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.
Photo C/O Simranjeet Singh
11.4% voter turnout brings an all-time low to recent MSU Elections history.
After a rigorous campaigning period, Simranjeet Singh has been named the McMaster Students Union the unofficial President-Elect for the 2022-2023 academic term.
"The results of the election were ratified by the MSU Elections Committee, in a meeting following the closing of polls on January 27, 2022. The Elections Committee, charged with overseeing all elections of and within the MSU, completed the campaign evaluation process by assessing fines and addressing complaints levied against candidates. In addition, the Committee witnessed and ratified the results of the tabulation of votes via Simply Voting, the MSU’s online voting portal," stated a post on the MSU website announcing results of the election on Thursday night.
The results of the election are strikingly low with a total of 3,107 out of 27,149 students casting their vote. That equates to 11.44% of the student population.
Singh obtained 1,657 votes while Denver Della-Vedova, the current MSU President running for re-election, obtained 864 votes.
586 students chose to abstain their votes.
This is the lowest voter turnout in recent MSU history. In 2020, the Silhouette reported that voter turnout reached a low of 19.6%. Although students did not vote in last year's acclaimed presidential race, current data suggests this downward trend will continue.
At time of publication, MSU Elections has not stated why they believe the voter turnout to be so low.
While Singh has been named the unofficial President-Elect, him and Della-Vedova have five days to contest the results and appeal to MSU Elections.
Keep it locked to thesil.ca for our interview with the President-Elect
C/O Denver Della-Vedova
Meet Denver Della-Vedova, one of the candidates running to become MSU president
Denver Della-Vedova is running for re-election as the McMaster Students Union president. After graduating as a life sciences student in 2021, Della-Vedova was acclaimed to the position of MSU president for the 2021-2022 year.
His platform features three main pillars, which collectively highlight a total of fourteen major points that he hopes to address in the role of MSU president. These three pillars are amplifying diverse voices, prioritizing student stability and keeping momentum.
Amplifying Voices
Della-Vedova wishes to continue the MSU’s relationship with the Undergraduates of Canadian Research-Intensive Universities. In his platform, Della-Vedova states that this group has played a key role in lobbying the federal government for students’ interests and he proposes a $1 fee to ensure that the MSU maintains their member status. Della-Vedova also commits to advocating for Indigenous students and undergraduate research funding.
His second goal is environmental sustainability. More specifically, he hopes to expand the reusable container program and to consider more eco-friendly non-reusable container options.
His third goal is to increase student advocacy engagement, which he hopes to do by providing students with an MSU Avenue 2 Learn tab, which he says should be available by summer. Additionally, he hopes to utilize the communications department to reach more students.
His fourth goal is faculty society support. He hopes to better connect Student Representative Assembly caucuses with their respective faculties. Further, he intends to investigate the possibility of pooling resources across the MSU and faculty societies for collaborative events.
Finally, he hopes to increase the university’s accountability and engagement, potentially by creating an accessible Instagram page for McMaster’s important updates or by creating a Linktree containing reliable McMaster news and information sources.
Student Stability
Under the umbrella of student stability, Della-Vedova hopes to address housing instability by raising awareness about where to access housing resources, continuing legal clinics from this year and updating the off-campus housing website.
Della-Vedova is prioritizing financial stability in his platform. He plans to continue sharing and optimally allocating resources, to push the goals of the OUSA Responding to COVID-19 policy paper and to make jobs more accessible to students.
His third stability-related goal is mental health; he aims to make current Student Wellness Centre services available more frequently, focus on telehealth and online booking, engage students in positive social events and follow the recommendations of the OUSA Student Health and Wellness paper.
Finally, Della-Vedova aims to focus on food security. Specifically, he intends to work with the Food Collective Centre to get support from local businesses, looking at potentially expanding the gift card program or buying food in bulk to distribute to students in need. He also intends to make campus food options more allergy friendly.
