This interview has been edited for clarity, grammar and length.
Why did you decide to run for DSU president?
I strongly believe that student unions, when they’re at their best, can be incredibly helpful to students. I think they can be incredibly strong advocacy organizations. I think they can do a lot to materially benefit students.
I think the DSU could be doing a lot more for students, especially along the lines of affordability and transparency. I think there is a lot of wonderful work happening, but I think the DSU needs a strong leader and someone willing to champion student interests. It needs someone who is willing to push the little bit that is necessary. I also think you can have a lot of ideas about what is important for campus life, but you can’t just talk, you have to go and do it.
Why do you think you’re the best person for the job?
I think there are a lot of very talented candidates. Whatever happens, we will come out with a student leader who will be good. I’m biased, but I think I’m well qualified. I’m very involved on campus. I’m involved with different societies and advocacy groups on campus. I’m also involved with a lot of food security initiatives here. I also have a lot of professional experience in communications, which I think is a strong asset. I took a weird route to get to Dal, which included three years of working in communications, prior to starting here. I think these skills would translate very well, especially because I did a lot of work on communications policy. I really love policy, I’m a bit of a policy nerd.
I’ve been involved in several policy efforts, and I’ve done a lot of advocacy and community work. I also recently spoke at Province House around Bill 12. It is an incredibly concerning bill for universities. I have a lot of experience advocating for students about student needs.
What are some of the key points of your campaign?
The big idea is “No decisions about students, without students.” Decisions should not be made about students without students being a part of the decision-making. Students are not very engaged in what the union is doing, so it’s hard.
If we’re breaking down to the more specific policies, there are three pillars: affordability, transparency and divestment.
Affordability issues include rejecting tuition increases and advocating against tuition increases for international students. It’s incredibly important right now because the government is renegotiating bilateral agreements with universities. It seems unclear if they’re going to continue with a cap on tuition in the province. I think it’s important to have clear measures against that.
There are also things like expanding access to emergency funding that the DSU currently offers, including the Student Emergency Relief Fund, the DSU Student Accessibility Bursary, the International Student Emergency Assistance Bursary and the Domestic Student Housing Bursary. Currently, the Domestic Student Housing Bursary is slated to be only for the 2024–2025 academic year — I think that’s an issue. We live in a housing crisis, so you need to be able to help your students.
Affordability also includes improved support for food initiatives. We have so many awesome student-run food security initiatives on campus, so I’d really like to support those things. This includes working with the Beet Street Market and the Sexton Breakfast Club to support their needs. There’s a bunch of good work that’s already happening.
Talking about transparency, I think this is something that a lot of the candidates have identified as being important. I’m really engaged in campus politics. I’ve attended board of governors meetings and council meetings. It’s really hard to know when they’re happening, and it’s really hard to find records after the fact. This can be incredibly frustrating. I think students should be able to participate meaningfully, and there shouldn’t be barriers to participating.
Transparency includes providing regular updates to students about what’s happening with the board of governors and what’s happening in the council. I’d also love to see town halls, so that students can directly talk to the DSU president about the issues they care about.
With respect to divestment, no amount of university funds should be going to the fossil fuel industry, apartheid regimes or weapons manufacturing. Our investments should reflect students’ values of sustainability, justice and equality.
How do you plan to implement different aspects of your policy?
Each area of my policy involves different things, so it depends on the specific issue. For affordability measures, there are things I would love to see when it comes to funding allocation. Funding needs to be allocated to target student needs. There’s also things that can be done through the bylaw and policy review committee. One of the initiatives I would love to bring forward, which isn’t a central initiative, is an informal decision from the DSU that they won’t allow police events on campus. Every year, there’s an HRP candidate aptitude test that happens in the Student Union Building. Campus should be a safe and inclusive place for students, and having police in the building does not contribute to that.
Are you planning on continuing the current DSU administration’s initiative of pushing the board of governors to divest from Israel?
This is something that I’ve been involved in and something I will continue to be pushing, regardless of whether I become president or not. I think it’s unconscionable for any amount of university funds to support an apartheid regime, and I believe that wholeheartedly. It’s the reason why I’ve made this one of my three main priorities. Even though the board of governors voted down the motion, I think that advocating against it is the right thing to do.
How is this election different from the last presidential election?
I think there are a lot of things. There was no policy prior to this about what to do in this situation. When Bianca resigned, there had never been a situation before where someone had been elected and then dropped out before taking office. The fact that this was happening at all was unprecedented.
I think with the first election, the candidates had a greater ability to engage directly with students. It’s a lot more difficult this time. It’s also unfortunate because I’m a student, and I know the grind of trying to get through school work, and just needing to tune out the world. I think there are a lot of implications for that.
Why is it significant that a byelection was called and the bylaws weren’t just amended to make Lawton president?
I think it’s really significant. I attended the meeting, and a lot of the conversations brought up how, as a student union, we have a responsibility to represent students. I think the principles of democracy are really important. The DSU does so much. They manage a lot of money and a lot of our interactions with people outside the school. They also manage a lot of resources. It is really important that the DSU is run by people we trust, and without an election, you can’t demonstrate that trust in person. I think it’s really important and exciting that the byelection is happening. It’s inconvenient timing, but I don’t think we should ever forgo democracy because it’s inconvenient.
Why didn’t you run in the last election?
I actually did run last time. I ran for the board of governors role — I was really passionate. I ended up losing by two votes, which was a very narrow margin, but I felt honoured that I got the most first-place votes.
I’m running again because I think that there are gaps in the candidates, especially since there were two candidates last time and one ended up dropping out. I still believe in the same issues that I ran on before, and I know a lot of folks care about these things.
What do you think the current DSU administration could have done better?
One of the key things that’s really important is the transparency element. I think there are a lot of issues that students don’t feel engaged with and don’t feel represented in — I think that’s a shame. When I’m talking to folks, whether during campaigning or in my normal life, a lot of folks don’t even know what the union does. I think that’s an area that needs to be improved if students don’t feel like they’re being represented. The DSU has a responsibility to represent and advocate for students.
Student unions can do so much — they’re incredibly powerful. I think that campus life and event organizing are a big part of the work that student unions do, but it’s not all of it. If you’re looking at what a student union can do when it’s at its strongest, they’ve fought against tuition increases, they’ve organized. I think there are ways for student unions to do amazing work and make a real impact. It’s important for students to trust the DSU and trust they’re in their corner.
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?
As a FASS student, I’m deeply concerned about the cuts that are happening. I understand that the university is in a financially difficult situation based on the decision that visas for international students will only last two years, but I don’t think the answer to that is to cut your budget significantly. I think the arts and social sciences are really crucial.
I would like to work alongside students and faculty to address these concerns, especially with some of the cuts that are being made to the language programs.
In terms of the tuition increases, I think there’s a lot of work to do to help students. Things like advocating against decisions in the board of governors who decide those things.
It also involves looking at the emergency funding and the fact that the Domestic Student Housing Bursary is slated to expire at the end of this year. I think when we’re seeing rising costs and a lack of general affordability, that’s when we need these measures. With the International Student Emergency Assistance Bursary, I would love to see standard access for those. They only have a limited amount of funds that they distribute.
For students, it’s hard to afford tuition, it’s hard to afford rent, it’s hard to afford groceries — all of those at the same time is really hard. I think the food element is really important, and we need to improve student access to resources. I think sometimes folks don’t understand how important those programs are until they’re in a situation where they don’t know if they’ll be able to afford food that month. I’ve used these programs — I’ve used the food bank and the community fridge. It’s hard when you’re studying because it’s just another thing to think about.
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