Following re-election as MSU president, Jovan Popovic sat down with the Silhouette to discuss the election, plans for his second term and student voter turnout.
Current McMaster Students Union president Jovan Popovic won the 2024 election and will be serving a second term. Popovic’s platform this year touched on several diverse topics, with a focus on addressing some prominent struggles faced by students, including food and housing insecurity.
One highlight of his platform was his proposed soup and bread initiative. With the aim of helping to alleviate student food insecurity, this program would serve complimentary soup and bread on campus. Popovic stated that students will be served four days a week and the initiative will be funded by a five dollar increase of the MSU membership fee.
Popovic added that the soup and bread initiative is a major priority, as rates of food insecurity among students are rapidly rising.
“I’ve had way too many students tell me they’re regularly skipping meals just to save money and that’s completely unacceptable,” said Popvoic.
Another notable point in Popovic's platform was the promised return of an on-campus homecoming in 2024. In a previous interview with the Silhouette during the 2023 presidential race, Popovic noted that McMaster has not hosted an on-campus homecoming event since before the COVID-19 pandemic and he remains committed to bringing this event back for students.
On the housing crisis, Popovic stated that he intends push McMaster to commit to not increase enrollment numbers any further. He cited that presently there is not even enough room for all first-year students to be guaranteed the option to live in residence and as such, increasing enrollment numbers would only add to the issues.
Popovic noted that presently first year students need a high school average of at least 90 per cent to be guaranteed residence.
“I think all first years should be given residence. All of them should have a place to live and this is why putting a cap on enrollment is so important” stated Popovic.
Popovic also stated that he fears the construction of new residences on campus, such as Peter George Centre for Living and Learning and Lincoln Alexander Hall, are being built to plan for increasing enrollment numbers, though these residences will still collectively house a relatively small number students compared to the continuously rising student population.
Another key pillar of Popovic's platform is to help student athletes and sports teams. Popovic aims to allow teams to fundraise by hosting free events at MSU-operated venues. Popovic stated he will dedicate a budget line for sports teams to host fundraising events at venues such as the TwelvEighty Bar and Grill in the McMaster University Student Centre.
Finally, Popovic promised to continue advocating for more liberal guidelines on the use of generative AI in academic work, as compared to the current ones. Popovic also stated in the interview that he advocated and continues to advocate against the use of AI grading and assessment by professor’s and teaching staff.
Following his return to work after a leave of absence during the election, Popovic stated that both the soup and bread program and the return of homecoming will be his top priorities.
Before the election, Popovic stated that he plans to hold a referendum for the increased fee to fund the program to take place next year. Post-election, Popovic believed that holding a referendum this semester to have the program running for next fall is best way forward.
“There is potential to get [the soup and bread program] operational for September, if a referendum is run right now,” stated Popovic.
In contrast, if a referendum was held in the fall, the program likely wouldn't be operational until Fall 2025.
Popovic was also asked during the sit down, if there were any aspects of his opponents platforms that he sees merit in and would consider building into his plans for next year.
In response, Popovic stated that aspects of Luca Bernardini’s proposed MSU app were interesting and held merit. Though, Popovic stated he thought an app would be difficult to build and furthermore difficult to garner traction with the student body.
Popovic highlighted that he thought Bernardini’s idea of having a reward system for students who attend MSU and club events would be an excellent way to increase student engagement on campus. Popovic also stated he thinks students are hesitant to attend events for the first time, but once they do, they come out again more often.
Reflecting on the MSU presidential debate, Popovic noted that it was carried out professionally and respectfully. He stated that himself and his opponents did attack one another, but did so only in ways that pertained to their platform points, without making any personal attacks.
“There were also candidates going at each other, but I think that's positive. It’s called a debate for a reason,” stated Popovic.
However, Popovic noted the turnout to the debate was relatively low and disappointing. He stated that this low turnout may have been due to a problem with the audio system, resulting in only students actively watching the debate being able to hear it in the MUSC atrium.
Overall, Popovic stated he believed he performed well at the debate. He stated that the questions he was asked were valid and that he was not faced with any to which he could not adequately answer.