Keeping Momentum
Under the umbrella of keeping momentum, Della-Vedova explains the projects that he would like to continue from this year into next year, as well as logical next steps from projects completed this year.
Firstly, Della-Vedova wants to improve Welcome Week by implementing a better fee system involving cash advances to faculties, surveying first-year students about the effectiveness of the events and providing better organizational support.
Della-Vedova's second goal under this umbrella is the prioritization of first-year students. He hopes to better share MSU services through the Archway program and community advisor floor meetings. He hopes to give presentations about the MSU to students in residence.
His third goal is to improve delivery of online classes. He plans to do this by generating a set of guidelines to ensure the consistency of online course delivery in areas such as types of software, quality of lectures and availability of recordings.
His fourth goal related to keeping momentum is to increase internal support and student government engagement. He aims to accomplish this through the previously mentioned MSU A2L page and by increasing communications between the Board of Directors and the SRA. Further, he plans to circulate the “Who’s Who in the MSU” document more widely and to lengthen board terms by two weeks to allow for more training time.
Finally, Della-Vedova aims to improve Student Accessibility Services. He draws attention to the accessibility barrier of requiring a diagnosis from within the last five years and he proposes offering incentives to notetakers so that more students volunteer for this job and are compensated for their work.
To learn more about Della-Vedova's platform, visit his Instagram page @denverformsu2022.
Get to know the newly acclaimed MSU president-elect Denver Della-Vedova
The nomination period for the 2021 McMaster Students Union presidential election ended on Jan. 21. As the only nominee received by the elections department, Denver Della-Vedova has officially been acclaimed as MSU president-elect. Della-Vedova’s presidential term will begin on May 1, 2021.
Della-Vedova is currently in his fourth-year of honours life sciences with a minor in environmental sciences. In addition to his passion for guitar, gaming and seeing trails and waterfalls around McMaster University, he has been involved with student government for several years — including throughout his high school years and his past three years at McMaster.
In his first year of university, he was a member of First Year Council and has been part of the Student Representative Assembly for the past two years. His passion for student government finds its roots in his drive to empower others around him and to help his fellow students get the most out of their learning institution.
“I really like helping people,” explained Della-Vedova. “I like making sure people get what they want out of their learning institution. And I really wanted to be able to focus on bringing folks together, especially this year.”
“I really like helping people,” explained Della-Vedova. “I like making sure people get what they want out of their learning institution. And I really wanted to be able to focus on bringing folks together, especially this year.”
Della-Vedova was the only nominee for the MSU presidency this year, which has been the cause of discussion and debate on social media, but is focused on looking to the future. Some students have expressed frustration over there being no student input during the process of Della-Vedova being acclaimed as MSU president-elect.
To this, Della-Vedova expressed understanding — an understanding of the frustration, gave a promise to show the student body who he really is and that he is ready to serve the Mac community to the best of his abilities.
“I'm really excited to move forward. As for you know, obviously, it's an issue among students with the acclamation process in policy issue. So I'm sure that the SRA is gonna work on that and debate about that. But as it stands, I'm trying to focus on the future,” ” said Della-Vedova. “
"I'm trying to focus on the future,” said Della-Vedova.
Part of Della-Vedova’s focus on the future is ensuring the student body is made aware of his campaign and plans as MSU president, something that would typically happen during the campaign period. Della-Vedova’s campaign is centered on three pillars: accessibility; bettering advocacy; and community, togetherness and support. The three come together to form his slogan, “Denver’s ABCs”.
Accessibility within the university is an important issue to Della-Vedova. His passion for ensuring accessibility is grounded in his work over the past six summers at Stripe Learning Centre for Children, a physiotherapy camp for youth with cerebral palsy. He is very interested in overcoming issues negatively impacting accessibility at Mac. He is especially interested in making the reintegration of in-person learning accessible for all students.
One of the main ways in which Della-Vedova hopes to improve accessibility is to try to centralize the avenues and channels students use to communicate within courses, such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Avenue to Learn.
