There is only one committee of the Dalhousie Student Union that has its minutes reliably posted online – the Sexton Advisory Committee (SAC), chaired by Jomel Varghese.
“I have my put my heart in this,” says Varghese.
Varghese, currently on track to complete a master’s degree in internetworking, was appointed Sexton Campus Director in April 2014. This role means he has a spot on DSU council and chairs the SAC.
The Gazette sat down with Varghese in the DSU office in Sexton’s B Building to talk about the needs and identity of Sexton campus.
Sexton has unique advocacy needs
When it comes to advocacy from the DSU, Varghese says Sexton campus is not getting what it needs.
“Today, Sexton campus needs more lab resources. Sexton campus needs more space, Sexton campus needs more academic research funding,” says Varghese.
“Sexton campus has professional programs – it’s engineering, it’s architecture, it’s planning. These are the things that we want to be advocated on. I haven’t heard anything.”
“So, when I as a student am not seeing anything be advocated for what I want, do you think I will come forward and support the DSU? I have the greatest respect for all the social justice movements they do, whether it’s sexism or the dentistry scandal. Or the tuition fee hike – the DSU has worked on these things, but these are the major points that Sexton campus needs.
“And this is not just me, it’s more than 2,300 students on Sexton campus that are asking for this. […] When I come to council the only thing that runs in my mind.
Candidates need to make promises
Varghese says he wants candidates to make promises in their platforms this year, so students will be able to hold them accountable.
“It’s not just councillors that need to ask questions,” says Varghese. “It’s every Dal student who’s registered at Dalhousie. I want to see the day when that DSU, 303 room, is filled with students asking questions to executives when their report is being read out.”
He cites Danny Shanahan, DSU Vice President (Student Life), as an example of a candidate who lived up to promises he made last year.
At a debate last year, Varghese asked Shanahan to promise to run an event every month on Sexton Campus, and Shanahan agreed.
“Trust me, there is [now] an event every week, not just every month – every week, and he stood by his promise. He’s doing it, and I’m really happy for that. That’s what I’m expecting,” says Varghese.
“The execs need to promise things they will do, because when they come down campaigning for votes, we need answers. We need things that convince us.”
Cultural societies should receive more promotion
This year, a Society Carnival was organized on Sexton campus without Varghese’s knowledge – he says he only discovered it was happening through an executive report of Jennifer Nowoselski, Vice President (Internal), at a DSU council meeting.
“And I was like, why am I not involved in this?” says Varghese.
The carnival had representatives of societies like South House, NSPIRG, and the Dalhousie Supermileage team, but Varghese says he would have liked to have seen more of a cultural perspective at the event.
“We have the African Society, the Dalhousie International Students Association, the Chinese Association – bring more diversity in.
“If I had been there, I could have added more of a taste of culture. We, as engineers, we always complain we don’t have time. Well if you don’t have time, let’s bring it at your doorstep. Bring more of a cultural perspective, we need to have more a cultural perspective.” He says the DSU could benefit from more collaboration with its international student societies. He sees the DSU pamphlet as an example of one way the DSU could collaborate with international students – this pamphlet currently highlights a few of the DSU’s levied societies, but Varghese suggests adding cultural societies.
“Maybe it’s a recommendation for the new execs. Broaden your thinking, and have a better perspective of what needs to be done. Because your pamphlet tomorrow might reach another province, your pamphlet tomorrow might reach another country. And they need to know – what is Dalhousie, or the DSU, offering?”
Sexton students as a “minority” at Dal
Varghese would like to emphasize that while Sexton is commonly referred to as Dal’s “engineering campus”, people need to consider how the campus also represents all architecture and planning students.
Just as the architecture and planning students form a minority of students on Sexton, Sexton students form a minority of students at Dal, and Varghese understands this similarity.
“I do understand that Dal engineering is the majority on Sexton campus. But that being said, we cannot ignore the views of a small group of students. Because they all contribute to form a majority,” says Varghese.
“I do not understand the word, ‘minority’. What I do understand is, Sexton is a group of students that adds up to make a majority. That’s how I look at it. And that’s the way we all should look at it, right?
“When we say, ‘That’s a majority, this is a minority,’ of course I’m going to have a biased decision with the majority, because they are the ones who are going to have more power, or more of a say, or more services than the minority.
“But what if I say, ‘These guys are going to help us to make this even bigger, so let’s support them.’ If you have that approach, you can make wonders. That’s all I’ve been trying to do this year.”
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