SU Elections 2022: Augustana Students’ Association Forum Recap

The fifth forum of the University of Alberta’s Students’ Union 2022 elections was the Augustana Students’ Association (ASA) forum.

This forum, conducted on March 7, was held in-person at Augustana Campus for candidates running in the ASA’s 2022 election. Students’ Union candidates and The Gateway attended the forum via Zoom.

Students’ Union candidates gave opening statements, which were followed by questions from the audience. Once all questions from the audience were answered by candidates, the next race presented their opening statements.

Here is the TL;DR version of this forum:

• President: presidential candidate incorrectly claims opponent’s platform does not mention Augustana
• Vice-president (operations and finance): period equity at Augustana
• Vice-president (external): top priorities if elected
• Vice-president (academic): removed minors at Augustana
• Vice-president (student life): celebrating Augustana’s “uniqueness”
• Board of Governors Representative: increasing student desire to go to Augustana

Presidential candidates asked what change can be expected if candidates are elected

Presidential candidates were asked about increasing communications between the Students’ Union and the Augustana community.

Haruun Ali, presidential candidate, criticized the current executive team’s work with communicating with the Augustana community.

“One of the reasons why I wanted to run is that I’ve seen the issues with the Students’ Union executive and I’ve seen how we can do better,” Ali said. “When it comes to communications, we can do better. It’s about telling people what we’re doing, telling people our successes, and how we’re making these successes.”

“I’m committed to working with all my vice-presidents to make sure we’re actively communicating our successes with you, so you know what’s happening at your Students’ Union, and to ensure that we do better.”

Emily Kimani, presidential candidate, described communications between the Students’ Union and Augustana as “improving,” but noted “room for improvement.”

“This year we have made some strides and improvements in terms of our communications with the Students’ Union and the Augustana Students’ Association (ASA),” she said. “When I ran last year for vice-president (operations and finance) I made the commitment to meet monthly with my counterpart. Unfortunately because [their] vice-president (finance) was elected halfway into the year, we weren’t able to have as frequent meetings”

“I do think we are improving, but there’s definitely more room for improvement.”

Monteiro, presidential candidate, described the current Students’ Union executive team as working “extremely hard” to improve communications with the Augustana community.

“I think there’s been a misinterpretation on how the executive this year has communicated with Augustana,” he said. “We’ve worked exceptionally hard… having monthly, if not biweekly, meetings with them and talking with them on the phone to make sure they are heard.”

“We worked extremely hard to communicate — like Emily [Kimani] said, we can always communicate better… but we have worked extremely hard and I’m really happy with the connections we’ve built with Augustana and the ASA this year, and I look forward to what we’re going to do with them going forward.”

After Monteiro spoke, Ali asked to clarify his comments.

“I obviously don’t know how many times the Students’ Union executive team is meeting with ASA executives, but the reality is the Students’ Union executive team is not connecting with Augustana students themselves. People want to know what’s happening.”

“I think the first step to doing better is acknowledging there is a problem — and I think vice-president Monteiro just demonstrated he hasn’t acknowledged there is a problem.”

Later in the forum, a question from the audience asked presidential candidates what students at Augustana should “expect to see by April 30, [2023]” if they “are elected in as the next Students’ Union president.”

Monteiro was first to answer the question, and discussed improving student life for Augustana students and advocating providing funding.

“There are two elements in my platform where I really talk about Augustana and ensuring they have a greater experience,” Monteiro said. “One is around revitalizing student life at Augustana and providing funding to groups.”

“Specifically, I think the best strategy here is providing funding to the Augustana Students’ Association… another big component of this is work integrated learning. It’s a very crucial component of the experience at Augustana.”

Similar to Monteiro, Kimani gave an overview of advocacy for Augustana included in her platform.

“[There are] two main points in my platform for Augustana. The first one is revitalizing all our campuses, including Augustana, through increasing student group branching and working to reduce barriers in the event approval process.”

“The second is addressing sexual violence on all of our campuses… because unfortunately students here don’t have access to the same supports as students at North Campus.”

Ali said both of his opponents had a lack of Augustana issues on their platforms — and claimed Monteiro’s platform did not include Augustana once. This claim is false, as both platforms mention Augustana.

“Vice-president Monteiro and vice-president Kimani’s platforms barely mention the word Augustana — in fact, Monteiro’s platform does not mention it at all,” Ali said. “However, as president at the end of my term, what you expect from me is clear.