Although Della-Vedova’s hope to reduce channels of communication within courses is a campaign point that will surely resonate with many students, it is currently unclear how he will accomplish this.
Della-Vedova also seeks to improve and expand upon the ways in which the MSU currently advocates for students. He seeks to build upon what is already in place with regards to student advocacy and implement improvements where possible.
“As for bettering advocacy, I've said bettering too, because . . . I love what the MSU does for advocacy,” explained Della-Vedova. “But I want to improve it where I can . . . so tuition advocacy, financial aid, international student representation and campus safety, these are all things that I think we need to advocate [more] on.”
Della-Vedova believes his background in student advocacy and government will help him achieve these goals. For example, he hopes to be able to use his position to implement ways for students to learn more about their tuition, OSAP and provincial government. He also wishes to help students have greater access to resources and events surrounding student housing and tenant rights.
Della-Vedova also wants to better utilize student advocacy organizations such as Undergraduates of Canadian Research Universities and Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance. The MSU is a member of both of these organizations, which advocate to the federal and provincial governments, respectively. Although he has not dealt with UCRU directly, Della-Vedova looks forward to discussing McMaster student issues with them.
“I've looked into what we've done in the past, I know there's been advocacy that was done through UCRU and through OUSA,” explained Della-Vedova. “But I just want to lean into them a little more this year and really push.”
Racial profiling by security on campus has been a concern for McMaster students this past year, ultimately leading to SRA passing a motion calling for the removal of the head of security services and an end to the special constable program on campus. When asked about this issue, Della-Vedova explained he plans to consult the Equity and Inclusion Office and research other Canadian campus safety models to understand how to better address this situation.
Although he did not directly discuss racial profiling and racism at Mac in his campaign, he did acknowledge that the fight against racial profiling has been a student-led effort and the importance of students in this conversation.
“Students have been at the front of this advocacy and I think they're a huge part of this conversation, too,” said Della-Vedova.
The final aspect of Della-Vedova’s campaign is his community, togetherness and supports pillar. Through this pillar and his associated endeavours, he hopes to bring the McMaster community together for the 2021/2022 school year. Among his ideas, he plans to focus on improving mental health services, restructuring Welcome Week and addressing issues affecting MSU clubs.
MSU clubs provide a sense of community for many McMaster students. This year, there was a lot of concern with the MSU requiring clubs to have 25 members. Della-Vedova hopes to consult with the clubs advisory council and the MSU to address these issues.
In order to strengthen the McMaster community, Della-Vedova also hopes to improve the delivery of student mental health services. The president-elect believes the key to this is the implementation of an online booking system for the Student Wellness Centre, which would allow for empty appointment slots to be filled. Although he has not consulted with the Student Wellness Centre directly or made concrete plans for this idea, he is hoping to do so soon.
Della-Vedova has many plans for his MSU presidency, although some of them may lack clarity. He has been interested in taking on the role of MSU president since his first year. He said that the Mac community has given him a lot over the past several years and he is looking forward to giving back through this role, regardless of the circumstances of his victory.
“The biggest thing I'd like to say about Mac itself is the community has always kept me in a good mood,” explained Della-Vedova. “That was actually why I picked McMaster to go to.”
Students will surely learn more about Della-Vedova in the coming months as he transitions into the role. To learn more about his campaign and plans as president, students can also visit the following social media accounts:
Facebook: MSU President-Elect Denver Della-Vedova
Instagram: @Dellavedovamsupresidentelect
This article has been edited as of Feb. 11, 2019
A previously published version of this article misquoted Ikram Farah. The quote has since been updated.
Students are often at a standoff with the MSU president. A commonly held belief is that the President cannot get things done, while presidents themselves often feel that they are misunderstood by the student body. Looking back at former presidents, we can see the difficult realities of their jobs. However, each MSU president has many opportunities to enact change, and it is their responsibility to work within their limitations.
It’s hard to keep all the eggs in one basket
“When someone is running for president they are running on 12-15 platform points, but that is not your only priority, you are a CEO, you are a manager of the whole institution,” said Ikram Farah, former MSU president for the 2018-2019 school year.
