Name: Derek Moreau
Age: 21
Hometown: Calgary, Alberta
Program: Engineering
Relevant experience: To prepare for this role, I have interviewed seven previous DSU presidents, and one of the consistent messages that came up after I interviewed a few was, there really is no relevant experience. Which is hard to say because obviously there are things you can do to prepare you for it, but it’s such a dynamic and diverse role that it’s difficult to really prepare for it. In terms of relevant experience, my engineering work. Engineering has prepared me to work ridiculously hard, for long hours, and do whatever I need to do to make sure the job gets done. I’m the VP Internal for the Engineering Society right now, and that introduced me to the DSU and to the structure, introduced me to the way that everything works, and that essentially motivated me to run for president.
Why do you want to lead the DSU?
The one thing that I really love doing is taking an enormous amount of information and then making decisions based on that. I’ve always considered myself to be a leader and I‘ve always really enjoyed leading others, I get a really great feeling in doing that. Essentially, hearing as much information as possible and using that to be able to make decisions. My biggest reason is just being able to help people. The role of president has so many diverse responsibilities that the reason I was really motivated to start running was just because of the opportunity to help so many different students.
What are your plans if elected?
I divided my platform into two different sections: long-term goals and short-term goals. So short-term goals are goals to be accomplished within a year, and long-term goals are planting seeds, so building for the future. My short-term goals are adding more restaurants and businesses to the DalCard because I believe that it will make Halifax more accessible to students. Another short-term goal would be hosting educational summits on mental health and inclusion because I think those are two super important issues that students would really benefit from if we just ran a conference over a weekend, like DalLead, or a week, depending on students’ schedules. I think there are so many campus partners in both those subjects that we could bring everyone together and be able to run some amazing events. In terms of long-term goals, those are more along the lines of a four-year strategic plan for the DSU. Executives come in and have a list of goals and priorities and things like that, and it’s kind of difficult to see long-term vision, and I think that, not by micromanaging future executives, but to have a team be able to set out “hey, this is a list of goals we want the DSU to have accomplished over the next four years” I think would be really great.
What is the biggest issue facing Dal students next year?
The biggest issue is getting students engaged. Voter turnout was 10 per cent two years ago, and last year it was 20 per cent. So from an engineering perspective, and in talking to a lot of professional degree students, a lot of students are here to get in, get a degree and get out, whereas I have personally found so much benefit in getting involved. I have absolutely loved it, it has become a true passion in my life. I think it would be a benefit to students to try and get them all more involved is a difficult thing to do, but I think it’s a great thing to do.
Name three things that you would change about how the DSU is currently being run:
The current executive has done a fantastic job this year. They have really turned it around – at least from the DSU of old. The history and culture of the DSU has been fairly negative, from what I’ve heard, and so the current executive has really done a fantastic job in eliminating that. One of the things that I would recommend is more outreach to Type 1 societies. A lot of it is not needing more students involved, but just being there for them. It’s more important to have those supports, so to speak, than trying to involve people. It’s saying, if you want to go to a conference, we can pay for that, if you want to host an event, we can help you with it. That applies to students and Type 1 societies, as a resource, because there’s a lot of Type 1 societies that can pretty much run their own show. They run their own events, they do essentially everything themselves, there’s not really a need for the DSU. I think in terms of growing that relationship, it works out really well to just be there for support, to be there as a resource, and just to be present in that relationship.
The other thing I would improve is the athletics. I think that there’s huge opportunity for the DSU to promote and foster an athletic culture, I think that the DSU really fosters a cohesive culture on campus, and that essentially making an effort to increase turnout at athletic events is really important as well. I think that prioritizing students that are taking Tiger Patrol to athletic events, or if there’s a hockey game at the Forum a student can call up and say “I’m going to a hockey game at the Forum,” and they can get prioritized and get to that game faster. So that’s kind of an incentive for students to go. Also, I think having an active calendar with a whole list of Dal student athletic events, and maybe doing some more advertising around the SUB.
How can you make the DSU’s work more visible?
I honestly think by sitting down with the executive and going over what our week is, and having a dedicated section on social media on what we’re doing, what we’re up to. I think the other thing that does is make students want to run. A lot of students – especially in engineering – may be not as engaged, or stay further away from the SUB, I think it’s a great way to engage them. I think that having that visibility and saying, ‘Hey, I’m President of the DSU, these are my responsibilities and this is what I’m doing this week,’ I think students could see that and be like, ‘Hey, that sounds amazing, that’s like something I would want to do.’ That would be really great and huge.
What do you think of Dan’s performance this year?
I think he’s done a fantastic job. He is a huge reason as to why I’m personally running for president. I came into council last semester as an engineering student, essentially walked in to the council room was like, ‘Wow, this is the DSU, very cool.’ He and I scheduled a meeting with each other after, because the engineering point of view on the DSU and that kind of culture was really negative before, just because of the history. But then one of the former engineering presidents came up to me and she was like, ‘Derek, there’s this new president, Dan, and he really wants to help people on Sexton, so reach out to him and see what he says.’ So I reached out to him and he replied right away, and we met after a council meeting. So I watched his role and was absolutely blown away with his responsibilities, and when I met with him after he was so nice, so cool, and he really seemed to know what he was doing. I want to give credit where credit is due, I think he’s done a fantastic job.
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