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Blake Oliver has been elected Vice-President (Education).
Oliver rounds out the 2016-17 Board of Directors, joining MSU President-Elect Justin Monaco-Barnes, Ryan MacDonald (VP Finance) and Shaarujaa Nadarajah (VP Administration) on the BoD. The Vice-President (Education) focuses on university advocacy and external lobbying.
The Health Science student ran on a platform focusing on advocacy work with all levels of government. Key platform points include:
The full platform can be downloaded here.
Oliver has worked with the Ontario University Students Alliance as a general assembly delegate in 2015-16. The VP (Education) elect was University Affairs Commissioner and SRA Health Science for the past term. According to her platform, Oliver is also interested in running for OUSA leadership.
The 2016-17 Board of Directors will take over their roles on May 1.
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Ryan MacDonald has been elected Vice-President (Finance).
MacDonald joins MSU President-Elect Justin Monaco-Barnes, Blake Oliver (VP Education) and Shaaruja Nadarajah (VP Administration) on the BoD. As the name suggests, the Vice-President (Finance) role handles the financial details of the McMaster Students Union.
MacDonald ran on a platform that focuses on the long-term success of the MSU, as well as improving the McMaster community through empowering others. Key platform points include:
The full platform can be downloaded here.
MacDonald’s qualifications include work with the MSU and the University. Most notably, the Vice-President (Finance) elect was the lead author for the first MSU-University Budget Submission. Previously, he has worked with CLAY, the Maroons, Horizons and Spark.
The 2016-17 Board of Directors will take over their roles on May 1.
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Shaarujaa Nadarajah has been elected Vice-President (Admin).
Nadarajah joins MSU President-Elect Justin Monaco-Barnes, Blake Oliver (VP Education) and Ryan MacDonald (VP Finance) on the BoD. The Vice-President (Admin) role largely focuses on working with Part-Time Managers who run the services the MSU runs.
Nadarajah ran on a platform that aims to “pop the MSU bubble” and improve the support for PTMs and SRA members. Key platform points include:
The full platform can be found here.
Nadarajah was the campaign manager for Monaco-Barnes. The Vice-President elect has experience in a variety of MSU services, including Horizons, the Maroons and SWHAT. She also served as an SRA Science representative for 2015-16.
The 2016-17 Board of Directors will take over their roles on May 1.
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With as much scrutiny and attention as there has been on electing Vice-Presidents this year within the McMaster Students Union, it’s easy to miss a lot of the progress that’s been made compared to previous years.
Most recent and public of these were the VP Meet-and-Greet events, a chance for the 10 candidates variably running for VP Administration, Finance and Education to get to share and connect with the general public.
“I think it is very good for outreach, it is a good change for ... MSU members to come out and get to know their VP candidates and to inform and advise their SRA members who they want as their VP candidate,” said current MSU President Ehima Osazuwa.
As a showcase of the candidates, it’s a fresh addition to improving transparency for roles that earn nearly $40,000 in salary over the year and are chiefly responsible for the day-to-day functions of the MSU, a multi-million dollar organization.
But the freshness is perhaps also a result of the diverse pool of candidates that are running for each of the positions; amongst the 10 candidates running for three spots this year, seven of them are female, with one of the positions guaranteed to be held by a female.
With a strong possibility that women will even make up half of the Board of Directors next year, it’s one of many areas that candidates hope are starting to become more open for any and all individuals.
The issue of women in governance has been a topic of debate within the MSU to varying degrees, and recent initiatives like MSU and You have been trying to encourage and support women to run for leadership positions within the union.
As Giuliana Guarna, current VP Administration explained, the emphasis to her is not about ensuring women are filling a certain quota of roles; rather, it’s the process of establishing equal opportunity and support for women and others who aren’t fairly represented at a governance level.
“I think people underestimate how important it is to literally be able to see someone who looks like you, who talks like you and who has the same values as you in these leadership positions,” said Guarna.
“If you were a first year last year, and you see four men on the BoD, that’s isolating. Just visually, you don’t see yourself there. No one’s explicitly telling you that that’s not for you, but there’s that implicit messaging that maybe that’s not where you’re supposed to be.”
