Q&A with DSU vice-president internal candidate, Suha Manal

Suha Manal is a third-year biology student running for vice-president internal in the Dalhousie Student Union’s general election.

Manal is one of four candidates for the role, alongside Zain Ul Abideen, Marzan Chowdhury and Alexander Tzovolos. 

Manal previously held multiple positions with the DSU, including as check-in event staff, and has helped organize student programs, including the most recent orientation week. 

This interview has been edited for clarity, grammar and length. 

Why are you running for this position?

There’s a very heavy under-representation of students in the student union, and a massive lack of student opinions and student advocacy. I want students to be more involved and feel more involved in their campus and community overall.

What experience do you have that makes you the best candidate for this position? 

I’ve been with the DSU for three years. I’ve seen that we can repurpose our resources to give students more, and how even little bits of engagement really make this place function a lot better. I’ve been here. I’ve worked with the budget. I know how much money they have, and I know where they push their money.

What are the most important things your campaign is based on?

How the DSU employs students: they recently made it so students can’t work two part-time jobs, and with that, you’re just taking money away from students. Increase student engagement: the only parts of the year where [the DSU has] programming are the first months of fall. After that, you have absolutely nothing. There’s a massive lack of engagement. My third priority is focusing on societies, their funding and pushing more on-campus events and engagement, including a shared programming budget for the whole DSU to invest in [equipment, decorations, etc.] so societies could just rent those out and not waste their money on unnecessary things. 

What is the largest issue facing students on campus today?

Student engagement. Even though students would be outwardly trying to get to know more people, there was just really no space for them in places, and they’d just be left out. I want to get students together, build a community for them and make them feel like they belong to the DSU. They get to come here, they get to socialize. They get to talk to more people, and I just want to create an environment where everybody feels like they can be a part of something bigger.

How will you engage with the Dalhousie community if you assume this position?

I want to organize more events hosted by the DSU and have monthly features for societies. This would be the space to bring your table as much as you want, post events and society preference bookings. I know how much of a roundabout it takes to book a room in the SUB. 

What do you think is the main challenge you will face in this position?

Being a bit pushy or forceful. Working with those societies, with their budgets and pushing them to host more events, or host more engaging events or [to hold them] to a quota.