“You can expect to have that shuttle bus up and running — this is something that has been talked about for too long. There has been too much talk and not enough action. I also want to ensure the university hires a sexual violence coordinator for Augustana… and roll our the free menstrual product program to all campuses.”

Monteiro followed Ali’s claims with a point of clarification. Though Ali claimed Monteiro does not mention Augustana in his platform, that is not correct.

“Augustana is included in my platform, I have mentioned it a couple of times,” Monteiro said. “I encourage Ali to go back and my platform. [I mention it] three times, so I encourage candidate Ali to go back and read my platform.”

Editor’s Note: Monteiro’s platform mentions the word “Augustana” twice, and the word “Camrose” once.

-Areeha Mahal

VP Ops Fi candidate pushes for period equity at Augustana

In the ASA forum, sole vice-president (operations and finance) (VP Ops Fi) candidate Julia Villoso highlighted how period poverty is one of the largest barriers for students.

She states how students are “left in vulnerable positions for the financial burden of menstruating and lack of resources and support” — which is why she is prepared to expand the Period Equity Program. This program, already implemented on North Campus and Campus Saint-Jean, provides free menstrual products around campus and for all students and community members to access. She expresses how Augustana students should see this success too.

Villoso additionally mentioned how she was lucky enough to visit Augustana Campus. She described being inspired by the many initiatives they’ve implemented such as the Used Bookstore, the Wellness Wagon, and the Food Pantry. 

When looking to future advocacy, Villoso expressed the desire to support existing initiatives.

“I want to further empower your initiatives by offering support from North Campus,” she said.

-Lale Fassone

VPX candidates discuss top priorities if elected

Sexual assault, transportation, and mental health were the main focuses for the vice-president (external) candidates.

Chris Beasley, a fifth-year political science student and current Students’ Union arts councillor, opened with the importance of sexual violence support, emphasizing how Camrose still does not have rape kits and people need to drive to Red Deer to get adequate support.

“I’ve long talked about how sexual violence on campus is a crisis situation and that means we need crisis funding from the province,” Beasley said. “I’m not going to wait a year to see the results of a provincial survey that will reveal things that are not news to you, not news to me, and news to the province.”

Beasley also mentioned the inadequate mental health support and the Camrose Connector — a 20 seat shuttle connecting Edmonton and Camrose — all of which require external funding to solve.

“I want to work with the provincial government to ensure the prosperity and stability of Augustana Campus.”

Christian Fotang, a fourth-year biology student and current Students’ Union vice-president (external), emphasized how in the past year, he and his team have worked to reestablish connections with Augustana and “[vows] to continue doing this.”

“Augustana is embedded in the history and culture of Camrose and the city of Camrose is an essential part of the growth of Augustana,” Fotang said.

After discussing with ASA president, Robel Ng’ong’a, Fotang believes “Augustana students are not reflected in the priority of the city of Camrose council” and seeks to use his experience in revitalizing municipal advocacy in Edmonton to help Camrose.

The candidates were posed one question during the forum.

“What would you say is your top priority that you will focus your advocacy on if elected?” they were asked.

Fotang focused on affordable transit to and from Edmonton, along with sexual assault resources.

“Funny enough, when I told this to [ASA] president Robel [Ng’ong’a] and the university about this, they didn’t even know that the Camrose Connector had stopped functioning as a program,” Fotang said. “Already we are reminding the university that they have to be at issue with this.”

Beasley highlighted that tuition and fighting cuts are his number one priority.

“I think this should be the number one priority of any VPX, it’s the thing that affects every student on every campus and makes life unaffordable,” he said. “I understand that mobility and transportation is related to quality of life.”

-Remi Hou

Removed minors at Augustana Campus discussed by VPA candidates

Vice-president (academic) candidates were asked about increasing communications between the Students’ Union and the Augustana community.

At the ASA forum Gurleen Kaur, vice-president (academic) (VPA) candidate stated she would advocate for all courses on Bear Tracks to include whether or not they require textbooks, as part of an affordable textbook policy.

Additionally, she expressed plans to push for more open educational resources to mitigate the problem of textbooks. She promised to stand strong against the cuts that led to Augustana Campus losing their nursing program and to consult with the ASA regularly and make sure Augustana students’ academic needs are met. 

“I’m a fighter and will keep fighting, and also challenge myself time and again… to provide students with the best,” Kaur said.