As Guarna also noted, this hasn’t been an issue of competency, as the Part-Time Managers who manage the various services within the MSU have historically been predominantly female. Next year, women will make up around 15 of the 20 or so PTM positions, a consistent trend in the history of the MSU.
As a current PTM herself, VP Administration candidate Nishan Zewge-Abubaker commented on the increase in female candidates, stating that “It’s kind of an indication of [how] people are feeling encouraged to run for these kinds of positions.”
This pattern of female organizers behind the scenes is even further evident when recognizing that four of the 10 candidates running for VPs previously worked as a campaign manager during Presidentials this year.
It’s an exciting prospect to see so many qualified and diverse individuals come from a variety of backgrounds, and several of the candidates explained how encouraging and important it’s been to see role models from before.
Said VP Finance candidate Miranda Clayton, “Seeing [former VP Administration] Anna D’Angela in my first year in the MSU actually made a bigger impact than I initially thought; I realized that’s where I’ve seen the most women.”
“I had to talk myself into running for VP Finance, because I’ve never seen a woman be successful in this role.”
Shaarujaa Nadarajah, another VP Administration candidate added, “We want more women in governance, we want more females in high leadership positions.”
The Student Representative Assembly for the 2016-17 year will decide the VPs for next year over a two-day period from April 2nd to 3rd.
With files from Saad Ejaz.
Photo Credit: Kareem Baassiri
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Every March, past and present MSU student leaders, University administrators and some members of The Silhouette, get together for Student Recognition Night, an evening that highlights achievements and successes in student politics and service provision. Apart from the awards ceremony, one of the most anticipated parts of the evening is the current MSU Board of Directors’ Swan Song — a humorous and final goodbye from the President and the Vice Presidents of the MSU that has traditionally been used to poke fun at student politics, sing a couple self-deprecating lines and throw a few (welcome) jabs at our coverage.
Unfortunately, this year the song crossed the line from humorous to offensive. Although much of the song was funny and light-hearted, I have two issues with it: the individual attack towards a student activist, and the way it ridiculed the efforts of student activism, specifically the pro-Vice Presidential election reform campaign team and the Student Mobilization Syndicate.
Addressing student concerns of increasing tuition rates and groups that have requested that the MSU be more active beyond its role with OUSA, the song included lines like, “They say that tuition has doubled; maybe because they’ve been here for 10 years,” and in the same vein, “They’re now on the SRA; at least I’ll soon be gone.” For anyone involved with the MSU, the identity of the person the BOD was referring to is very clear. It’s also well known that this person is also a mature student who used to attend McMaster and has now returned for reasons that we’re not aware of and which frankly are none of our business. Whether their choice to leave was because of financial reasons, health reasons, or simply a matter of personal choice, whatever angle you decide to look at this line from, it is extremely offensive.
The person in question is also, as the song gives away, a new member of the Student Representative Assembly. The lines only create unnecessary and damaging animosity between the executive branch of the MSU and its governing body members, which should expect more respect from the BOD. There is a difference between inside jokes and personal attacks towards people you don’t engage in constructive dialogue with. That the person was also not present (or invited) to Student Rec Night makes the whole thing even more uncomfortable.
Beyond the personal attack, I was also disturbed at the willingness of the Board to ridicule the efforts of student groups whose goals are to push for change within the MSU. I’m not arguing that their stances are good or bad, but students should feel free to speak their mind about how they want to govern their student union without being ridiculed. For example, one line from the song about the VP reform petition was: “VPs-at-large they tried to file a petition once or twice… by once or twice I mean maybe a couple of hundred times.” It later added, “It’s too bad you lost VP to some Yik Yaks and memes… 21 votes,” referring to the small number of votes the pro-reform side lost the referendum by (a sad 0.3% under the two-thirds majority needed). What good does it do to ridicule the efforts of students with good intentions and students who want to improve the democratic process of our union? The BOD are the people in power. Whether you choose to respect their opinions or not, they still hold a lot of ground. Ridiculing student movements creates a hostile environment that discourages people from expressing opinions that the larger voices within the MSU might look down on.
