — can be a little bit disappointing, considering that that’s money that could have gone towards improving infrastructure on campus or expanding ONEcard access or any other measure of safety. We didn’t need that to be the outcome of that discussion, because what we were hoping for at the time was for the SU to speak up for what students were feeling. And unfortunately, having a lack of that was very disappointing. That’s not the approach that I’m hoping to bring forward to president if I’m elected. 

Eigbe: Based on students’ concerns about their campus safety, first of all, acknowledging and promoting students who are trying to campaign and spread awareness on the issues that are going around in our community and affecting the whole campus. Their physical presence being violated is not a good thing. I’m going to acknowledge that, but we’re also going to find ways to also tackle all these issues concerning safety. We’re going to look at all of the problems that took place in the last three years. We’re going to look for different tactics to solve them. For example, the ISU, they had issues and a professor called me to speak about some harmful ideologies. So because of things like that, we’re going to make it clear that as a university, although part of that has to do with inclusivity, we do not allow harmful ideologies that affect students and their right of speech here. And we also believe that free speech does not mean harmful ideologies, but we’re going to keep students safe who want to protest for things that are meaningful to them, even if they might seem threatening to some. We’re going to make sure that we do the best for the whole student community. 

Martel: I feel like the work that I’m doing already right now, which is working within the faculties to make sure that students have a point of contact, somewhere that they’re comfortable. I think we have a lot of really great resources on campus that involve the Peer Support Centre, where people that are affected by these different kinds of traumatic events can go and seek help, but they’re not always accessible. People are uncomfortable, they don’t always know where they are. So putting something in place that’s at the faculty level, so students can go and get the help that they need from somebody that cares, and until the issue has actually been resolved. And they can go to their faculty and say, “I feel better about my student experience for this reason” [and] “I feel like I’ve been taken care of.” Because that’s something that I definitely haven’t seen in my few years here, where I would say that this issue has been resolved. So I think having these spaces to protect students that they can trust, because the university itself hasn’t been a trustworthy body in that. A big part of my platform is accountability for that reason. As we’ve seen with a lot of like Indigenous student safety issues, oftentimes Braiding Past, Present, and Future gets weaponized against us, rather than having it used in the way that it was meant to be. So it’s taking a look at these things that we already have and progressing and making them better. 

Sesek: So what happened with the encampment, the very abrupt removal of the people occupying, it’s a very sensitive issue, but it’s really important to me that student voices are heard. And the mobilization of students, to me, is really important as well. To address issues like that, we really just need to work closely with both sides on the issue, and there needs to be a good intermediate communicating between the two groups to really correctly represent the issues that both parties are trying to resolve. 

Domestic undergrad tuition has increased 32-77 per cent over the past five years, partly from the exceptional tuition increases in 2022. How would you advocate for U of A students that are struggling to pay increasing tuition fees in the midst of an affordability crisis? 

Almeida: Affordability is also a top concern that I’ve heard from a lot of students in the different consultation meetings that I’ve had, and I think that there’s a few different roles the SU can play. So obviously our acting on tuition is really important, and taking advantage of the connections that we can build provincially early on as part of that discussion. If we wait every year for the budget to come out before we say anything, then it’s less likely that we’ll be able to make changes at the provincial level. And so advocating earlier provincially, building those connections, as well as mobilizing students as necessary to make their voices heard about the need for more funding for the U of A. So that’s one side of the approach. The other side is around providing for a billion different areas that the SU can do. So really working to further things like the ZTC Program, which had the highest increase during my VPA term, but that we can keep pushing forward. One of the things that I’m very uneasy about is the potential for the First-Day Access Program to be passed in the coming term, which can add hundreds of dollars to students’ bills. So working to fight against that, or if it is implemented, unfortunately, [if] this team is not able to stop it, having work in the next team so that we can pull it back and really showcase the need for students’ affordability to be the priority for the university, instead of making ends meet. 

Eigbe: I would meet up with both the provincial government and municipal government, for ways to spread awareness or scholarships. And I’m going to show them all of these points, about how there have been increases in tuition fees and our students cannot afford things like rent and food. We also have increased demand in our food bank. So we need more grants and funding for things like scholarships for domestic students, while we’re also advocating for them to reduce and even stop the increase of tuition rates. This is affecting students and their way of living. I would advocate for better living conditions because with the increase of tuition fees, people don’t have good living conditions as students, and that’s not meant to be so, and we see that reflected in our CFB and other campuses. So advocating and using these points. Because of the tuition increase, they have seen effects in things like rent and living expenses. So to really have all of the students and to actually increase the amount of students that register to have courses in the U of A or even in Edmonton, we have to reduce this tuition increase because students are actually leaving the province and leaving Canada in general, because they are looking for better opportunities that actually let them have good education without hindering their lifestyles. So advocating for more students to actually stay, we have to ask the government to reduce or possibly stop the increase of tuition fees. 

