MSU presidential platform critique: Piper Plavins

Piper Plavins’ election platform for MSU president is wide ranging, but falls short on details and considering feasibility

Piper Plavins’ platform highlights the need focus on educating students about MSU services, advocating on behalf of students during a food insecurity and housing crisis as well as increasing what the MSU does for students. However, the candidate falls short on considering how to financially make her initiatives happen given the MSU's current fiscal state

Plavins' focus on student experience, especially as most of it relates to expanding old events and creating new ones, is without a concrete plan as to how to fund these events. When asked about this by the Silhouette, she referred to the upcoming Homecoming and Large Events referendum, which is not guaranteed to pass.

Without a clear plan to pay for these events, the current projected deficit in the MSU budget of $415,000 to $500,000 — in part caused by deficit spending on Homecoming 2024 — could be a major obstacle to the further large event spending the platform promises.

According to a December 2024 memo to the Student Representative Assembly from MSU VP Finance Declan Sweeney, the financial situation and deficit of the MSU is unsustainable.

Considering this, Plavins' platform is ambitious. Particularly as it relates to events, Plavins' plans do not align with the recent MSU initiative as outlined by Sweeney in his SRA memo: “considerable discussion about how to better reduce costs through integration of services & potential agreements with partners,” stated Sweeney.

"MSU Week," an event proposed by Plavins to raise awareness about the MSU near the beginning of the academic year, seems particularly fiscally irresponsible.

The first three days, the job fair, services day and advocacy showcase, resemble ClubsFest which nearly all of the MSU’s services already attend. Plavins suggested to the Silhouette that because ClubsFest can be “overwhelming,” having an additional event to promote MSU services would help raise awareness.

The choice of the name "job fair," Plavins admitted, may have been a mistake, as most MSU services hire between the start of the second term and the end of the academic year.

In her platform, Plavins’ promises to “continue the homecoming legacy” and expand the Holiday Market largely lack any details to distinguish her ambitions from current MSU initiatives, a pattern that resonates throughout the rest of the platform.

Plavins’ proposal for an Student Representative Assembly retreat, which she insisted in an interview could not meaningfully be replaced by team building exercises, concludes the first pillar by demonstrating its continued pattern of financial over-ambition.

Plavins’ first campaign pillar, while attempting to accomplish the necessary task of raising student awareness of available MSU services and spaces, risks falling short due to ongoing budget constraints. Considering the event that the Homecoming & Large Events referendum fail, she has not included any specific plans as to how she would otherwise finance her platform promises.

Even if the referendum succeeds, the redundancy of multiple proposals might prove a poor way of managing limited MSU funds.

Improving Student Advocacy

Plavins’ second platform pillar, student advocacy, in attempting to cast a wide net, finds itself lacking specific details in many areas.

When asked, Plavins admitted the lack of detail in some proposals was because she was going to be playing only one part in ongoing initiatives. Plavins’ reasoning here is solid, but in certain instances where the platform hints at larger ideas, her lack of detail is disappointing.

She could not clarify what she meant by “higher level clubs,” nor did she offer details on what advocating for “inherently accessible classrooms” would look like.

Plavins’ most concrete promise, a $5,000 funding increase to the Food Collective Centre, could be one of her most difficult to implement.

Sweeney shed light into how the current budgeting process works for the MSU in an email to the Silhouette: “Any budget adjustments would require careful consideration, as they may involve reorganizing existing allocations, increasing student fees, or making reductions in service operations elsewhere,” stated Sweeney.

The lack of detail about her own advocacy goals, in both her platform and interview answers was disappointing. However her repeated commitment to existing MSU and university level advocacy efforts suggests that Plavins’ could be an effective, if not particularly novel advocate as president.

Plavins’ shortest pillar, MSU excellence, is far less developed than her other two. Her proposal to revamp TwelvEighty was made without consultation with TwelvEighty's manager. Similarly, her parking plans lack the perspective a consultation with Parking Services might have provided.

In an email statement to the Silhouette, Rob Morrallee, director of parking services, confirmed that he had not been consulted by Plavins. He noted that her proposal for a Lot M bus schedule , as the service is already run at consistent intervals, and that her proposed flex passes are already being worked on.

These underdeveloped parking-related plans only serve to draw attention to the platform’s complete silence on assisting transit or cycling commuters.

While Piper Plavins offers students a very long platform full of promises, Plavins’ most developed proposals lack concrete plans to secure funding, while her less detailed statements lack much in terms of substance or consultation.