Before anyone messages us to let us know that we don’t get the “point” of the Swan Song, that it’s meant to be in jest, let me assure you that we know. We know that it is meant to highlight the sometimes ridiculous and immature nature of student politics, and give the BOD a chance to respond to criticisms they’ve faced throughout the year. But it is not meant to be malicious or attack individual people. It’s not meant to discourage student activism, especially not activism that doesn’t align directly with how the MSU sees itself. The petitions and activist groups get attention because they speak to people — the numbers speak for themselves: both in the number of people who signed the VP reform petitions and those who voted in favour — and the last thing the MSU should be doing is making people feel that they will be ridiculed for wanting to make a change or be involved. Though the Swan Song does not take away from this BOD’s accomplishments, it ends the year on a sour note.
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Only a month ago, McMaster celebrated its highest MSU Presidential election voter turnout in recent history. Nearly 50 percent of MSU members cast a ballot in a highly contentious election. The MSU administration, the candidates and their teams prided themselves on their ability to engage the student body at such a high level. For the two weeks of campaigning, campus came alive with political allegiances and discussion of important student concerns.
None of that momentum was felt at the MSU General Assembly on March 15.
Attendance at the annual event peaked at around 50 students, a pitiful number, especially considering the gravity of the issues at hand. These included tuition advocacy, MSU vice presidential elections at-large and the termination of Glen DeCaire as Head of Campus Security. In order for quorum to be met and any decisions to be considered valid, three percent of the MSU’s voting members must be present at the General Assembly, around 660.
“We need to think about balancing [the voices] of the students who do come out, and making sure it’s an accurate representation of the student body."
Inna Berditchevskaia, MSU Speaker, knows the General Assembly can highlight an issue of great importance to students. “It has the potential to be very effective if we can actually get a representative sample of students in the room … At last year's GA we reached quorum because there was one issue that students cared a lot about, and I don't think it was the GA, I don't think it was the opportunity to speak to something on the MSU level that appealed to students,” she said, citing the example of the passing of BDS at last year’s General Assembly.
“I wish more people had come out. I was the one to organize this and I put a lot of planning into it, so it was unfortunate to see so few people come out,” Berditchevskaia said, adding that the MSU used all of its own avenues for advertising the event, plus the creation of a widely-shared Facebook event.
For Kathleen Quinn, an incoming SRA Social Sciences caucus member who put forth several motions at the General Assembly, the low turnout is an indication of a greater problem within the MSU. “I think that at McMaster, it's a cultural problem, first and foremost. When we look at the GA and the emphasis that's put on it as a democratic vehicle, as something that can help students, but I just don't see those conversations happening,” she explained. “I don't believe that turnout has traditionally been high because I don't think that the union sees itself as a democratic vehicle for change. It does have democratic principles at its core, but I don't think we educate students about the importance of this.”
Having experienced the student activism movement in Montreal, Quinn said universities in Quebec tend to approach their General Assemblies in a different way than McMaster. “It was really interesting to see how many people, when I said we only have one GA a year, were shocked. They were used to participating more often and on different levels,” said Quinn.
Despite the low turnout, both Berditchevskaia and Quinn were adamant that the three percent quorum not be changed, a decision that would require a constitutional referendum. “I don't think that lowering that threshold means that we get that plethora of voices. If we lowered quorum or didn't have quorum, a tiny group of us would be able to push through things. And we need to make sure we have those big conversations,” Quinn said.
Berditchevskaia agrees. “We need to think about balancing [the voices] of the students who do come out, and making sure it's an accurate representation of the student body, because we do need to keep in mind that the student body is 22,000 people.”
As the event did not come close to having the required minimum of 660 members present, the motions put forth will now be discussed by the SRA at their meeting on March 20 — a shift in the discussion that seems dubious, as very few SRA members were present at General Assembly.
Many of the members who were there spent the two hours laughing and chatting amongst each other, appearing unengaged by the debates and motions they will now have to discuss and vote on with no more formal expertise than the constituents they represent.