“I wish I knew each candidate's platform a little bit more in depth. I didn’t know a lot of the specifics of each person’s platform, which meant that I was very focused on myself,” said Popovic.
Popovic stated that in comparison to last year, voter turnout was 16.4 per cent, which is up 56 per cent compared to last year. However, Popovic stated that voter turnout is still very low.
“Years back we would consistently reach about 25 per cent," stated Popovic.
Despite the low turnout, though Popovic reflected positively on the increase in engagement. He stated that last year’s election saw the lowest historical turnout, at just 10.2 per cent. Popovic also stated this increase was more than he had hoped for and that it will take several years to achieve a voter turnout per cent in the high twenties again.
Concluding the interview, Popovic was asked if he would consider running for a third term next year.
Popovic responded that he does not intend to run again next year.
“While I think that continuity is good from time to time. . . I think that having an element of change is a really positive thing for the organization. Ultimately, we’ll see what I’m able to do in the year ahead," stated Popovic.
Though he stated that if he sees ways he could further improve the MSU by running for a third term he may consider it, he does not presently think he will.
"I think I will be able to accomplish all that is important this term, but you never know. It depends on what opportunities arise, if I think that I could really help the MSU a lot more, but I think I'll be able to leave my mark after two years of service,” stated Popovic.
Hu proposes many different ideas to enhance student life around campus but he falls short on the specific details relevant to carrying out his ideas
McMaster Students Union presidential candidate Jialiang (Kevin) Hu's campaign proposes ways to enhance student life and engagement. However, Hu did not account for the financial feasibility of these ideas and he did not consult with the services he directly referenced in his campaign about their ability to participate in his initiatives.
McMaster Students Union presidential candidate Jialiang (Kevin) Hu's campaign proposes ways to enhance student life and engagement. However, Hu did not account for the financial feasibility of these ideas and he did not consult with the services he directly referenced in his campaign about their ability to participate in his initiatives.
Hosting events before, during and after McMaster sports games
One of Hu's primary platforms proposes hosting events leading up to, during and after McMaster University sports games. Hu mentioned serving alcoholic beverages on-campus before the games and hosting a beer garden.
When asked about the feasibility and if this was permissible by current university standards, Hu shared that he consulted with McMaster Hospitality Services and he was informed that with proper staff training, alcohol could be served to students.
The Silhouette reached out to Chris Roberts, director of hospitality services, who shared that although Hu's idea for serving alcohol was discussed, the specific mention of the beer garden as stated on his campaign website was not.
Improvements to MSU food services
In his written platform, Hu discusses improvements to MSU food services. His goal is to amend menus to be more accommodating to dietary restrictions and for menus to serve more authentic cultural food. He also emphasized the importance of low price food options to be accessible to students.
However, Hu does not mention how he will lower food prices while still ensuring adequate pay for MSU food and beverage staff. Hu also does not discuss in his platform whether staff training for his cultural food menu implementation will be paid or unpaid.
In an interview with the Silhouette, Hu explained lowering menu prices would result in greater sales, which should maintain profit for the service. He did not present any research corroborating the likelihood of this outcome nor did he provide a contingency plan if sales do not increase.
In an interview with the Silhouette, Hu explained lowering menu prices would result in greater sales, which should maintain profit for the service. He did not present any research corroborating the likelihood of this outcome nor did he provide a contingency plan if sales do not increase.
Cultural fair
Hu noted in his written platform that he plans to host a cultural fair, which would involve cultural performances and food. Hu shared that La Piazza and Centro would serve cultural dishes and host some of the fair. Hu explained that this idea was suggested on the basis that La Piazza and Centro currently have a number of cultural dishes, with specific restaurants designed to serve them on a rotating basis.
Ultimately, there is a question of feasibility as the space cannot be rented by any other group on campus, including the MSU. This aspect of the event would only be feasible through collaboration with Hospitality Services. Additionally, despite Hu's focus elsewhere in his platform on promoting MSU owned food services, he doesn't seem interested in utilizing these spaces for the cultural fair.
Reorganizing university departments
In the advocacy section of his platform, he proposed moving both McMaster Hospitality Services and Housing and Conferences Services under the department of Student Affairs. Hu explained the reason for this change is in an attempt to save money for his food affordability initiative.
