Hamoudi Hneinou
Why are you running for this position?
I am just finishing my term as vice-president operations and I decided to move up and try the president position.
What are your previous student leadership experiences?
Aside from YFS, I ran for the Club and Services Representative for the Student Centre. I was also the representative the year after that and was a member-at-large on the board. This gave me a chance to voice concerns students were having everyday in the Student Centre. I was also the Liberal Arts and Professional Studies director.
How are you different from other candidates?
I feel like my time here at York in the past few years has shaped me. There was a club I started in my first year, and the thing with cultural clubs is you are building a community here on campus. With my first group, the experiences I gained from bringing together the cultures of the Middle East, so the majority of us are all Arabic, but bringing them all together under one organization took a lot of community building. I feel like community building plays a huge aspect in my life today and I feel like I can use that to build it more and more.
Funding aside, what are some practical ways to help increase awareness about mental health?
There are services not all students know about. I feel like it’s important to have these services out there, to have booklets from the university to tell students what is available. Counseling may not be the strongest, but there are other routes provided by the university, so have a better push for services available to the students could be another way of dealing with mental health on campus.
What is your main running platform?
[I’ll be] expanding and promoting [mental health initiatives] to students, [working with community groups on a] reversal of line nine, which will be going through the Village, and Jane and Finch. Also, making sure students have input on what happens when the bus loop is closed— students should have a say with what happens with that space. [I will also be working on] the reduction of tuition fees, and although this isn’t a fight we are going to win in one year. This is something we should always be lobbying for because it seems a priority for other provinces. Why shouldn’t we make it ours?
What could have been done better?
It’s not really what could have done better, but really continue expanding on what I am doing now: reducing the enrolment deposit and continue on the hard work people before on the YFS have been doing before me.
What is your thoughts on a sexual assault policy?
It will be something definitely the YFS is working on but will it be me depends on whether I get voted in.
What is your opinion on the other members of your slate?
I can vouch for all of them. They are people who have been involved with campus since their first day. They walked in and have been putting in work to make the lives of 55,000 thousand students better. They have been putting on huge events on campus. There are safe spaces for students; they have stood up numerous types of injustice on campus and there are numerous individuals I know could work for the upcoming year based on the work they have done in the past.
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Gayle McFadden
Why did you decide to run for this position?
I guess it’s because we were able to do a lot of amazing things this year. What I liked is we didn’t work solo. I wasn’t just doing campaigns by myself, but we were working together. I also want to keep the ball rolling and keep the successes and winnings coming for students. I’d like to go with the momentum and keep it going. I’ve got so many big plans coming and I’m excited.
What is your main platform?
I’m really excited to expand upon what I was doing with campaigns: [reducing] tuition fees, pushing to implement the recommendation on the task force on campus food, different things like what we’ve had epic wins on. The enrolment deposit [reduction] was amazing.
We have a lot of interesting things coming up: the federal election, provincial election, and municipal election. So it’s going to be really fantastic to use student pressure to work towards being able to make education accessible and affordable, by making post-secondary education the most talked about issue in all three elections that will be coming up.
In second year, we had the Take It Over campaign; we were able to make post-secondary education one of the most talked about issues. We got two parties to promise a tuition fee freeze. The Liberals promised 30 per cent off tuition, what became the 30 off grant. It’s going to be exciting to really keep pressure up, to show students are engaged, and are voting. Hopefully we reduce tuition fees and make the situation better.
How would you improve from being this year’s VP Campaigns and Advocacy?
Well obviously when you do something the second time around you’re a lot more used to it. So at the start of my term I was doing a lot of learning. Now I know how to do the basics, I don’t have to spend time teaching myself things. For example with Pride, we’re already starting to get calls about bookings and things like that. Rather than finding all the contacts, I can use the contacts we’ve already obtained; it makes the process much faster.
When it comes to these issues do the students have a say on what you work on?
Absolutely! This year we’re working really hard on the add and drop deadlines because they’re kind of a problem at York. The reason it came to be is because I would get emails and Facebook messages, or people would tell us on the floor. Oftentimes, we use venues of contact and that’s why our phone numbers are everywhere: so that if a student has an issue they can contact us.
Whether it’s fear about academics, something that’s going on with a club, or it’s a concern they have with the institution as a whole, they can bring that reason to us. That’s one of the reasons why our phone numbers are everywhere. So you can see it is coming from students. I’m an expert of my experience, but I don’t know the problems of students X, Y, and Z. So its important that we’re taking input from students about what they want on this campus rather than what I just want.
Otherwise there will be strawberry and chocolate water fountains everywhere.
How would you bring attention to some of the issues?
I feel like a variety of methods is the best way to go. It’s like when you’re promoting anything or bringing attention to anything. Depending on what the issue is, the best method for example is a rally, lobbying, or creating a document. To get awareness out there are a lot of ways to get it out there: use posters, use Facebook, use social media. Word of mouth I feel is one of the most valuable things most people take for granted because it’s hard and you have to put in a lot of time on the floor. But I think that’s one of the biggest ways we’re able to make change on this campus is by talking to students and instead of just putting it on the website or not just putting up a post, but doing all of these things so students can have their input.