For the future, Berditchevskaia wants to see the attitude of the MSU shift. “I think we need to go about it from a perspective of not advertising for the GA but creating a culture in which students want to be engaged with the democratic process regardless of how contentious the issue that's being brought up is,” she said.
“I don’t believe that turnout has traditionally been high because I don’t think the union sees itself as a democratic vehicle for change ... I don’t think we educate students about the importance of this."
Quinn sees the transient nature of the student body as a reason there is so little commitment to improving campus for others. “You have a sense of, I guess, responsibility over your own future. Maybe that's why participation isn't happening. People don't feel like they are responsible for what happens next.”
Going forward, the issues — including a motion asking that the MSU advocate for a provincial tuition freeze — will be discussed at the March 20 SRA meeting. Any of the motions put forth could pass, be amended at the will of the assembly, or face all-out rejection.
Photo Credit: Mike Beattie
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By: Gabi Herman and Isaac Kinley
From Jan. 26-28, in addition to electing their next McMaster Students Union President, McMaster students will be able to vote in a referendum concerning the election of MSU Vice Presidents. The MSU has three Vice Presidents: Administration, Education and Finance. Currently, the Vice Presidents are elected by the Student Representative Assembly, a student council that includes faculty representatives and the current MSU President and Vice Presidents.
The current referendum will allow students to vote in favour of keeping the current system or switching to an at-large vice presidential election. Since this change would require altering the MSU constitution, the “yes” side will have to garner at least two thirds of the vote in order for it to pass.
The motion was put forward by Eric Gillis (SRA Social Sciences) at the 2015 MSU General Assembly in March. Earlier this school year, the Student Mobilization Syndicate uploaded a petition to Change.org asking that the question of direct election of Vice Presidents be put to McMaster students in a referendum. The petition gathered more than 800 written signatures and subsequently, the SRA voted to hold the referendum. However, going into the campaign period, they voted to maintain a neutral position on the referendum question. Looking forward, students will have to decide where they stand on the issue.
The referendum question, as it will appear on the ballot, is:
This referendum concerns the MSU Vice President elections. Currently, the three Vice President positions are elected through the Student Representative Assembly (SRA). A proposal has been put forth to move the Vice President elections away from the current system to an at large election. The format of this at large election is currently undefined and can take on many forms.
This is a constitutional referendum, which means it requires two thirds of the vote to pass. Abstentions will not be included in calculating the vote.
Are you in favour of changing the MSU Constitution to include an at large MSU Vice President Election?
Yes
No
Abstain
For more information, visit https://www.msumcmaster.ca/services-directory/31-elections-department/referendum-2016. Information on the “Yes” side campaign is available at http://www.vpref.ca/
Below, two Silhouette contributors examine the advantages and drawbacks of both positions.
The “Yes” side:
There are a number of problems with the current system. For one, while a respectable 42 percent of eligible students turned out to vote in the 2015 presidential election, most faculties saw turnouts below 30 percent in the SRA elections. This means that the people tasked with choosing vice-presidents are themselves only elected by a small minority of MSU members.
Furthermore, there’s little anonymity in a group as small at the SRA. If its members know Vice Presidential candidates personally, this will likely bias their vote and impede their ability to make a disinterested choice on behalf of all McMaster students.
Allowing the entire MSU membership to elect its Vice Presidents would solve both these problems. If voter turnout for vice presidential elections is close to that of our presidential elections, this would make VPs not only directly elected by McMaster students, but elected by a larger proportion of them than are represented in the SRA.
Additionally, vice presidential candidates would have to make their cases to the student body directly rather than behind closed doors to the SRA, increasing the transparency of the election and giving students a better idea of the platforms of student government hopefuls.
It seems odd to have people as powerful as the Vice Presidents elected by an intermediary group that only represents a small minority of eligible voters. Voting “yes” in the upcoming referendum will allow McMaster students to have a greater say in the decisions affecting them.