"That is quite a big issue because now [Hospitality Services] are treated by the university as a profit-generating unit. Meaning that the priority is no longer to serve good, healthy, and affordable food to our students. It's more to generate profits for the university," said Hu.
That is quite a big issue because now [Hospitality Services] are treated by the university as a profit-generating unit. Meaning that the priority is no longer to serve good, healthy, and affordable food to our students. It's more to generate profits for the university.
Jialiang (Kevin) Hu, MSU presidential candidate
However, in his interview with the Silhouette, Hu shared that he was unsure if the university would indeed be willing to relocate entire departments, rather specific sections. It is also worth nothing that the MSU is a separately incorporated entity from McMaster University and as such, an MSU President doesn't have the power to restructure the university. The President's portfolio does include lobbying the university to make changes; however, they cannot make the change themselves.
Further, in an email to the Silhouette, Roberts also reaffirmedae45 that such a large department transition is not in the hands of the MSU president.
“We discussed that Hospitality previously reported to student affairs and then shifted to financial affairs back in 2014. There is no plan for the university to move it back to student affairs. This would not be a decision for an MSU President to make. Kevin can raise the question with the university administration, but it is a decision that would not be made easily or one that would ever be done quickly,” said Roberts, in his email to the Silhouette.
When discussing how he plans to finance his proposed initiatives, including a gaming station with expensive equipment, Hu shared in his interview with the Silhouette that whatever does not fall within the MSU or university budget will be funded by sponsorships. Hu explained that other universities are sponsored by companies such as Dell or Apple to make these initiatives feasible. However, Hu fails to offer contingency plans for what would happen if such sponsorships were not secured. It is also worth noting that in 2021, the student representative assembly passed a motion that included the MSU continuing to refrain purchasing from Dell, among other companies, as part of equitable purchasing initiative.
Overall, Kevin Hu’s platform attempts to enrich student life through creative community events. Many of these ideas though have been proven infeasible and his platform would have benefited from further research, discussion with current MSU and McMaster staff as well as discussion of a more secure means of funding.
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.
Ahsan's platform focuses on holding space for the diversity of opinions on campus, environmental concerns and the transition from university into the workforce
There are five major areas of focus to McMaster Students Union presidential candidate Muhammad Ammad Ahsan's campaign platform including increasing opportunities for students to raise concerns to the Student Representative Assembly; creating more space for the diversity of opinions held by students on campus; reducing the university’s carbon footprint while also increasing McMaster University's impact on the world and supporting students in advancing through their education and into the workforce.
Increasing opportunities to raise concerns with the SRA
On his first point regarding improving the ability of students to raise their concerns with MSU decision makers, Ahsan proposes an open-door policy for SRA meetings, creating an opportunity for students to speak directly with them. Ahsan believes transparency between the MSU and students is important and that the concerns and ideas of every student should be heard.
Holding space for the diversity of opinions on campus
Ahsan also believes there is strength in diversity and he is committed to having dissenting student voices included in conversations around campus. He believes accounting for the range of opinions of students will lead to the MSU making policies that are more considerate of the diverse interests of the student body.
In an interview with the Silhouette, Ahsan also mentioned one of his initiatives as MSU president would be to implement a men's only time at the Pulse, either late at night or early in the morning. after a conversation with a student who signed his nomination form.
Addressing environmental concerns
Regarding the issue of the climate crisis, Ahsan includes as part of his platform the goal of reducing the carbon footprint of McMaster. He intends to achieve this end by working with the university and students to implement eco-friendly practices on campus. He also plans to implement various information and awareness campaigns.
Increasing McMaster's impact
With the aim of improving McMaster’s impact on the world, Ahsan is looking to create greater incentive for industrial companies to conduct workshops with students.
Supporting transition into workforce
Finally, Ahsan’s platform outlines his hopes to provide students with more certainty in their prospects for success post-graduation by implementing the aforementioned workshops. He also proposes further changes be made to academic curricula to better prepare students to enter the workforce.
Ahsan’s platform does not include references to consultations with any individuals external to his campaign team.
