MSU Presidential Candidate Platform Overview: Jialiang (Kevin) Hu

Hu's platform focuses on enhancing student life through new food menus, sports, cultural and other events

Hu did not attend the scheduled photoshoot with the Silhouette's photo assistant ahead of publication.

Jialiang (Kevin) Hu is a third-year Integrated Biomedical Health, Engineering Science and Entrepreneurship student running in the McMaster Students Union presidential race. His platform states that student engagement at McMaster University has recently declined and if elected, he hopes to revitalize student life on campus.

Hu's campaign platform is divided into five sections: athletics, food, culture, advocacy and a miscellaneous section. 

Athletics

As part of his athletics sections, Hu plans to introduce more sports events on campus supplemented with entertainment before, during and after the games. Hu discusses in his platform an initiative he calls Student Week, where the week leading up to a sports event will consist of on-campus activities including carnivals, food trucks and beer gardens.

Hu proposes to have half-time shows during games, where the McMaster Marching Band and cheerleaders would perform. Furthermore, he proposed a giveaway during half-time and an on-campus party with concert performances.

Food

In his food section, Hu proposes to improve upon three MSU-owned food services: TwelvEighty Bar and Grill, the Grind and Union Market. Hu's primary focus of this proposal is to make changes to TwelvEighty, to make it more accessible and enjoyable for students.

Hu also mentions improving upon advertisements, promotions, entertainment and food through renovations of the spaces, making the space bookable by MSU clubs and having students be able to decide on monthly specials. 

In an interview with the Silhouette, Hu shared that one of his goals is to amend menus to be more accommodating to dietary restrictions. Hu also proposes for menus to serve more authentic cultural food.

Hu's platform emphasizes the importance of low price food options to be accessible to students.

Culture

In the culture section of the campaign, Hu proposes a cultural fair initiative to celebrate diversity at McMaster. He explained that the fair would consist of booths, cultural dishes in La Piazza and Centro and performances. Hu states that these could be sponsored by the Alumni Association and Student Success Centre.

Advocacy

Hu further divided the advocacy section of his platform into four main points. The first point being to move Hospitality Services and Housing and Conference Services from the department of finance to the department of student affairs in an effort to redirect the focus of these services away from a profit-based model and encourage greater focus on meeting the needs of students. In the next point under this section, Hu proposes to have the municipal government provide political and financial support for McMaster’s off-campus housing. The third point under this section looks to initiate steps for student activities to be more easily put in place, by proposing by-laws that ease the restrictions on the kinds of events students can host, such as bake sales, and simplify the process to get approval for an event. Hu's last point in his advocacy section is to find a balance between academic and student life.

Miscellaneous

In the final miscellaneous section of his platform, Hu discusses ways to enhance student life, including investing in new technologies and electronics, esport tournaments, anime conventions, obtaining sponsors for clubs and teams and introducing more methods to partake in recreational sports.

Voting for the MSU presidential election takes place from Jan. 23 to Jan. 25 using the Simply Voting platform. More information about the election can be found on the MSU Elections website.