The “No” side:
Selecting a vice presidential team is no easy job. The election process for each Vice President is a long process. Every candidate is required to meet individually with each member of the SRA. This allows every SRA member to gain a deep understanding of each candidate’s platform, one that would be near impossible to achieve for every student at large. In fact, the job has become so difficult that last year’s meeting lasted 22 hours. A motion for all MSU members to be eligible to vote for VPs will be voted on in a referendum this coming election, but many believe it would not be the right decision.
An at-large vote would require VP candidates to campaign, which many report make VP positions less accessible to prospective candidates. Robyn Fishbein, a fourth year Sociology student, was a voting member of the VP Election Reform Ad-Hoc Committee last summer. “It’s not the VP’s job to be the face of the organization, and I think that makes a really big difference,” says Fishbein. Vice Presidents work mostly behind the scenes, while the MSU President and SRA members have inherently public roles. The highly public nature of the campaign creates a barrier to students who are ultimately interested in holding leadership roles that are less public than the President and SRA members.
The challenges of allowing all MSU members to vote also include student disengagement. The Ad-Hoc Committee report points out that at-large voters may be vulnerable to “voter fatigue,” which might contribute to a lower voter turnout. The VP elections would also require many names and positions on one ballot; with more names on a ballot, voters are more likely to vote at random. And, says Fishbein, “let’s face it, so many elections can get annoying.”
Although counterintuitive, many believe that the MSU democracy functions best without more opportunities to vote. Regardless of the result of the referendum, major restructuring will have to take place to prevent more inefficient, daylong meetings.
Photo Credit: Jon White/Photo Editor
Sarah Jama
Social Psychology Level IV
Sarah Jama considers her presidential campaign a “people’s platform” and her effort to put forward a diverse platform have not gone unnoticed. Her platform breakdown makes it clear that Jama did careful research into the needs of multiple groups on campus, and has set out goals to properly represent them.
One of Jama’s focuses is on interfaith equity. Jama hopes to collaborate with Hospitality Services to encourage a wider variety of food for religious restrictions by making kosher food available beyond the Student Center.
Space on campus is a big point in this year’s presidential election. Jama wants to advocate for prayer space around campus.
In comparison to the platforms of other candidates, Jama strayed away from adding a new building to our campus. “Rather than creating an entirely new space, I think we should use what we have now,” Jama said. As an alternative, she referenced the opportunity for a prayer space out of Bridges Café as well as the ongoing construction of the LR Wilson Building.
In our discussion, Jama put the greatest emphasis on her point to advocate for the reversal of MSAF changes. In May of 2015, the MSAF was changed to allow students to only use it during a three-day span of time instead of five days, and only for assignments less than 25 percent instead of 30 percent.
“Students are intelligent. If we ask them, they will give us better solutions.”
“The MSAF helps people with disabilities as well. People who can’t access accommodations from Student Accessibility Services because they’re newly diagnosed with disabilities,” she explained.
The reversal of the MSAF is only the first step. Jama is also pushing for students to be involved in further dialogues about MSAF changes. “As MSU president, I want to hold working groups to make sure that student voices are being brought to the table,” as they have been scarce in the past. “At the committee discussion MSAF changes, it was students who were lacking. Students are intelligent. If we ask them, they will give us better solutions.”
As for her most ambitious platform point, Jama wants to work with every Student Union across Ontario to lobby the government for lower tuition. Knowing that tackling tuition is no small beast, Jama met with McMaster University President Patrick Deane twice to discuss ideas and was met with approval. “[Deane] actually sits on a similar province-wide board at an administrative level. I want to mirror that at the province level for student unions.” The student unions at Brock University and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology have joined the MSU in expressing support for the idea.
If elected, Jama would be continuing the efforts to lower tuition that current President Ehima Osazuwa began this year. The MSU is currently campaigning for a tuition freeze, but Jama is skeptical of how much a tuition freeze can do given that Ontario has the highest provincial tuition rates in the entire country and that it will only continue to rise due to inflation.
Jama also plans to instill an Emergency Meal Plan that will function similarly to the MSU Emergency Bursary. Students demonstrating financial need receive a meal card to use for the month. However, the project will likely face many of the same issues as the Emergency Bursary, which has struggled with exhausted budget in the face of high demand.
