By Sam Young and Jessica Barclay
With the 2020-21 SUS elections quickly approaching, The Cascade has put together a summary of each candidate and their platform. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an in-person Q&A session for candidates could not be held as planned, so SUS has instead released candidates’ written answers to Q&A questions online with question recommendations from The Cascade.
The voting period for SUS elections (and the referendum on changes to student fees) begins on April 5 and runs to April 9. For more information on all candidates, and to read their full responses to Q&A questions, students can go to ufvsus.ca/elections.
President candidates:
The president represents the student body at UFV. They are the official spokesperson of SUS and the liaison between SUS and the university. Working with the executive director, the full-time staff member hired by the executive team, the president runs the day-to-day operations of SUS and ensures the strategic direction of the board of directors is put into action.
Sunny Cheema has formerly held the title of vice president students at SUS, and is returning after a year off to run for president. According to his candidate statement, his platform is primarily focused on decreasing SUS’s spending in order to spend more on students. In order to accomplish this, Cheema promised he would have SUS leave the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) if elected, and use the funds saved on membership fees and travel costs to instead develop new events and programming for students.
“I feel that it is a much better use of our time, and ESPECIALLY resources to focus on issues affecting us directly on a provincial level, as well as within the university,” he said in SUS’s candidate Q&A.
Cheema also said that although finances are handled by the vice president internal, he feels that ensuring that SUS is held financially accountable is a part of the president’s responsibilities. “I hope to simply ensure that we aren’t spending money on an area when it could be used somewhere else to help benefit the students of UFV much more,” he said.
Jessica Levesque is currently SUS’s event coordinator, and according to her candidate statement, hopes to “strengthen the campus culture and engagement.” She said that if elected, she plans to begin more conversations about mental health/wellness, address operational issues highlighted by students, and continue to build WEUFV, an initiative designed to “promote campus culture and community.”
According to Levesque, WEUFV is intended to help UFV students have their voices heard and increase engagement, including giving students “reasons to want to stay on campus outside of class time,” and establishing “more effective methods to gather and to share ideas.”
“[W]hen issues arise, my main objective is to ensure that all groups involved have the opportunity to voice their concerns and ideas prior to any decisions being made,” she said in her election Q&A.
She also said that she believes UFV’s relation with CASA is a “crucial connection,” and cited the organization’s role in lobbying for student grant increases as evidence of their importance.
According to his candidate statement, Harshvir Thind aims “to provide students with opportunities to feel like they’re a part of a community as well as provide the aid for academic success” if elected.
In his candidate Q&A, Thind said that his “main goal is to have more campus life, and more involvement with all students,” and to “listen to students when the [sic] express their struggles with reoccurring issues that often get overlooked or remain unresolved.”
He also said he believes that “it is quite easy to achieve both [communication and coordination] through frequent meetings and check-ups” between SUS and UFV, adding that when in opposition to UFV administrators, SUS is “often forced to … forfeit their opinion,” something he said he won’t do.
In response to a question about whether he felt SUS’s relationship with CASA is important, he answered, “The connection … is very much needed. It is good to maintain a healthy relationship with CASA.”
Vice president external candidates:
The vice president external’s role is to advocate for UFV students, with both the university and local, provincial, and federal governments. They represent SUS on various committees at the university and in external advocacy groups. Right now, SUS is a member of the Alliance of B.C. Students (ABCS) and CASA.
Rajdeep Dhaliwal
Rajdeep Dhaliwal is a fourth-year student, and previously served as SUS’s vice president external from 2018-19. She has also been involved in New Student Orientation and UFV Lead, among a number of other volunteer positions, and is currently serving her second term as a member of UFV Senate.
According to Dhaliwal’s candidate Q&A, she has made an effort to be involved in all aspects of life on campus over the years, and her previous work as vice president external involved initiating a number of projects for SUS. She said she hopes to hear directly from students if elected, so she can “direct [SUS’s] advocacy efforts towards what matters most to ufv students.” She also said she hopes to “follow up” on the projects that she initiated when she last held the position.