Ahsan’s platform does not include references to consultations with any individuals external to his campaign team.
Ahsan concluded his campaign platform statement, with a note that after consulting with his campaign team on his platform points, they were given to the generative artificial intelligence software ChatGPT to produce his official written platform.
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.
Courts funded by the Student Life Enhancement Fund will be available for student use in the fall
On Aug. 7, the McMaster Students Union announced McMaster University agreed to refurbish two outdoor volleyball courts for the upcoming year. Previously part of a project under the Student Life Enhancement Fund, the courts at the Oval, located near the David Braley Athletic Centre and the Ivor Wynne Centre, will be open to students later in the fall.
In partnership with McMaster Student Affairs, the MSU has historically used the SLEF fund to support the development of student proposals for projects that enhance student life and community. Reviewed by the Student Services Committee, these proposals must meet specific criteria for approval, including being student driven, innovative and considerate of environmental impact.
Recent examples of projects backed by the SLEF include the Mac Community Kitchen, napping pods in the McMaster University Student Centre and the MacAccess Resource Library.
The courts’ revival was proposed by MSU president, Jovan Popovic, in Student Representative Assembly reports on Jun. 18 and Jun. 20. In the Jun. 20 report Popovic referenced a sign posting for the outdoor volleyball courts in Parking Lot H. The space had been originally outlined as a temporary parking lot for the construction of the Peter George Living and Learning Centre.
The courts’ revival was proposed by MSU president, Jovan Popovic, in Student Representative Assembly reports on Jun. 18 and Jun. 20.
Despite the building’s completion in 2019, the parking lot has since remained with the construction gear still present on the site. In a remote SRA meeting on Jun. 25, Popovic stated that approximately $20,000 of money collected from undergraduate student service fees was being wasted with the uncleared gear.
About a month and a half later, the MSU followed up with an Instagram video announcing that the university had agreed to revive the courts in time for the upcoming fall semester at no additional charges to students. A key focus of the project’s restoration was centred around the development of opportunities to promote recreation and student life across campus.
“Ultimately [the courts are] a big contributor towards student life because it’s providing students with the ability to come back [to campus] for reasons aside from academics,” said Popovic.
“Ultimately [the courts are] a big contributor towards student life because it’s providing students with the ability to come back [to campus] for reasons aside from academics,” said Popovic.
Jovan Popovic, president, McMaster Students Union
In his report on Jun. 18, Popovic explained that his two goals with the volleyball court revival were the recovery of the wasted student life money and the construction of new replacement facilities for those that were taken away from students.
“What this project was about was recovering what was lost. Hopefully this acts as a gateway for greater things, but ultimately this was the easiest and fastest way to get something done and to get it done in a timely manner,” said Popovic.
“What this project was about was recovering what was lost. Hopefully this acts as a gateway for greater things, but ultimately this was the easiest and fastest way to get something done and to get it done in a timely manner,”
Jovan Popovic, president, McMaster Students Union
Popovic also indicated that he would be advocating for a new tennis and basketball court to be built on the Oval. Other potential additions to this space could include green garden spaces and communal areas for both off-campus and residential students.
In his campaign Thorne aims to make substantial changes to the operations of McMaster, including with regards to infrastructure, healthcare and the environment
Zachary Thorne is a sixth-year computer engineering and society student running for McMaster Students Union President.
Thorne’s platform covers a wide variety of issues, which he has organized into 10 major categories: infrastructure, economy, healthcare, environment, communications, education, transportation, legacy, national security and morale boosters.
Thorne’s plans for infrastructure involve constructing more bridges around campus, turning TwelveEighty Bar and Grill into a bowling alley and installing more indoor waterfalls.
One key infrastructure idea that resurfaces throughout Thorne’s platform is his Doors Initiative. In order to address hallway congestion and entryway traffic, Thorne plans to replace every existing door on campus with a revolving door and, further, to triple the number of doors on campus. In his platform, Thorne also stated that this would help McMaster University to become the first university campus with more doors than wheels.
