Lochlann KerrEvery year, The Gateway hosts a panel to discuss the Students’ Union (SU) election. This year’s panellists provided their insights on the candidates running, student politics, and who students should vote for in the 2025 SU election.
Opinions expressed by the panellists do not reflect those of The Gateway.
The Panel
This year’s panel included:
- Areeha Mahal: The Gateway 2021–22 News Editor, former Deputy Arts and Culture Editor, and former Deputy News Editor
- Mason Pich: fourth-year political science and religious studies student at the University of Alberta, former SU arts councillor
- Habby Zoud: second-year philosophy student, secretary of the Campus NDP
The Candidates
Aamir Mohamed, a third-year computer engineering student and 2023–24 SU engineering councillor.
Manyu Rathour, a first-year computing science student and 2024–25 General Faculties Council (GFC) science councillor.
Katie Tamsett, a fifth-year human ecology student and 2024–25 SU agricultural, life, and environmental sciences (ALES) councillor.
The panellists noted that Mohamed had the broadest reach on social media of the three VPA candidates. Regardless, Mahal and Pich agreed that his presence wasn’t noteworthy.
“That is the only one of the three that has reached me,” Mahal said.
In terms of postering, Zoud said he’s seen Rathour’s campaign around campus the most. For Tamsett, he hasn’t seen anything on social media or on-campus.
With regards to forum performance, Mahal found that Tamsett articulated her platform the best and brought a lot of confidence. But, she found that “she’s a bit repetitive.” Specifically, Mahal thinks that “she has sometimes shown a bit of limited awareness on issues.”
“For example, I think [on] Augustana related issues, she showed to me that she didn’t have as much context surrounding the issues.”
Rathour’s proposals for mental health accommodations have stood out to Mahal, but at forums he “sometimes struggles to provide clear answers.” This was an issue at the International Students’ Association (ISA) forum, she said.
While Mohamed asks a lot of questions, Mahal said he doesn’t often propose his own solutions. As well, she noted that his policy ideas seem unclear and his platform is less structured. Pich thought Mohamed did the best at answering questions, but not by a wide margin.
Regardless, none of the candidates’ forum performances stood out to the panellists.
Pich worries that “it’s going to be hard to accomplish everything [the candidates] want to.”
“I think their forum speaks to that. It seems like there’s almost a lack of conclusive planning of how they’re going to accomplish what they want,” he said
The panellists discuss positives and negatives of each candidate’s platform
For Pich, none of the candidates’ platforms stood out to him. Although, he liked Mohamed’s the most, as he felt it best fit the scope of the role of VPA and was the most likely to be achieved.
“It avoids over-promising,” Pich said.
Mohamed’s platform stood out to Mahal as well, but similar as with Pich, not by much. While Tamsett’s platform had good points, she worries about the feasibility as some aspects seem to fall outside of the VPA portfolio.
Zoud appreciated the concerns that Rathour prioritized in his platform — specifically his focus on student mental health accommodations and the First-Day Access Program.
Similar to Mahal and Pich, Zoud said Tamsett’s plan may be “too ambitious.” Although, he appreciates her focus on engaging with students directly. Overall, he thinks her approach is best, “even if she can’t fulfill all the promises.”
“Sometimes it can be hard for students to be aware of the work that [the VPA is] doing. Engaging with students directly in the way that [Tamsett’s] advocated for is the best way to alleviate that.”
The Gateway asked the panellists which areas they would like to see the VPA candidates focus more on. Zoud answered first, and said he’d liked to see more focus on the expansion of the Zero Cost Textbook Program (ZTC).
“It’s something that needs to be addressed that hasn’t really been touched on by any of the candidates.”
In past years, Pich mentioned that VPA candidates have proposed expanding access to buildings later into the night and extending the operational hours of libraries. While this would likely require collaborating with the vice-president (student life)(VPSL), Pich said it would be good to see that advocated for.
Who will win: three votes for Mohamed,
Who should win: two votes for Tamsett, one vote for Mohamed