Every MSU president has and will continue to struggle with balancing priorities. Consulting past presidents and critically examining a previous year’s struggles is meant to help incoming presidents plan for the year ahead. New president-elects are given the opportunity to do this during their training period under the current MSU president, which lasts from February to April of each year.
Even with this transition process, neither Marando, Farah nor Monaco-Barnes were prepared for how much time would be taken up by priorities unrelated to their platform points.
“I didn’t realize how much of my time would be taken up with chairing various meetings, SRA, clubs, committees, events, and other things that you don’t really see the president do until you are in the role yourself,” said Marando.
During the transition period, outgoing presidents still have their own responsibilities and incoming presidents have their academics. It is unclear exactly how many hours are spent orienting.
“[After March] you’re out, and the new person’s in, and it’s up to them and their team to carry on their objectives but also carry on ongoing projects to full term,” said Justin Monaco-Barnes, former MSU president for the 2016-2017 school year.
Limitations of the transition period may negatively impact a president’s future ability to establish continuity, balance priorities and prepare for unpredictability. Farah faced the impact of the Ontario Student Assistance Program cuts and the Student Choice Initiative. Responding to these events took up much of her team’s time.
“You don’t know what you don’t know,” said Farah.
Continuity is key
Longevity, according to Monaco-Barnes, can be an issue with a one-year term. A president must continue previous presidents’ work while attending to their own platform points and responsibilities. Marando, Farah and Monaco-Barnes highlighted the added pressure that comes from students wanting tangible results.
“. . . A lot of people probably don’t know I sit on groups that improve the university IT plan, or work on mental health support in classrooms. People don’t see all the time and energy that goes into working with our full-time staff and supporting business operations of the MSU. I think that if there isn’t a big promotion of something, people think nothing is happening. In reality things may span over a years — such as our new student space expansion — requiring a lot more resources than one might think,” said Marando.
The student space expansion came from Monaco-Barnes’ platform, whose Pulse expansion plans eventually evolved to include a new student center, the Student Activity Building.
“And then here we are, two years later, and it’s being built which is pretty cool,” said Monaco-Barnes.
Monaco-Barnes took an unpaid leave of absence to run two student-wide referenda and help secure funding for the expansion plans. During the second referendum, Ryan McDonald, the VP (Finance) at the time, also took an unpaid leave.
While the Student Activity and Pulse expansion are underway, future MSU presidents must see them through. Not all projects will survive this process.
At the end of Monaco-Barnes’s term, plastic water bottles were replaced with boxed water in Union Market. Union Market reverted back to plastic water bottles the following year.
“I don’t know how you control that. You hope that the continuity pieces that remain in the MSU leadership wise, you hope they will continue your original messages and ideas, but once you’re gone you can’t really control those things,” added Monaco-Barnes.
If this is a known problem, incoming and outgoing presidents should prevent it from happening as much as possible. Starting from scratch, as Monaco-Barnes noted, is a waste of time.
Who do you want in the room?
As Farah said, it can be easy to forget the significant impact that an MSU President can have in advocating for students. Advocacy could result in change that students may not link back to MSU, as such changes happen over the long-term.
“We need people with ideas and strategic vision. That’s where the Pulse expansion or student activity building becomes impactful. But we don’t always need that large action. Advocating for policies that enhance student life are incredibly important too; however, policy takes time though,” said Farah.
A president will have several opportunities to advocate for students. But it is not easy to get the job done. Monaco-Barnes said that higher-ups can wait out a president that they disagree with. There is also an intimidation factor at play, as the MSU president will interact with older and more experienced counterparts.
“It’d be very easy for a president to go in and do a lacklustre job if they are not motivated,” said Monaco-Barnes.
MSU presidents will make mistakes and struggle with their jobs. Their role is difficult to fully appreciate from an outside perspective. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t point out their mistakes and challenge them to work around limitations. If we do not hold them accountable, then we may see less work being done. Is being MSU president hard? Yes. Does that mean that they cannot accomplish anything? Absolutely not.
