Candidate profile: Jennifer Nowoselski

Name: Jennifer Nowoselski

Age: 26

Hometown: Saskatoon

Program: Political Science and International Development Studies, 5^th year

Position running: Vice President Internal

Relevant political experience: Commissioner for VP Internal, commissioner for VP student life, commissioner for VP academic and external

Dalhousie Gazette: Why are you running for vice-president internal?

Jennifer Nowoselski: I learnt that there’s a lot of beauty in people collaborating. I was part of bringing TED here. In our first year, we had 500 volunteers. We could only get a license for 100 people to attend TED, and in order to make it so that it was accessible for students, we decided to have 500 volunteers. And so I coordinated all that and worked with everyone. And the collaboration of 500 people to put together TED was so beautiful.

DG: What do you plan to do if elected?

JN: Build on collaboration. I really want to bring students and societies together. I think we can strengthen our union by coming together. I don’t think five people can represent over 17,000 people, and that we need to strengthen our societies and student-run services so that everyone is being supported and served. I plan to do that through better communication. The platform points are based on communication, collaboration and better services. So creating better services by communicating with students, opening up the communication between students and societies and allowing people to collaborate to create beautiful things.

DG: How would you improve/maintain the relationship between societies and the union?

JN: My primary focus for this position is to just focus on societies and students. I think, as I mentioned, five people cannot represent over 17,000 people. We need to put our resources into supporting student-run initiatives, and in order to do that we need to support our societies and student-run services.

DG: Do you have any specific ideas you plan on implementing if your campaign is successful?

JN: In terms of collaboration, I’d like to have a hub space so that students and societies can connect with each other. I’d like to have more town halls and meetings so students can come together and talk about the things they want to see on campus, and then collectively we can build on that. I’d like to see a communication meeting for societies. Currently the union executive has bi-weekly communication meetings, and it would be nice to have a bi-weekly communication meeting with all societies so that we can have our members informed on what events are happening, or what things are being offered by societies that are here.

DG: VP internal is one position that’s been brought up in the executive restructuring conversation: how would you like to see the position improved?

JN: I think that the position should just have a focus on societies and students. I think that we should disseminate some of the power that beings held for this one portfolio and allow our students to be more involved and create the things that they want to see on campus.

DG: VP internal is one of the executives most associated with Sexton campus; what do you plan to do to improve on the two campuses relationship?

JN: I’ve worked with engineering students through Engineers Without Borders, and I’ve spent a lot of time on Sexton campus. I have a lot of friends in the engineering department—of course, there’s also architecture and planning, and other things happening on that campus. I think meeting with those folks and bringing people together, having more town halls and meetings on those campuses would improve our relationships, and allow people on those campuses to build the things that they want to create.

DG: What do you bring to the table that your opponents do not?

JN: To be honest, I don’t know my opponents that well, so I can speak to what I bring to the table, but I don’t know whether or not they also bring this. I have five years of experience working with student societies and within the union. I’ve worked as a commissioner, as I mentioned before, for student life, internal and academic and external—so I have a lot of experience with what happens in this building and how to the relationships are maintained. I’ve spent a lot of time working with students and societies, so I have an idea of what those needs are, and I have connections built with those people that I can bring people together.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. 

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