Streeters: What are your thoughts on the 2023 Students’ Union election?

The 2023 Students’ Union election is not far away, meaning that candidates are occupied with campaigning until the voting period on March 8 and 9 — during which, students at the University of Alberta will vote for who they think should be on the 2023-24 Students’ Union executive team.

The Gateway asked several students around campus to share their thoughts on the upcoming election.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming Students’ Union election?

Areen Amir — Sociology I

“There are a lot of people signing up for the elections, and a lot of people have different opinions about everything. It’s pretty hard to point out a single person that you like, because there’s so many people that you want to choose, but you can’t really choose.”

Joel Lumbab — Engineering I

“I haven’t been keeping up with it at all, I have no idea what’s going on.”

Zainab Oseni — Political Science IV

“I know the voter turn-out is consistently low, and I do feel like not many people in school are actively participating, or find it important. So I feel like the Students’ Union needs to show the student population more that they have sway and can make changes, or can even hold up to promises, or else students are going to see it as a farce.”

What do you think is the most important issue in the upcoming Students’ Union election?

Jucylynn Ayas — Kinesiology I

“I heard that next year U of A is increasing tuition — that’s my major issue. It’s a lot. If you take a lot of courses in a year, the tuition fees will increase by hundreds of dollars.”

Mariana Lozano – Political Science II

“I think it would be the safety and cleanliness of the whole LRT system, especially University station, as well as Health Sciences station.”

Teagan Paul — Kinesiology I

“Tuition costs, because I know that a lot of people that come to school are unemployed, or their families aren’t very high-class families, so it’s very hard to afford everything — especially if you aren’t from here, as living in dorms is very costly.”

Do you plan on voting in the upcoming Students’ Union election?

Samson Edwards — Education I

“If it’s easy enough I will — if I can figure out how to do it.”

Chaitri Shah — Science II

“I haven’t voted yet, I’m not very active. But I’m hoping that this time I can participate, I’m kind of getting more active this year, so I will probably get to it this time.”

Yemi Shoyele — Computer Engineering II

“I’m voting because I want to have a say in what happens here at the university.”

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