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By: Neda Pirouzmand
Graduating students should not have had an equal say on these decisions in comparison to returning students. As changes regarding student fees are implemented in the following academic year, graduating students will not be paying for them.
This line of reasoning can be extended to graduating students’ influence over the MSU presidential elections. The actions and views of the MSU president only become relevant during and following their transition period into office.
Chukky Ibe won the McMaster Students Union presidential election in 2017. In March of the same year, students passed a referendum to add $95 to their Athletics and Recreation Activity fee in order to build the Student Activity Building and expand the Pulse fitness area.
Last year, Ikram Farah’s winning election was accompanied by a referendum that reduced the Ontario Public Research Group’s funding at the university from $8.07 to $5.50 per student.
Josh Marando will officially take office in May. While he is currently in the process of transitioning into the role of MSU president, his responses to recent events, such as Doug Ford’s changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program, and any future implementations will directly impact incoming and returning students.
At most, graduating students may be indirectly affected by the MSU’s advocacy efforts at the municipal, provincial and federal levels. This possible indirect impact still does not warrant graduating students to have as much influence as they currently possess.
An alternate system may involve weighting votes, where graduating students’ votes are weighted less than those of returning students. The logistics of the weighting amount could be decided by the MSU.
Those against changing the voting system may state that graduating students have unique and relevant experiences that allow them to make informed votes. Additionally, as graduating students pay the full MSU fee it can be argued that they have the right to exercise their vote.
These concerns could be addressed through adjusting the weight of votes from graduating students, rather than removing their vote altogether. If necessary, this could also be coupled with lowering the MSU fee for these students.
Would reweighting graduating students’ votes have changed past elections and referenda? This information is not publicly available and therefore no concrete conclusions can be drawn.
Elections should allow for a candidate to be selected who is in agreement with the majority of the relevant student population. Thus, the influence that graduating students have in this mix should be decreased.
Following this line of reasoning, incoming first-years should have a chance to vote. Many referenda and elections cannot accommodate this due to their timing in relation to admissions.
However, in some cases, this could be accomplished through implementing appropriate communication channels between incoming students and the MSU.
If this were to be pursued, it would need to be preceded by large-scale exposure and encouragement of voting in high school students.
Once April passes, graduating students will no longer fall under the umbrella of the MSU. As such, they should not influence future MSU decisions as much as they currently do.
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It’s that time of the year where a large majority of students are strategically avoiding the atrium of the McMaster University Student Centre. The campaigning period for the next McMaster Students Union president is currently underway and will continue until the end of polling on Jan. 24.
Elections for MSU president are held annually, and are voted on by the MSU membership. While this sounds fair on paper, this translates into the consistent underrepresentation of co-op and internship students during elections. These students, who are not technically MSU members, are not allowed to support presidential candidates which includes voting or being a member of a presidential campaign team.
This is especially concerning considering co-op and internship students make up a large per cent of McMaster’s undergraduate population, with some programs like the bachelor of technology mandating co-op. If graduating students are afforded the right to vote and influence the MSU, despite not being present to actually experience the changes themselves, it makes little sense to deny returning students the same rights.
The argument in defense of excluding these students is that they do not pay the MSU fee. For the 2018-2019 academic year, this fee was $573.07, paid by each full-time undergraduate student at McMaster University in addition to their tuition and other fees. Note that $230 goes towards the MSU Health and Dental plan where students have the option to opt-out.
While it is true that co-op and internship students do not pay MSU fees or tuition, they still are required to pay co-op fees. For example, students in the faculty of science are required to pay a $3050 co-op fee over three years, which includes a yearly $150 administration fee. Similarly, students from the DeGroote School of Business must pay around $900 to participate in the commerce internship program.
A solution could be to allow these students the option to opt-in to the MSU fee and thus become MSU members with all the rights and privileges afforded with MSU membership, including the right to participate in MSU elections. But should students be forced to pay the full MSU fee in order to be represented?