VPA candidate Milan Regmi promised to work with ASA and the General Faculties Council (GFC) Facilities and Development Committee to improve Augustana infrastructure. Additionally, he mentioned that he would work with the VPX to prevent further budget cuts and help restore the nursing program. Further, he plans to include Augustana in the conversation about exploration credits, so that their students also have the flexibility they need to discover new things they are passionate about.

“Augustana students deserve the same opportunities for growth and sustainable education as the students in Edmonton do,” Regmi emphasized.

An audience member commented that the GFC Programs Committee was the one that made the final decision to delete minors at Augustana Campus — not the Augustana faculty. This decision deleted 28 of 30 optional
minors offered at Augustana Campus

The candidates were asked what they would have done if this had come up during their term.

Regmi said that he would have voted against removing minors, and that the larger problem is that Augustana students don’t have access to a shuttle that they can take to North Campus in order to complete their minor.

Kaur said she was unaware of the issue, and that if she were on the GFC, she would consult ASA and the students at Augustana before making a decision.

–Megana Thamilselvan

VPSL candidates discuss opportunities to ‘celebrate’ Augustana’s uniqueness

During the ASA forum, vice-president (student life) (VPSL) candidates discussed improving event approval process.

In a question from the audience, vice-president (student life) (VPSL) candidates were asked about opportunities to celebrate the campus’s uniqueness.

“Over the last year, opportunities that allow us to celebrate what makes Augustana unique have been scarce due to restrictions placed on student groups. What is your take on this and what can you promise us, students at Augustana?” the question asked.

In response Joannie Fogue, VPSL candidate, mentioned advocating for the “reform” of the events approval process.

“So many student groups across all our campuses have not been able to hold events due to the restrictions placed by our dean of students,” Fogue said. “I’ve addressed this in my platform my making sure we’re reforming events approval to make sure Augustana can host more events on campus.”

“I would make sure I work with ASA to make sure… to implement that reformed event approval.”

VPSL candidate Rowan Morris highlighted the importance of providing supports for online event programming.

“There has been no support for student groups to program online — to provide those events digitally or asynchronously,” Morris noted.

“I want to work with student groups, not only to make the events approval process easier, but also that in the event you have to program online, you are able to do it effectively and provide meaningful opportunities for students to engage with one another.”

-Areeha Mahal

Increasing students who ‘desire to go to Augustana campus’ a priority for BoG representative candidate

Alex Dorschied, a third-year bachelor of commerce student and sole Board of Governors (BoG) representative candidate, focused on the U of A’s goal of expanding to 50,000 students by 2026, believing that Augustana will play a big role in this.

“I’ve had consultation with your ASA president, Robel [Ng’ong’a], … about the issues the students have been facing on Camrose Campus,” he said.

The issues brought to his attention were the Camrose Connector and the run-down residence buildings. Dorschied plans to advocate to the Board to improve the residence buildings on Augustana and maybe even build a new one in the future. 

“The university needs to expand to 50,000 students by 2026 to meet its funding goals,” Dorschied said.

“I’m going to advocate to the Board to fund these capital projects to make more students desire to go to Augustana campus.”

-Remi Hou

ISA questioned on benefits for international students at Augustana, WUSC gets no questions

The International Students’ Association (ISA) and the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) were the two referendums present at the ASA forum.

After delivering opening statements, ISA representative Charvi Dhamija was asked why should students at Augustana pay a fee during the spring and summer, when no classes or students are taught at Augustana Campus during the Spring and Summer semesters.

In addition, the question asked why should students pay a fee when “all benefits are centred in Edmonton?”

In response, Dhamija, said students have the option to opt-out of the fee — something students not taking spring or summer courses can consider. Additionally, other than the I-Card, Dhamija described all other services funded by the ISAF as accessible for Augustana students.

The ISA representative was also asked what the ISA has done specifically “for the international students at Augustana?”

In response, Dhamija mentioned an issue with frozen food at Augustana campus, but did not go into further detail.

“There was a problem with frozen food on [Augustana] campus, the ISA advocated for that for Augustana students,” she said.

Urbah Syed, the representative of the WUSC fee, gave a brief overview of the work they do. After presenting opening statements, no questions were directed towards the representative.

“This program allows a group of student volunteers bring young refugee students to the U of A and help them obtain a four year undergraduate degree.”

Syed also detailed what the funds raised by the fee would cover.

“The fee is used to cover living expenses such as rent, food, a phone, and winter clothing — which is especially important.”

–Jaida Nguyen