How will you set yourself apart from other contenders?
I want this for the reason that I want to help students and I want to make things better. What I’m offering and giving students is genuine and true. I can’t speak about how that’s different. In terms of what makes me special, my absolute devotion in spending countless hours in making education a priority, better food options, and making sure students have representation and a say.
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Mithilen Mathipalan
Why are you running?
Personally I love the student’s movement and I want to get involved and I think this is the best way to get involved.
What is your previous experience?
I am currently the director of liberal arts and professional studies, and the equity commissioner of the YFS.
How did you get involved in those positions?
I have always been involved with the YFS through elections and day of actions.
What makes you different from other candidates?
Well I don’t like to compare myself to other candidates, but I like what the student movement is about so I am ready to give it my all.
What do you hope to accomplish if elected?
My main [platform] is to expand equity forums on campus, so students can get more involved in social justice issues and forum equity issues like racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia — and I think this is one of the best ways to do it.
Also, creating a “know your rights” workshop on campus, so students at residences, international students, and [off campus] students know their rights as students so whether they are dealing with administration, security or just in general. They need to know their rights as students so they protect themselves and defend their rights.
Also, expand more equity forums and get students more involved with equitable issues and get them knowledgeable on issues so they can stand up against all forms of oppression.
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Julian Jasniewski
Why did you decide to run for VP Operations?
Working close with Hamoudi, who is the current VP of Operations, and seeing how he really likes his job and dealing with all the clubs. I really want to be the person that helps students in the university experience.
If I were to be elected as the VP Operations, I think I can really help a lot more students get involved by making sure that clubs get more funding in the coming year. I think we need to allocate a little bit more funding so clubs can run more events so more students can get involved in our vibrant community because there is a lot of potential for all of these clubs.
What is your main platform?
As the VP Operations, my role is to oversee the budget of YFS, basically you can allocate funds from other places, save some funds here, and reallocate them to another place. Sitting down with my fellow candidates, I want to make sure all needs are being met for all departments and making sure that all clubs are getting funding no matter how much more.
Anything will help the clubs because right now they’re getting a good amount of funding, but it can always be improved. A lot of the [Yorkfest budget] comes from sponsorship, so a big thing that we can do is get more sponsorship, which doesn’t cost us anything.
What do you think of transparency with the budget?
The budget is accessible to any member of the YFS so all undergraduate students at York University, if they want to see the budget, by all means come speak to us, send us an email. They just need to prove they are a York student. If you have the overall budget, you can come and sit down with us and ask us, “well what was this spent on?” We have nothing to hide. Whatever students want to see, they deserve to know where their money is going.
Why do you think you deserve students’ votes?
I worked very hard in my years here at York, whether it was being a frosh boss or joining the Polish Students Association and helping that club take off from the ground. Basically I’ve spent many years serving the York community and I would love nothing else than to give it my all, give it all the experience I do have and leave York with an amazing year next year. I feel that I am the right person to be chosen for the position. I know the budget, I’ve dealt with big budgets. I know what it takes to manage it and I can manage.
What will set you apart from the other candidates?
My experience, my drive to get things done. The team that we have, knowing what it takes, and knowing you have to go that extra mile to get things done, being able to work those 80 hours a week straight.
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Meghan Ducille
Why did you decide to run for VP Campus Life?
I’ve been a commuter and a resident student, I’ve been really involved in my college, and I was the president of Founders College a couple of years ago. This really opened my eyes to see the impact that events and programming has on students and how important it is for them to get involved. I’ve had the opportunity of working with so many student clubs in our offices and to see how hard they work. I think it’s really important for so many students to get involved with their campus.
What is your main platform?
I’d like to have a club rewards gala that applauds and shows the really hard work that students clubs do on campus. I think they deserve a really big pat on the back. [I’d also like to have] two free concerts: one in the fall semester, and one in the winter semester for those folks that enrol in January or missed out in the fall. I’d like to have more events that are accessible to all students and cater to what they want to do. Possibly a battle of the bands charity event, and an event where we can give back to the community around us. For Yorkfest, I would definitely like to collaborate more with York Lions and have more pep rallies and more collaboration with college councils.
When it comes to deciding these events, do students have a say?
Definitely, if I become elected I would want students to do that. I would only want to plan events that students want to attend and are interested in attending. There are so many different kinds of York students, there’s not just one. Everyone comes from a different background, so I think its really important that there’s a little bit of something for everyone.
How would you go about getting student feedback?
I haven’t thought about it too much. I think a great way is to have some sort of suggestion box or online poll to see what students are really interested in.
What sets you apart from the other candidates?
I definitely think my experience. This year I was the orientation chair for Founders student council and in the past I was the president for Founders College Student Council. A little bit before that, I was a Red Zone student ambassador. All those things combined is what really brought me here. They’ve allowed me to hone in my event planning skills, my communication skills, and to understand the student experience here at York.