Thorne’s economic plans involve introducing Willy Dog hotdogs to every restaurant on campus and solving inflation. With regards to healthcare, his platform proposes asking students to take their shoes off before entering buildings and being permitted to cook their own food on campus, to prevent students from ingesting undercooked food. Environmentally, some of Thorne’s priorities are solving climate change and introducing new snow day protocol.
Thorne has several communications ideas, such as addressing students over a PA system in daily morning announcements, so that students feel connected to the MSU. Regarding education, Thorne has one key idea, which is to change the MSAF into an unlimited “LSAF”, allowing students to take an “L” on assignments.
Thorne also advocates for changes to transportation on campus, such as changing the shuttle bus route to make it longer and more scenic. With regards to the legacy section of his platform, Thorne argues that William McMaster should not be the only person with a statue and he advocated for statues of every McMaster student across campus.
In the national security section of his platform, Thorne provides a detailed plan for improving the security of two-factor authentication, including a voice recognition test and a chess match against the computer for access to login details. Finally, the morale booster section of his platform advocates for universal coffee cards on campus and MSU-mandated screenings of televised events on the MUSC television.
More information about Thorne’s platform can be found on his website.
Voting for the MSU presidential election takes place from Jan. 24 to Jan. 26 using the Simply Voting platform and more information about the election can be found on the MSU elections website.
What does it mean to be valued and why such a discrepancy?
Have you ever felt like you weren’t valued at work? Well, that’s how some students who are employed with the McMaster Students Union are feeling.
The MSU has about 300 clubs and 22 services that provide McMaster students opportunities to engage in extracurricular activities. While clubs are governed by individual student presidents, MSU services work a little differently.
They’re led by directors — McMaster students who are enrolled in eighteen credits or more. Service directors, who are classified as part-time managers at the MSU, are expected to hire a team of executives, manage a budget and coordinate events. PTMs go through an intensive hiring process and once hired, they attend training sessions on how to effectively run their department, learn MSU policies, procedures and practices. At least, this is what the process is on paper.
While this process might seem routine for anybody starting a new job, three PTMs have stepped forward to the Silhouette to share their experiences working for the MSU. The Silhouette has granted these individuals anonymity due to their employment with the MSU and their fear of retribution. They shall be referred to as PTM 1, PTM 2 and PTM 3.
Recent History:
This is not the first time the Silhouette has covered the MSU PTM experience. In June 2017, Zeinab Khawaja, the director of the Peer Support Line, a service that no longer exists at the MSU, brought forth to the Student Representative Assembly a number of concerns on behalf of the PTMs.
“It feels like our dedication to our services is used against us, because it is known that we will continue to do the work and put in the hours even though we are not being compensated fairly for it . . . Yet going above and beyond in our roles — something implicitly expected of a “good” part-time manager — is not rewarded, and instead deemed a ‘personal choice’ of the part-time manager that was never explicitly asked of us,” said Khawaja as reported by the Silhouette in 2017.
There isn’t a lot of information publicly available on what happened after this meeting, but Preethi Anbalagan, VP Admin in 2017, said that the MSU was working to address the issues brought forth by Khawaja.
Each PTM reports to the MSU Executive Board — a group consisting of five SRA members, the Board of Directors, General Manager, Communications Director, Administrative Services Coordinator and Associate Vice-President: Services.
When challenges arise, PTMs are supposed to speak with the Executive Board or put them in the Executive Board report, so that the Board can address those concerns.
Reflecting on the Past:
According to the 2021-2022 PTMs, most of their issues can be condensed into two main areas: lack of support/communication and lack of training. In fact, most of the grievances they have aired to the Silhouette this year line up with what Khawaja stated to the SRA in 2017.
In preparation for their interviews, we asked the PTMs to read our past coverage on the matter.
“Although unsurprising, it was quite shocking to see the exact same frustrations I had experienced echoing an article written five years ago. This really shows how systemic these issues are and that it is a deeper issue within the MSU structure,” said PTM 2.
This statement was echoed.
“I have heard from my predecessor and my predecessor’s predecessor that this job is unnecessarily stressful. It shocks me to my core that folks have been sharing these thoughts and feelings for years and absolutely nothing has changed,” said PTM 3.