Her campaign promises currently include a plan to push for per-credit fees for international students (who are currently required to pay for a minimum of 12 credits per semester), looking into the possibility of implementing a “partial fall reading break,” and to gain further insight from UFV students via surveys and meetings.
Dhaliwal also said she believes UFV’s membership in CASA has value, but remains “neutral” in her attitude toward it because it is a national organization. “Many of our concerns as post-secondary students at ufv don’t necessarily fit at the federal level but rather the provincial level,” she said in the Q&A.
Andrew Stahl is in his eighth year at UFV, and has served as a student representative on the UFV Board of Governors for three years, and for three years as the SUS board’s College of Arts representative.
Stahl said that if elected, his first priority will be to review and reform UFV’s sexualized violence prevention policy. In addition, he said he will seek to deal with any issues brought up by students, and “purge” any corruption that arises within the organization.
Stahl also said he seeks to run “exciting” event programming, such as a “Battle of the Bands” in order to encourage student engagement, although he acknowledged that as vice president external he will need cooperation within SUS, and likely with organizations outside of the university, to make an event like this happen.
In response to a Q&A question about whether he felt SUS should be a part of both the B.C. Federation of Students and CASA, Stahl said that he has been “on the fence” for a while, as both organizations often do not achieve the desired results. However, he said that he feels it makes “logical sense to stay with them, especially because we are pushing for student grant funding this year.”
Vice president internal candidates:
The vice president internal role related to the internal workings of SUS. They are the treasurer and secretary of the society, and oversee finances, ensure adherence to the budget, and review and update SUS’s bylaws and policies.***
Duncan Herd (Running Unopposed)
Duncan Herd is a third-year political science student and has previously sat on UFV’s Board of Governors and Senate. According to his candidate statement, his main aims if elected are to “institute greater transparency” in SUS, and to consider reform in areas including “elections, financial reports, and inter-institutional dialogue.”
In his response to the candidate Q&A, Herd was critical of SUS’s current level of financial transparency, and said he plans to change it. “The records on SUS’s website are frankly horrendous … students have a right to know and understand how SUS is operating and spending their fees,” he said.
Herd’s goals also include reforming SUS elections to require a Q&A open to the public, a meet-and-greet, and a debate moderated by the chief electoral officer, and to “look into bringing back” the inactive SUS Premier Entrance Scholarship. “There are a lot of problems that need fixing at SUS, but there is also a lot of good,” Herd concluded in the Q&A.
Vice president students candidates:
The vice president students is a relatively recent role, first held in April 2018, and has experienced some adjustments this election period. The VP students’ primary role is student programming: they advise Clubs and Associations (C&A) executives and work with SUS staff who develop and organize events.
Tyler Branston is in his third year of studies at UFV, following two years at Douglas College, and founded the Philosophy Association of UFV. He said in his candidate statement that as vice president students, he would “make the operation and creation of clubs and associations as easy and as seamless as possible,” in an effort to make UFV’s campus engagement more like other universities by developing “an on-campus culture.”
He said in the Q&A statement that choosing a single issue to define his platform is difficult, as he is “running to fix many things,” but said the end result he hopes to achieve is a campus with “active clubs, associations, and students.”
“The bureaucratic road blocks involved in running and maintaining clubs and associations is, in my opinion, excessive and unnecessary,” he said, adding that he intends to cut down on the paperwork that organizers have to deal with, citing his own experience founding the Philosophy Association. “Everything I want to fix at SUS I have experienced myself,” he said.
Keara Parsons is a third-year student with previous experience in tutoring and volunteer programs in schools, and in management. According to her candidate statement, she has “seen first-hand” the struggles of her classmates and peers involved in clubs and tutoring at UFV, and has “insight and experience with such matters.”
Her platform’s major points include implementing crisis support as a benefit of club membership, working with clubs to foster community engagement “outside of social media posts and posters,” and implementing a revised fund request process to streamline club funding.
She also said in her portion of the candidate Q&A that she would “work to get myCampusLife more widely known and used among students,” and “ensure training for all C&A executives” to enable them to speak with members about mental health, by hosting training seminars and sharing online courses.
