But who ended up with the harder job?
Hufsa Tahir
Staff Writer
@excalweb
President Mamdouh Shoukri swapped his suit and tie for a letterman jacket and backpack, joining the throngs of students on the Square One GO bus to York. This day marked York’s—and Canada’s—first-ever President for a Day event.
The lucky York student who won a day in Shoukri’s presidential seat is Rabia Sajun, a third-year biochemistry and education student whose winning contest entry included three ideas for improving student life: expanding Steacie Library, reducing class sizes, and enhancing campus safety.
“It’s been super busy,” Sajun describes her day. “I’ve been in a lot of meetings. I met vp Rob Tiffin about disability. I’m interested in accessibility services for all students. I met vp Brewer about campus safety.”
She also talked to vp academic and provost Patrick Monahan about class sizes, and about improving student engagement in classrooms.
While Sajun sat through several meetings, Shoukri spent his day in a lecture on molecular biology and in a physics lab. Sajun serves as the co-president of the Chemistry Society, and Shoukri sat in for her office hours, selling students old lecture notes and professor-approved sample copies of old tests for $15 a packet.
“I’ve had a chance to talk to students there, learn more about the university and about their concerns,” he says.
The one negative of the day for Shoukri, however, was when he visited a very crowded Student Centre for lunch. The lineup for the microwaves especially dismayed him.
“I wouldn’t do that if I was a student. I’d give up on warm food,” he remarks. “To be honest, maybe building a new Student Centre will take time, but doing something about the microwaves should not.”
For Shoukri, the event was a way of engaging with the student population, something that he didn’t expect would happen on such a high level.
“Fact is, I walk through campus all the time and talk to lot of students,” says Shoukri. “But they want to talk to me more now, probably because I’m not wearing a suit, I’m wearing this—” he gestured to his letterman jacket—“They’re probably more comfortable seeing me trying to reach out to them.”
Sajun highly approves of the President for a Day campaign and believes it should be a recurring event.
“I think this idea was a really interesting experience to get a behind-the-scenes look into what is involved in implementing something,” she says. “The admin is doing its best to better student life, and this gives students a better behind-the-scenes look.”
