James Dowdall: The Mentor

McMaster is more than just a school for James Dowdall; it’s a family. Dowdall, who hails from Calgary, calls his first-year roommates “brothers” and his circle of friends a “family away from home.” And it’s clear he wants McMaster students to feel the same way.

RELATED: Selected questions and answers from our interview with James

“For a lot of students, it’s intimidating to get involved in the MSU. It’s scary,” he said. “It’s about trying to make that personal connection so students can feel welcome in the MSU.”

When Dowdall sat down with the Silhouette, he spoke freely about his time at McMaster, choosing his degree and everything from his high school experiences to his passion for baking and for animals. It’s a small but vital indicator of what his interactions could be with students at large.

In his platform, Dowdall identifies a number of issues that are clearly important to students – study space, mental health issues and off-campus housing, to name a few. His platform points resonate with a broad range of people at McMaster.

But in his keenness to cater to everyone, Dowdall’s platform lacks cohesion. His campaign, run under the slogan of “I will be that president” is enthusiastic, but has no central brand that students can easily identify. His twelve distinct proposals, categorized under four main pillars, would make for a hefty presidential workload at best.

Although in his fourth year at Mac, Dowdall doesn’t have the student government experience that presidential candidates conventionally do. He began with the MSU as a poll clerk, and worked his way up to becoming the part-time manager of SWHAT. But the absence of an SRA position doesn’t strike him as a problem.

“I began to realize that experience doesn’t make a candidate; there’s a leadership aspect to being president,” he said. “I realized I [have] the skills to be president, and more than that I [have] ideas that could really help develop students.”