Other student unions like University of Victoria’s Students’ Society collect partial fees from co-op students. Payment of this partial fee allows these students to only access services that are relevant towards them. This includes access to the health and dental plan, ombudsperson, university bursaries and democratic participation in students’ society elections.
If a system like this was introduced to the MSU, it would allow co-op and internship students the ability to benefit solely from services and activities that pertain to them, while not unnecessarily paying for services which are less relevant to students away on placements like participating in MSU clubs. This could then essentially be a reduced version of the $130.26 MSU operating fee that full-time undergraduate students pay as part of their MSU fee.
Alternatively, the MSU can make it so that returning MSU members are afforded electoral rights without having to pay an additional fee. Co-op and internship students spend the majority of their degree at the university. They have most definitely paid MSU fees in the years preceding their placements and will continue to pay fees upon their return. Why should they be charged additional monies during their short term away just to be represented?
Students on co-op or internships are still returning students that deserve to have an input on their union’s representation. Whatever change is made for future elections, it stands that the current unfair treatment of co-op and internship students by the MSU is a disservice to us all.
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The McMaster Students Union president-elect Ikram Farah and captain of the Marauders football team Mark Mackie may have a lot of differences, but one thing that brings them together is their shared ability to be a leader.
Farah, a fourth-year Honours Political Science and Labour Studies student pinpoints her first real position of leadership as when she served as the social sciences caucus leader on the Student Representative Assembly in 2016-2017.
Being elected as caucus leader was validation for Farah that people believed in her. Being chosen for simply being herself made her realize that she had it in her to run for MSU president.
Defensive end and kinesiology student Mackie on the other hand fell into his leadership role due to seniority. Returning for his fifth year after being cut from the Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Eskimos, he and the other fifth-years were the obvious choice to lead a team with such a large recruiting class.
The large amount of rookies posed as a bit of a challenge for head captain Mackie. Usually, the amount of recruits coming in is not that large, so it is easy for them to adapt to the team culture. Yet with so many senior players leaving the program before the start of the season, there was an imbalance of rookies and veterans.
“When you have that large of a recruiting class, it’s almost like we had two different groups,” said Mackie. “So getting used to that large of a group was challenging but fun,” he said.
For Farah, being the social sciences caucus leader gave her many valuable skills that surely transferred over to her being the successful presidential candidate. But one challenge she faced was getting over the fear of asking for help.
As a captain you set the tone how everyone else is going to act because everyone is watching you and trying to see what you will do during the play.
Mark Mackie
Captain of the Marauders football team
“I grew up very independent,” said Farah. “I always had my family and friends, but culturally you were supposed to be very goal-oriented and do things for yourself. The hardest time was during my time with the SRA, because I came in with one vision while four other people each had their own visions. As caucus leader I had to figure out how I was going to achieve my own goals and compliment everyone else.”
After three months Farah began to figure out how to collaborate and ask for help. Since then she has continued to do so with each new position and leadership role she has had.
Like Farah, Mackie has been able to apply the skills learned as captain in life in general, with one main skill being accountability.
“When you’re the younger guy you kind of just go with what everyone else is doing,” said Mackie. “As a captain you set the tone how everyone else is going to act because everyone is watching you and trying to see what you will do during the play.”
Many people expect a football to act up or create a scene due to the negative connotation that comes along with being a contact sport athlete. Though there are cases where this happens, it is not always the reality for the majority of players.
The fifth-year student has been previously awarded the Alma and Will Rice Memorial Scholarship, which is presented to the kinesiology student who proves outstanding academic achievements. Mackie also received the Ontario University Athletics nomination for the Russ Jackson Award, which “honours the football student-athlete who best exemplifies the attributes of academic achievement, football skill and citizenship.”
“If you get to know us a little bit more you will realize we are a special group of guys who come together and work really hard,” said Mackie. “It takes a really special person to balance both being a student and an athlete, so just because were playing a contact sport does not mean we are not working hard in the classroom as well.”