While her campaign might not have the most illustrious or attention-grabbing platforms in this year’s election, Jama’s quieter approach shows that she is listening.
#StudentsUnited
In her words...
Most ambitious platform point
“Lowering tuition”
Candidate platform you are critical of
Justin’s courseware price reduction
I’m unsure of how the current space will accommodate for long lines.”
For or against VP Referendum
For
Opponent you would vote for
“Jonathon Tonietto”
Website
Photo Credits: Jon White/Photo Editor, Michael Gallagher/Production Editor
Justin Monaco-Barnes
English and Cultural Studies Level IV
Justin Monaco-Barnes’ unusual MSU-related experience as the service coordinator for Underground, the Union’s media and design service, makes him a standout. His campaign shows that he is in touch with student and campus needs, as his platform discusses several of the major themes in this year’s election: sustainability, student costs and campus space.
Building on current MSU President Ehima Osazuwa’s commitment to lowering student costs, Monaco-Barnes aims to make courseware more affordable by having students print it at Underground. As the service coordinator of Underground, Monaco-Barnes’ experience with affordable printing is pushing him to expand the service’s ability to offer courseware at a lower price.
Yet, the critical consideration of how much money would really be saved through reduced courseware prices definitely comes into question. Despite promised price cuts of up to 30 to 50 percent, the unfortunate reality is that the financial benefits from this are pennies compared to the fortune students pay for tuition.
Making a direct impact with regards to environmental sustainability is another principle aspect of Monaco-Barnes’ campaign. He plans on working with McMaster to address the recycling issue on campus, and perhaps even the implementation of solar panels and low-flush toilets across campus.
“We need to take advantage of our relationship with McMaster and the Office of Sustainability to ensure that we are not just doing grassroots things like creating awareness, but actually investing in the infrastructure itself,” he said.
Monaco-Barnes’ charisma combined with his genuine passion for a greener tomorrow may have a shot at winning over students who are indifferent to environmental awareness. “A lot of this has to do with creating that passion,” Monaco-Barnes added. “It is my responsibility if I want to see change, to become that change itself... I want to act and hopefully inspire those around me to think the same way.” However, with Jonathon Tonietto’s campaign focusing strictly on sustainability, environmentally conscious voters are faced with a tough decision.
An expansion of The Pulse is something on the minds of many of the presidential candidates, Justin Monaco-Barnes being no exception. With a number of complaints being expressed regarding the overloaded gym, Monaco-Barnes’ campaign hopes to facilitate and support this expansion in the interest of the student body.
A discussion on an expansion of The Pulse is already underway by the Athletics Department. “It’s really for us partner with them and to work alongside them,” he said, “as well as to aid and assist with what they need to ensure that everything happens effectively and efficiently with student needs in mind.”
Although The Pulse expansion would certainly be beneficial for much of the student body, the role which Monaco-Barnes would play appears small. It is doubtful if the involvement of the MSU in the facility’s expansion would be truly impactful. Additionally, it is unclear why in his online platform Monaco-Barnes’ expansion of the Pulse is presented as a novel idea rather than as an initiative that is already in progress.
His platform also addresses the topic of bursting the “MSU Bubble.”
“There has been conversation throughout campus that the same individuals have been doing a lot of the same roles and keeping all the MSU activities internal,” he said. “What we are really looking at is expanding the MSU into regions of the campus that don’t normally get touched upon and creating more opportunity for a wide scale of students.”
With a strong and clean image but no strong focus on a particular issue, the debates will be important in determining where Monaco-Barnes stands relative to the other candidates.
#BeTheChange
In his words…
Most ambitious platform point
“Sustainable McMaster”
Candidate platform you are critical of
Mike’s Student Life Centre
“I think it will end up costing students more money, and I’d rather look at what can we do with what we have, as far as addressing space.”
For or against VP Referendum
For
Opponent you would vote for
“Jonathon Tonietto”
Website
Photo Credits: Jon White/Photo Editor, Michael Gallagher/Production Editor
