VPA candidates bring new ideas to light at CSJ forum

Each of the vice-president (academic) (VPA) candidates brought something new to the table at the Campus Saint-Jean (CSJ) forum on February 26. VPA candidates discussed academic issues CSJ students are facing already and how to fix them. This is a definite upgrade from the Augustana Forum, where the VPA candidates lacked knowledge on Augustana issues. At the same time, candidates Aamir Mohamed, Manyu Rathour, and Katie Tamsett stuck to a lot of the same ideas. They added small details while speaking to the CSJ students’ issues.

When comparing the CSJ forum to the Augustana forum, I can see a successful push towards the right ideas and talking points. A step in the right direction was mentioning the specific needs and desires that CSJ students need to feel academically supported. During the Augustana forum, I had my concerns all across the board. But I feel that the candidates are better targeting their ideas toward every group and campus’s needs. 

Tamsett continued to push her research goals by branching them out to CSJ students. Though slightly repetitive, it was a smart idea to bring to this forum. This also applies to Manyu’s plan to have a subsidized fee for CSJ students who want to pursue graduate studies. Manyu showed a great awareness of the concerns regarding the varying quality when it comes to 100 to 400 level courses that are taught in French and translated from English. This was something I was entirely unaware of, so his awareness of this issue helped reconcile my concerns from the Augustana forum. However, for Mohamed, I found it unfortunate that he tended to ask more questions than answer them. He was seemingly, again, waiting for answers instead of supplying them for the academic issues facing CSJ.

The VPA candidates became more confident in their speaking points in this second forum. I was also pleased that most candidates directly addressed CSJ’s specific needs for academic success. On the more unfortunate side of things, I still found that the candidates repeated a lot of the same platform points. In some ways, the repetition makes me wonder how many ideas each candidate can truly bring to the table.