Leah Hennig At the Campus Saint-Jean (CSJ) forum for the University of Alberta Students’ Union (SU) elections, vice-president (external) (VPX) candidates gave some short but sweet answers. They mostly rehashed the same promises for advocacy, but with some clearer goals and avenues to meet them. Arman Chauhan and Angel Raina are getting their footing, offering some solid, unique goals and plans to ensure a range of advocacy. Rodenbush, on the other hand, is struggling to move past just rehashing the same platform points.
In her opening remarks, Chauhan had great plans to tackle affordability issues. For CSJ, Chauhan said she wanted to advocate for open educational resources in French to lower textbook costs, which tackles academic affordability issues. This is a great idea to get CSJ students closer to having the same opportunities as those in other campuses. Rodenbush piggybacked off of Chauhan’s statement later on in the forum without much else to add.
For international students, Chauhan said she’d push for initiatives to help them focus on studies instead of stressing about their finances, but didn’t give specific examples. In contrast, Raina said she would look to strengthening of newcomer support spaces for French-speakers. Raina having actionable plans while Chauhan is working with vague ideas creates a contrast that doesn’t work in Chauhan’s favour.
Chauahn also mentioned plans to advocate for the City of Edmonton’s Leisure Access Program. Chauhan’s desire to maintain this advocacy could help address the discrepancy between North Campus and CSJ facilities.
All candidates emphasized reaching out to CSJ and not making them come to the VPX. Rodenbush said he would make sure he’s physically on campus to make sure he’s there for students to hear out student concerns in a person-to-person format, which is a good idea for sure.
Raina said that after a consultation with l’Association des Universitaires de la Faculté Saint-Jean (AUFSJ) she wants to ensure the SU has a streamlined communication channel. This would include weekly meetings and ensuring francophone student representation is present during discussions that affect them. Raina said she plans to advocate for new scholarships for French-speaking students outside of Québec, ensuring they reach students.
Rodenbush’s performance fell flat. It was the same as the message said at the Indigenous Students’ Union (ISU) forum, with one new addition. After rehashing his campaign with nothing specific to CSJ, Rodenbush had some fighting words for the Butterdome’s soon-to-come makeover. He said he would push to re-allocate the funding to classroom maintenance. However, the province gave the U of A that funding specifically for the Butterdome. Advocating for re-allocating those funds is unrealistic at best, and impossible to worst.
Chauhan and Raina stepped ahead. They offered some specific goals and plans to tackle a range of issues affecting CSJ and the wider campus community. Rodenbush has some catching up to do if he wants to remain competitive in this race.
