Lily PolenchukThe vice-president (operations and finance) (VPOF) race for the 2025 University of Alberta Students’ Union (SU) election has been consistently one-sided. Nathan Thiessen has consistently brought clear, student-focused ideas to his platform and every single forum. Levi Flaman has instead relied more on the idea of continuing the work from his past two terms as VPOF. And Ryley Bazinet has been laser-focused on cutting SU fees.
Ultimately, it comes down to a choice of putting students first, maintaining the Flaman-status quo, or a small, non-consequential cut to SU fees.
Ryley Bazinet
Bazinet has anchored his entire campaign on the promise to cut student fees by $5. To do this, Bazinet has said he’ll cut his own salary by $10,000 and optimize SU businesses.
One business Bazinet continually points to is Room At The Top (RATT). Currently, RATT is only open on Fridays. In the past, it was open seven days a week. Bazinet wants to go back to RATT being open every day as a way to generate more revenue. However, according to the 2017–18 budget, when RATT was open seven days a week, the SU was only profiting $18,780 from the $639,410 it spent. So while opening RATT for more days might increase profit for the SU, it also demands that the SU spends over $600,000 to operate.
At the end of the day, it might not be worth the effort. Students already have an on-campus bar with Dewey’s, which the SU also owns. Trying to make Dewey’s and RATT more profitable within their current operating hours would probably be a better way to spend his time.
Bazinet has also claimed that the SU has not been using the Myer Horowitz Theatre and Dinwoodie Lounge enough. However, both have consistently held events over the past year. Whether that’s stand-up comedians, concerts, or student events.
More disappointingly, Bazinet has struggled to answer questions about whether cutting SU fees will affect the Students’ Union Building (SUB) and SU services. He was asked this twice throughout his campaign and both times struggled to answer. In fact, he seemed to struggle more the second time around. His lack of confidence in answering this question doesn’t exactly inspire faith that he’ll be able to cut SU fees while maximizing services.
And in all reality, he should have been prepared to answer this question given his emphasis on cutting fees. But somehow he seemed to be caught off-guard both times someone asked him about that.
Altogether, it’s unclear if Bazinet’s plans to optimize “under-utilized” businesses will actually have a positive impact for students. Additionally, cutting his own salary likely won’t have a big impact on students. Even if he is able to cut fees by $5 without sacrificing the quality of the SUB and SU services, that will have a minimal impact on students at best.
Levi Flaman
Flaman, on the other hand, was more prepared to answer questions. This is no surprise, seeing as this is his third time running for the position of VPOF. Much of his campaign hinged on continuing the work he has done in his past two terms as VPOF. However, continuity is only so valuable when his two terms have been okay at best.
He has consistently left campaign promises unfinished. Whether that was his promise to strike a housing commission to address the housing crisis students are facing. Or his continued promise to reduce reliance on SU fees or improve the process for student groups. I can acknowledge that both these things take time to do. But he’s been VPOF for two years and hasn’t made significant progress.
To give credit where credit is due, he has made progress on group purchasing organizations (GPO), which has the potential to save the SU money. His smaller efforts to ease affordability pressures include introducing and promoting affordable meals in SUBmart.
So much of his campaign has been about continuing doing the same things he’s been working on: reducing inefficiencies. While this is great to do, this seems like that’s a given for the VPOF position. And most other candidates have promised to do the same to some degree.
For someone asking for a third term, Flaman hasn’t been doing a great job proving he deserves one. A distinct lack of fresh ideas that would benefit students and only offering a continuation of his last two terms isn’t enough to justify a third term.
Nathan Thiessen
Thiessen has been capitalizing on Flaman’s promise of continuity throughout the whole campaign. He’s promising fresh ideas and a new perspective. Thiessen has kept students at the core of everything he has promised, something lacking from Flaman.
A lot of his ideas are about expanding and building on existing SU services. He has mentioned expanding SUTV and Perks to Augustana and Campus Saint-Jean (CSJ). While this isn’t going to be life-altering for anyone, it’s a good step towards campus connectivity for our satellite campuses. Additionally, and probably more importantly, he’s said he will expand Safewalk to other campuses. This would be a great step towards not just greater access to SU services but better safety for students.
Another idea Thiessen mentioned was creating a resource bank for student groups. This could include things like supplies for events. A resource bank would be a great way to encourage more student groups to hold events and do so at a low cost.
He’s mentioned providing students who are parents with more child-minding spaces. This is something most VPOF don’t talk about, but is important for ensuring students who are parents have every opportunity to participate in campus life.
His overall priorities of engagement, sustainability, and vision respond well to students’ needs. Especially when it comes to SUB, which many students use as a space to hangout, study, or to access services. Bringing a new vision, while keeping both the short-term and long-term in mind, could do a lot of good for SUB and the students who use it.
Who will win?
While Flaman may benefit from name recognition as the current VPOF, I think Thiessen’s platform and energy will attract students. His platform centres students at every turn and he has ideas to make tangible change. Even if those ideas aren’t the biggest or shiniest ones. Ultimately, I think Thiessen will win most students over.
Who should win?
Thiessen has both the experience as an SU arts councillor and the passion for the VPOF role. He deserves the role and I believe he would serve students well. He clearly cares about students and has put genuine thought into how he could best serve them.