Martel: I think a large part of that is going to be quite scary, considering the fact that we could have varying levels of government, or the same kind of United Conservative Party (UCP) government through all three levels. So I think a really big point of mine that I would like to have the team focus on is finding those kinds of external resources from local businesses, from larger companies, and larger corporations, so that we can ensure students can have more scholarships, more granting to these different kinds of faculty programs. That includes Augustana and CSJ, being able to find funding for them as well, through external sources if we can’t rely on the government to meet our needs. So while I don’t think that the SU should stop advocating at these government bodies, I do think that it is more important for us to start looking at what we can do outside of advocating through them. I think that there is a big part of the, specifically external portfolio, that’s missed with fundraising and that we could really be utilizing a lot more when these situations, like the government change over, arises. 

Sesek: First off, I’m trying to help students by lowering their SU fees. That doesn’t directly affect tuition, but my hope is especially with my cutting salary and advocating for others, I could use this as a chip when I go and negotiate with the university and negotiate with local government, to really fight for the students. I feel like I have an edge because I’m actually sacrificing something, and I’m wondering, “what is the university doing for us?” Especially if we have a cohesive group in the SU, I think we could totally fight for tuition changes and keep the limit as low as possible. So one of the big things that was taken away from Alberta students is there’s a provincial tax credit that we used to get, and it was removed in 2021 from Alberta and Ontario. And this is something I would actively fight to get back because it was saving students thousands of dollars in tax credits. It was amazing and, for some reason, they got rid of it. That’s something I would fight for, helping deal with the affordability crisis. 

As president, how would you manage the wide range of responsibilities that you would have, and how will you ensure that you stay true to your platform commitments while juggling those tasks? 

Almeida: I think that the role has a lot of potential within the SU, but ultimately it’s about working with a team of great and dedicated people. One of the things I’m super happy about is how many candidates are running in this election that have shown their dedication to the student movement. So whoever ends up getting elected, if I’m fortunate enough to work with them, my hope is to approach issues as a team to help manage that workload. I don’t think that, if I’m elected, I’ll be taking on the role of chair of a provincial organization when there’s a vice president (external) (VPX) who’s able to take on that job and do a lot of great work in that. But the way I see the president’s role is as someone who really helps to support a team and make sure their goals are achieved, alongside with the priorities that they bring forward following their consultations. So ultimately, having been an executive before, I believe that I have dealt with this workload in the past and have shown my ability to manage the different tasks that come as part of being an executive. Having that experience, I think, is crucial to managing exactly what you’re saying, making sure that your platform is addressed while still maintaining the different responsibilities that you have, so that even little things like your executive reports aren’t always sent in the late additions. Just making sure that you are consistently pushing for better and meeting your goals, ultimately comes from working with the team. My hope is to also bring forward the experience that I’ve had to the role. 

Eigbe: I believe in teamwork, not just with the SU, but also with different campuses and different organizations. That’s why I believe in partnership. I’m not going to try and override people because most of my platform points are going to be connected with different campuses and different organizations. So my job is not to override people, but to help them. I give them the space to actually succeed and I’m like an overseer who wants to achieve my own goals, and wants to be able to achieve the goals and to work with my group. So the way I’m going to be able to achieve all of my platform points is because I aim to. That’s why I chose concise points. I’m gonna keep effective communication with my team. I’m going to start early so I can actually get in on time. And we’re going to make sure it’s actually doable. We’re going to be persistent as well. I’m going to make sure that our goals are doable and done on time, but if they cannot all be completed on time, for example, the transit system from North Campus to Augustana, we’ll make sure that we have a concise plan that can be used and enhanced for the next election body. 

Martel: I think a lot of it is just being transparent. Obviously, you’re not a superhero in these roles. You are still human, and mistakes can be made, but I think adaptability and transparency is a big thing. I think that a lot of times when you go into these roles and you’re not quite understanding of what you can do just yet, it doesn’t mean that you should stop doing them, but finding ways to adapt your team and yourself to those things. In terms of juggling stuff around, I feel like I do a really good job at that already in my position, as we are volunteer students working full time jobs. So while it is stressful work, I think there’s a lot of fulfillment to be found in it, and that’s why I juggle it so well. And that’s why I want to be able to take this on, because I know how important it is, not just for me or the students that are on campus right now, but the students that are going to come in and are going to face these same issues. So the juggling really just is the genuine care that I have for all students on campus and being able to meet their needs. 

Sesek: One of the things I like is, again, I’m just a student, and I have my main ideas that I really want to push and I’m going to easily be able to stay loyal to those ideas. When you vote for me, you know exactly what I’m running on, you know exactly what I’m going to fight for every single day that I’m in office. Balancing all that work is a tall order, and it’s going to take a lot of time and effort, but it’s time and effort I’m willing to put in. This is something I’m passionate about. I really want to make student life better, and in the ways that I know I can. And so I’m just going to work tirelessly, if I’m elected, to push forward those things. 

-With files from Kathryn Johnson and Gabriella Menezes.