Election Bio: Jon Magill

Running for: Senate

Name: Jon Magill

Age: 20

Program: Third-year political science and environmental studies

Hometown: Aurora, ON

Interesting fact: Likes long walks on the harbour

Jon Magill is the only person re-running for the same position in the Dalhousie Student Union elections. He says that this makes him the ideal candidate to be a student senate representative.

“It would be really beneficial to have someone with a year’s experience on that governing body,” says Magill.

“Even just to talk about issues with incoming senators, I’d have that kind of knowledge to help them get acquainted with that process.”

Magill says he handled several issues this past year, including the use of anti-plagiarism software, student ratings of professors and a possible merger with the Nova Scotia Agricultural College. He says one of the most challenging things he did was sitting in on student discipline hearings for academic offenses.

“I’m hesitant to say I had a lot of fun with it, because it wasn’t fun, but it was interesting.”

Magill says that while his position is only one of 70 seats on the Senate, he feels that his position is extremely important.

“It is a student position, and student voices and interests are important to academics at Dal,” he says.

Magill says that the greatest thing he learned from last year was the importance of reaching out and getting the student opinion. He says that he is more than able to excel in that regard.

“I’m a hard working guy. I’m pretty approachable.”