Prabhjeet Singh is an international student at UFV with volunteer experience including UFV International and Student Life. He said in his candidate statement that if elected, he hopes to have “more events and programs that students would enjoy” on campus, and would do so by coordinating with departments to run events that celebrate diversity such as Holi and Chinese New Year.
In the candidate Q&A, Singh said that his single biggest goal is to “eradicate the stigma surrounding mental health” and to “make support accessible for students who may be struggling.” He said that some students may have to wait a month in order to book appointments with campus counselors, and that these long wait times are something he hopes to address.
He also claimed he would work to steer UFV away from its status as a “commuter culture campus” by “consistently offering social events every month,” such as a half-marathon, back-to-school barbecue, and on-campus workshops for activities like dancing and painting.
Samantha Rae Smith currently serves as gender equality commissioner at SUS, and is in her fourth year of studies at UFV. She said that if elected, her “dream project” is to “host an action-packed full day for International Women’s Day 2021,” including a week’s worth of workshops and lectures about global gender equality issues leading up to the event.
In order to address student engagement on campus, Smith said she would also create a “viable communication network” for all activities on campus and develop an “interactive kiosk or portal” to help students keep up with what’s going on.
She added that she would also attend a meeting with each of the 23 clubs and associations on campus to learn what kind of support they need, and said she would like to help make campus C&As “more visible” while creating an environment where “more clubs [can] appear.”
Board Representative Candidates:
The SUS board of directors consists of the executive team and 10 student representatives. Each student representative acts as the voice for the student group they are representing, bringing their interests and needs to the board.
Faculty of Health Sciences
Jasleen Brar (Running Unopposed)
Jasleen Brar is a first-year nursing student with experience as a foundry ambassador and volunteer at Abbotsford Regional Hospital, and volunteering for UFV’s Get Out the Vote campaign. According to her candidate statement, she feels that financial aid and support services should be made more available to UFV students, and wants to “raise mental health awareness and promote vaccination” if elected.
She said in her candidate Q&A that she intends to advocate for issues that affect the faculty of health sciences, “while still acting in the best interests of the Society.” She added that as health sciences representative, she would “always consider what is in the best interests of the faculty’s students and administration” and “ensure students have the required resources available for a convenient learning environment.”
Faculty of Sciences:
Reece Doppenberg (Running Unopposed)
Reece Doppenberg is running for his second term as faculty of science representative. According to his candidate statement, Doppenberg plans to advocate for better support for clubs and associations and work toward better communication between SUS and his faculty.
He will also act as the voice for students and ensure those in his faculty are heard by “consistently being in contact with the clubs and associations within my faculty” and being “open and approachable for students to ask questions, raise concerns, or give suggestions.”
Faculty of Professional Studies
Harman Gill (Running Unopposed)
Harman Gill currently works as a junior accountant at LLT LLP. If elected, Harman plans to bring diverse ideas to the board and use his experience working with clients to effectively communicate with students. His main goals are effective communication and to be “transparent, accountable, and approachable.”
“I will ensure the students in my faculty are heard and benefitted from board decisions,” Gill said in the Q&A.
College of Arts
Tripat Sandhu was the president of SUS for one term in 2019-20. She is a third-year student, a member of the UFV women’s soccer team, and is currently on the UFV College of Arts council.
Her candidate statement lists previous initiatives as SUS president, including advocating for UFV students at Parliament Hill, bringing Rebel Pizza and Streats into the Student Union Building, and collaborating to bring events such as TedX Talks and New Student Orientation to UFV.
“If elected, I will continue bringing fresh ideas, raising awareness to student issues, and holding the SUS accountable to ensure transparency,” Sandhu said in the Q&A.
Alec Zinman is a fifth-year Bachelor of Arts student. As a board representative, Zinman would work to “strengthen the bonds between UFV and the Student Union,” for the benefit of students.
In the Q&A, Zinman said he is an active member of the UFV community and this time on campus has enabled him to gain “alot of knowledge and insight from my peers here at ufv.”
“I play active roles in clubs, and work and volunteer at the Student Life department, helping with the Leadership Program and the Peer Resource and Leadership Centre,” Zinman said in the Q&A.