Lack of Support & Communication:
Every individual may need support a little differently, but according to the MSU PTMs, “support feels non-existent” from their supervisor, MSU VP Administration, Christina Devarapalli. One PTM even stated that this lack of support and communication was their biggest job stressor.
“The silence from our supervisor [is the biggest stressor of my job]. We work in liminality of feeling overwhelmed by the information, protocol and bureaucracy required to achieve really anything and feeling entirely underwhelmed by the guidance and instruction required to navigate these,” said PTM 1.
MSU President Denver Della-Vedova indicated that while Devarapalli is the supervisor, there are also supports for the service directors with other MSU staff such as their assistant directors, MSU human resources and the rest of Executive Board.
Both Della-Vedova and Devarapalli stated that all PTMs can state any challenges they are currently facing in reports that they present to Executive Board.
“When any report comes in, the first thing I go to is the challenges section and when that report is presented at EB, as Denver mentioned, he follows up, [and] I also make an effort to follow up as well to see what kind of support we can offer,” said Devarapalli.
Communication breakdowns seemed to occur quite frequently when PTMs allegedly would send emails to Devarapalli but receive no response. One breakdown of significance was identified by PTM 3 who stated that service directors were not informed of the MSU going from solely online operations to hybrid during the Winter 2022 term.
“[W]ithout ANY communication with service PTMs, the MSU publicly shared to thousands of students that peer support services [would] be moving back to in-person operations . . . I have asked about the transition back to in-person numerous times with zero answers. And now I am hearing that my service is going back in person through the [MSU] Instagram account? This is ridiculously disrespectful to the folks who are working their butts off to run these peer support services with very little support and very little instruction while also being full-time students,” they said.
Devarapalli clarified to the Silhouette that there was an oversight internally at the MSU with regards to this issue. As the MSU leadership started to finalize what a potential return to campus would look like, it accidentally went out on social media before internal folks could be informed.
“As soon as we recognized this, I went and clarified the expectations around [the return to campus] and that it was not a complete or obligated return. Rather, it was based on a service’s individual timeline and capacity,” said Devarapalli.
Della-Vedova pointed out that Devarapalli did hold open office hours, had an open-door policy and gave all PTMs her personal phone number.
Devarapalli added that she tried to create a “casual, virtual environment” through hosting open-door meetings three times a week, but also allowing PTMs to schedule more traditional, “formal” meetings if they chose.
Lack of Training and Hours:
Although training is outlined in their job descriptions, the MSU allegedly did not provide all of the training required for the PTMs to be successful.
According to the PTMs, there was a lack of proper budget training and anti-oppressive training, even though it is expected that service directors apply an antiracist and anti-oppressive framework within their services as per their job descriptions.
“Our training consisted primarily of how to fill out purchase orders and how to use excel to track our hours. There is so much more training that needs to go into [these roles]. I felt like I was dumped in the deep end with absolutely no experience and absolutely no meaningful training for the role,” said PTM 3.
Della-Vedova and Devarapalli seemed quite confused when the Silhouette asked them about this lack of training.
Devarapalli clarified that each year, the MSU provides sexual violence prevention response, accessibility training and anti-oppressive practices training. Not only was this training provided live, but it was also posted to Avenue2Learn in module form, which allowed for the MSU to track who has completed the training. She also stated that financial training was provided at least three times.
This directly conflicts with what PTM 3 stated to the Silhouette, claiming that there was no asynchronous option for training and that no anti-oppressive practices training was provided.
It should also be noted that although these PTMs have signed on to work 12-14 hours per week, they have claimed they worked at least 20 hours a week in order to meet the duties outlined in their job descriptions and service operating policies.
“I feel like the MSU is profiting off of the work that students are putting in without doing any of the work themselves. We are scolded for going over hours,” said PTM 3.
Devarapalli directly addressed this comment.
“I don’t think that the concept of profiting off people’s labour or exploiting them is accurate because the MSU is a not-for-profit organization, so none of these student services generate revenue to the board. All of them operate within confined budgets that are approved by the SRA,” she said.
Devarapalli stated that resources have been provided to PTMs which can allow them to fall back on full-time staff, the VP Admin or even their assistant directors; however, this should be delegated.