Farah, like Mackie, hopes to challenge how the student body sees her new leadership position.
“[I know people think that the] MSU president does not do enough, that you cannot do anything in a year and that it is just a role to put on their résumé,” said Farah. “That is fair to think but at the same time, I truly believe that depending on who you are you can do a lot in a year.”
The hardest time was during my time with the SRA, because I came in with one vision while four other people each had their own visions. As caucus leader I had to figure out how I was going to achieve my own goals and compliment everyone else.
Ikram Farah
McMaster Students Union president-elect
Now as president-elect, she is more confident than ever and is using the negativity as fuel.
“I want to be that person that people can look at and trust,” said Farah. “Obviously that is very optimistic, but I know my work ethic and I know I am the type of person to get things done and if I cannot get things done I know why I did not get it done and plan to be transparent about that.”
Although McMaster’s new MSU president-elect may not know anything about the National Football League, the Canadian Football League or even how the McMaster men’s football team did this season, the one thing she knows is there are life-long lessons that one can learn through football.
Being a football movie fanatic, Farah often quotes football coach Eric Taylor from the Friday Night Lights television series. She is also inspired by Denzel Washington’s performance as the head coach in Remember the Titans, where he was able to make the characters fight for something they collectively believed in — football — despite their racial differences.
“I think that’s a common theme within my courses and how I live my life,” said Farah. “Yes, we all have our differences and we all face adversity, but when you put that aside and put a collective goal first you’re unstoppable.”
Whether it be on the field or in the office, what it takes to be good leader remains the same. For Farah, this means being honest, transparent and someone who stands their ground. For Mackie, being accountable, a good listener and a team player are three things that make you a good leader.
As Farah prepares to embark on this new journey as MSU president and as Mackie returns to Edmonton for another shot at the CFL, both will be keeping these things in mind. They should also make sure to keep their eyes clear and their hearts full so that in the long run they will never lose.
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On a typical night, you won’t find Teddy Saull at a party or a rowdy get-together. He prefers a quiet night in with some ice cream and a few episodes of whatever TV show he’s watching at the time. But on Thursday, Jan. 30 he and a crowd of friends and supporters took to Snooty Fox for a night of celebration.
After three days of voting, and more than 8,300 votes cast, Saull emerged as the victor of a two-week race for next year’s MSU President, defeating early favourite Jacob Brodka by only 102 votes in the final round of voting.
Before mid-September 2013 Saull hadn’t thought much about involvement in MSU politics; he was just an average, self-described nerd.
Growing up
“I was a very late bloomer. I’m quite tall now. I was very short until the summer between Grade 11 and Grade 12,” said Saull of his high school days.
He continued “I had a buzzcut, braces, weighed about a hundred pounds and was about five foot two. And I liked science and math—not the most appealing combination.”
Saull grew up in Ajax—living in the same house for his whole life—as the third in a series of four brothers. His mom is an educational assistant with special needs children and his dad is a business owner in the fasteners industry.
In elementary school, Saull loved to learn and had a particular desire to study science and math, but also enjoyed English. He grew up thinking he would become a medical doctor.
He delved into athletics as well.
“I was part of the all the sports teams in elementary school, when they weren’t as competitive, and then in high school there was no way,” he said.
Despite the drop off in sports participation, high school was still a time of involvement for Saull.
“I did pretty much everything…I was in a lot of clubs: Social Justice Club, I was President of Student Council,” he said. “I was a nerd, it is what it is.”
“I think I even got a few carry-over votes from high school,” he said of this year’s MSU Presidential race.
“When I was campaigning, I talked to someone and they said ‘Yeah, you were President when I was in grade nine, so I already voted for you’.”
University
For university, it came down to McMaster life sciences or Western health sciences, still wanting to be a doctor, but after a tour of the campus, McMaster was secured as his first choice.
