This interview has been edited for clarity, grammar and length.
Why did you decide to run for DSU president?
When I was trying to work with the DSU, I noticed a lot of problems. Everyone I was talking to at different societies and student groups was having the same issues. When I went in person to try to fix it or find someone to talk to, I couldn’t find anyone. I couldn’t get any responses to my emails, so I decided if no one’s going to change anything, I might as well take it on myself.
Why didn’t you run in the last election?
I didn’t get the email. I sent them an email the day after they closed and asked if I could put an application in [for president] a day late, but I could not.
Why do you think that you’re the best person for the job?
I don’t feel I’m nervous to be straight up with the board of governors. A lot of the people in the past who’ve served as president have been in fields where your prospects out of university are kind of tied to who you know. I would be the first one in a while to be in a STEM field, where I probably wouldn’t rely on people on the board to get me a job after I’m out.
Have you been involved with the DSU before?
Not in terms of the executive positions. I only worked with societies. A local charity organization rented out the DSU a few times over the years, so I vaguely worked to mediate between the organization and the DSU.
What are some of the key points of your campaign?
I really want to be more transparent. All of the executive meetings are technically open doors — you can go and see who votes on what, but you can’t talk at any point. When you go afterwards to look at the meeting minutes and see who voted on what and what is happening, it’s really hard to translate.
Sometimes they aren’t on time and not everything is organized properly. It’s all in really bureaucratic speech, that the average student just isn’t going to want to read. I want to take that, translate it into all regular layman’s terms and organize it into a portal that any student can access straight from the DSU website. So students can see what is being voted on, who voted on what, and what the rationale was. I wouldn’t motion for it or anything. It could be made as soon as I got in. I would work with the faculty of computer science to get two or three co-op jobs for students to make and maintain the portal
Are you planning on continuing the current administration’s initiative of pushing the board of governors to divest from Israel?
Very much. I think the board doesn’t really care to listen that much to people that are demanding divestment, but if given the opportunity, I can be really annoying. I’d like to make it known that the students aren’t going to stand for funding genocide.
How is this election different from the last presidential election?
It’s happening over a week and we don’t get to debate. I’m putting it all together in a few days. Most of my campaign points I’ve been thinking about, but hadn’t prepared until I was filling out the questionnaire. I want to cut the executive salary, improve transparency and improve the health plan. I hadn’t thought about putting anything into words until I saw the opportunity was open.
Why is it significant that a byelection was called in and the bylaws weren’t just amended to make Matt Lawton president?
The people didn’t vote for Matt, they voted for Bianca. If Matt were made president, he wouldn’t have earned his presidency. He just got it by running. I could go out and get 25 signatures from anyone, put my name in, and then say I’m going to introduce eight new parking lots and take a nap and wake up president. I don’t feel like that’s good, especially when he speaks for around 20,000 students in the most important period of our lives.
How will you support students amidst expected tuition increases and the slashing of Dal’s budget, specifically to programs in the faculty of arts and social sciences?
One of my main thoughts is that I want to cut down the executive salary. I want to take that money and move it into the health plan. I think a lot of students are taking advantage of the health plan’s upfront coverage for prescription and mental health coverage, but both of those cap at $1,000. I want to increase the mental health coverage to $2,000, and I want prescription coverage to increase to $1,500. For a lot of students, that’s going to make a world of change and they can actually afford to get the medication they need. A lot of students need these medications to function in their day to day lives. Just that extra guarantee that you can function without sacrificing food or any kind of civility.
Also, those official budget releases on the DSU website from 2022-2023. I know they’re audited statements from the most recent year. In the last official one, it said O-Week cost like $76,000. I’ve heard from everyone who attended the most recent O-Week that it was the biggest disaster ever. There’s no reason that it needs to cost $100,000 when most first-years don’t care about it anymore. I feel like that money is better spent on things that repeat through the year, like the Loaded Ladle.
What do you think the current DSU administration could have done better?
Their jobs, I guess. Honestly, I couldn’t tell you because I don’t even know what they successfully accomplished. All I saw was, “All right guys, we eliminated the student life position. And don’t worry, tuition for international students increased 7.2 per cent.” I don’t know what they did, but unless that increase was originally going to be 700 per cent, it doesn’t seem like they did enough.
Not to shade, because I know individually they were trying. I talked with Will and Bianca, just as a guy working for my society, and they were helpful for my own individual issues. I know they were actively trying to do their best, but as union representatives, I don’t know how impactful it was for the general public and not just one guy.
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