Della-Vedova also clarified that when a PTM thinks they are going to go over their hours in a given week, they must seek approval from the VP Admin by providing an approximate range of how much they will go over, allowing the VP Admin to see if any support can be given. Part of this process involves PTMs actively tracking their hours and specifying what they are doing with their time.
What is Actually Happening at the MSU?
Unfortunately, the Silhouette cannot discern why there is such a discrepancy between the experiences of the PTMs and the views of the Board of Directors.
Della-Vedova weighed in with his thoughts.
“I think it really is a difference in expectations as we move through the year and we’ve had this changing paradigm of COVID. I think we have to recognize that there has been shifts there and with that, has come changes in what we need of each other in the whole . . . it is hard to make those changes.” said Della-Vedova.
Based on interviews with both parties, there seemed to be an overwhelming sense that a systemic lack of communication and mistrust could factor into this situation reaching a boiling point. Coupled with COVID-19 forcing all communications to be digital, both the PTMs and Board of Directors have likely fallen victim to this unfortunate circumstance.
“With regards to communication as well, I think just being in a COVID year has made it very challenging for everyone and email is not the most efficient way to do fast communication and also reliable communication in general . . . I think this will also dissipate, as you know, everyone returns to the regular student life experience on campus,” said Devarapalli.
PTM 2 did try to have a positive outlook on the future of the PTM/Board of Directors relationship, speaking directly to this year’s leadership team.
“We understand that your roles are frustrating, overwhelming, and difficult but this is an area we can relate on. There does not have to be fabricated tension between the VPs and PTMs. If we talked openly and honestly about the difficulties in our roles, our capacities, and the constraints of our influences we would all be better off and able to create a healthier work environment. I feel saddened that many of the PTMs complaints were met with defensiveness instead of an openness to conversation and collaboration, but hopeful that this can be reframed for future teams,” said PTM 2.
Each PTM also suggested how their roles can be improved so the issues they identified could be nipped in the bud for future years.
Suggestions such as adding more paid roles to help strengthen the team instead of relying solely on volunteer work; more training in areas directly linked to peer support; a better transition in and out of the role; as well as open communication and transparency between PTMs and the Board of Directors could all drastically improve the experiences for both parties.
Della-Vedova did point out that the MSU created new paid positions during the 2020-2021 year in the form of assistant directors to help offset some of the service directors’ responsibilities.
He also stated that the Board of Directors is directly working with Maccess to identify ways to split up the director role or add a second assistant director, recognizing that the workload might be too much for disabled folks.
The Silhouette gave each PTM the opportunity to say something directly to the MSU leadership team; however, this statement was quite startling: “Every time I ask for your help and all you do is nod and smile without even a smidge of valuable advice, I feel small and stupid,” said PTM 1.
Both Della-Vedova and Devarapalli were taken aback by this comment.
“So first off, I want to say, obviously upsetting to read that and I very much feel for whoever wrote this and would heavily encourage them to reach out,” said Della-Vedova.
The two went on to suggest ways that the experience could be improved in the future thanks to the MSU looking to increase human resources support, but also ensuring that the in-person environment we are likely going into with the 2022-2023 term is conducive to having these types of conversations.
Looking Forward:
Next year’s VP Admin, Mitchell German, was the Spark director for the 2021-2022 term. During his election at the first SRA meeting for the academic year, German emphasized that his experience leading Spark would enable him to better provide supports for next year’s PTMs.
“I think that more than half the job of VP Admin is support, specifically for the MSU services. And having been involved in a variety of them, personally being the part-time manager for Spark . . . Support is not something that is one-size fits all. You really do have to take that individualized approach and the best way to be able to support somebody is by simply asking how do they like being supported,” said German at SRA 22A.
With German at the helm of service delivery for next year, it is expected that he’ll fall back on his PTM experience from Spark and any knowledge he may have of issues facing other services in the 2021-2022 year when it comes to assisting next year’s cohort. Della-Vedova and Devarapalli said that they’re more than willing to have a chat with the three PTMs that the Silhouette interviewed for this article, for them to be open about concerns they’ve had, if not for themselves, for their successors.