“Western seemed fun, but McMaster felt like home, right away. It even had that Hogwarts feel that you can’t replicate,” he said.
He moved into Edwards Hall in September of 2010 and began his life at McMaster.
After a year of life sciences and some time of reflection, Saull decided to switch to the psychology, neuroscience and behavior program.
“I realized that I loved psych, once I was in it. I was very lucky to find what I’m interested in. I am fascinated by the human mind,” he said.
Saull stayed on campus as a Community Advisor in Hedden, and then Bates, before moving off campus for fourth-year.
“I wanted to belong to something. First year was tough—I think it is for most people—I thought I could create an environment that would make people comfortable,” said Saull,
“You get to see people grow. You see people come in as their nervous, shy person, or the super-outgoing person and you watch them evolve into the person that they become.”
Journey to MSU President
Sept. 2013 is when Saull decided he might make a good MSU President. His team worked throughout the year to construct a platform that could improve student life and a campaign that could convince them of its merits.
Coming from outside of the MSU was a challenge that the team knew could be a deterrent to winning the election.
“It was close. The success for us was that it was close—even if we had lost by a hundred votes, that would have been a success because of where we were coming from,” he said.
“Nobody expected that we would have a strong campaign because it was so clear that we did not have an overwhelming amount of MSU experience.”
“I was very thrown off, personally at times, at all of the negativity,” he said. “I had never been a part of politics before, except for watching The Ides of March.”
His campaign attempted to use this lack of experience as an advantage.
“Not having that experience means that you can come at things as a student, and as a learner. Then you can provide insight where you think it’s best. People respond well to that,” he said.
When voting begun on Jan. 28, Saull and his team were unsure if his message had connected with enough voters to win. By the time the polls were closing on Jan 30, the doubts were even stronger.
“I genuinely had no idea. I had a feeling on Thursday night [Jan.30] that we had lost, but there was no way to tell,” said Saull.
“I had no idea if we were winning, or if we were in dead last.”
When all the votes were tallied, Saull had emerged the victor.
He was sitting at home, trying to catch up on homework and preparing a Facebook post to address what he thought would be an election loss, when his phone rang with a call coming from current MSU President David Campbell.
Campbell informed him that he had won and Saull joined his team to celebrate.
Going forward
“The transition really starts now. I’ll start working with the Board [of Directors] and getting to know the role and preparing to start in the summer,” said Saull.
Barring any successful appeals from other candidates, Teddy Saull’s term as MSU President will begin on May 1.
“I will say this: I will not run for elected office ever again,” said Saull.
Teddy Saull is the MSU president-elect.
After 8,364 votes were cast and counted, Saull narrowly beat out Jacob Brodka by 102 votes. In the third-round tally, Brodka and Saull were separated by just 11 votes.
“My housemates are now surrounding me but I was alone when David [Campbell] called me,” Saull told the Silhouette minutes after finding out he won the election.
“It’s interesting – he called me when I was writing a Facebook post about losing. That’s how I was going to break it to my team. So I did not expect to win."
Jyssika Russell came in third, followed by Israa Ali. Russell had just 48 votes more than Ali in the first round. Jason Wolwowicz was eliminated in the first round with 396 first-preference votes.
Voter turnout for this year's election was one of the highest in MSU history, with 40.5 percent turnout.
Saull ran a campaign on building community. He proposed a participatory budget program with a $100K fund and has plans to freeze the MSU fee. Saull said he would establish a bigger frost week, a peer tutoring network, a 'Clubza' website and exam period upgrades.
“I wasn’t sure where we stood and I was preparing for that reality [of losing], but here we are," Saull said.
Saull will start his term as MSU president on May 1.
In addition to voting for the next MSU president, students also voted on a MSU healthcare coverage referendum and HSR bus pass referendum.
All three healthcare options failed, so the current MSU health plan will stay the same and cost $57.50 per student. The 12-month bus pass and expanded service option passed, which means students will pay $12.50 more per year to add those features to the HSR bus pass, starting in the 2014-15 year.
