There are four slates and three independent candidates running in this year’s UTMSU executive election—a highly unusual amount of competition. We present the candidates and their platforms. Click on any tab to expand it.
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President | Jason Selvanayagam
- Focus on mental health awareness and assistance
- Work with the elected VP internal to update the UTMSU budget on the union’s website
- Make the union’s website more accessible to students
- Hold town hall meetings and referenda to hear student voices
- Add labels promoting recycling across the campus and use social media to reduce paper waste used for advertisements
- Lobby for a secondary U-Pass to be used for cities such as Brampton and establish short-term reimbursements for students who do not use the U-Pass
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VP internal & services | Tamam Khalaf
- Increase club funding
- Advertise events and jobs on campus better
- Ensure all UTMSU staff have SafeTalk training
- Lobby to increase shuttle bus efficiency
- Install a heated bus shelter near Deerfield Hall
- Create clubs to represent student interests
- Increase printing and mental health services
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VP university affairs & academics | Ryan Persaud
- Work with professors to provide more networking opportunities to help guide students
- Work to inform students how not to commit an academic offence
- Advertise academic resources to help students
- Connect with students and meet with administration to work towards eradicating the exam deferral fee in the long run
- Increase student rights awareness by placing posters around campus
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VP external | Emerson Calcada
- Expand multi-faith space by using extra unused space in the Student Centre
- Provide a relaxation room for students
- Create a sense of activism on campus
- Communicate with the part-time student coordinator and with Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students to keep abreast with part-time student issues
- Hold a referendum to determine consent for increasing student levy on the U-Pass
- Speak to each individual transit system so that the U-Pass can be used in neighbouring cities in the long-term
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VP equity | Priyanka Sahajpal
- Lobby to provide extended hours at the RAWC for women-only sessions and people with accessibility concerns
- Lobby for all-gender bathrooms in each building on campus
- Introduce an Indigenous representative on the UTMSU board of directors
- Lobby to introduce an LGBTQ counsellor at the UTM Health and Counselling Centre
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President | Genny Lawen
- Talk about mental illness and support
- Improve food services
- Explore making the farmer’s market more permanent and expanding the UTM garden
- Ensure there are enough recycling bins around each building
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VP internal & services | Adil Isaac Abrahim
- Expand the products UTMSU offers and increase efficiency
- Advertise student resources and fight for more resources
- Create an efficient way to print flyers and increase student discounts for businesses around the campus
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VP university affairs & academics | Abdulla Omari
- Lobbying administration for grade forgiveness in first-year, entry level courses that are not program requirements
- Work towards mental health support within departments, 24/7 program and academic support for students
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VP external | Amanee Nassereddine
- Bring awareness to the culturally diverse UTM community
- Bring more refugee students to UTM
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VP equity | Falhad Mouhamoud
- Work towards a safer environment on campus for all students
- Make Spiegel Hall a Multi-Faith space
- Increase resources for students who experience sexual violence
- Work with the LGBTQ coordinator to make UTMSU more trans-inclusive.
- Educate individuals on anti-blackness
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President | Ridwan Olow
- Invite students to board meetings to create a more transparent UTMSU budget and hire additional minute-takers for board meetings
- Establish a UTMSU scholarship fund
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VP internal & services | Hoda Khan
- Lobby to implement a universal bus pass across neighbouring cities
- Promote mental and physical health on campus
- Increase the number of charging and printing stations available on campus
- Increase student jobs on campus and include a transparent hiring process
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VP university affairs & academics | Menna Elnaka
- Establish a union-funded tutoring service that will help with writing, science, and math
- Work towards strengthening the relationship between the administration and students
- Work towards extending the deadline for credit/no credit designation
- Petition to have grade forgiveness and the drop credit implemented
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VP external | Kamal Ali
- Lobby the administration and use the budget to create healthcare bursaries to increase health care for international students
- Bring more refugee students to UTM
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VP equity | Farishta Amanullah
- Increase mental health awareness and resources, destigmatize the LGBTQ community
- Hire additional secretaries to take minutes at UTMSU meetings
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President | Nour Alideeb
- More transparency in UTMSU’s budget.
- More cultural holidays and a breakfast club, targeted in getting all students involved especially part-time students.
- Lobby to reduce parking rates for students who choose to carpool
- Provide reusable materials, such as plastic cups and plates for club events
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VP internal & services | Jackie Zhao
- Establish a GTA U-Pass
- Find more a affordable way to host events on campus
- A greater allocation of money for centre campus groups, like the women’s centre
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VP university affairs & academics | Vanessa Demello
- Work to reform academic policies, including the $70 exam deferral fee, by lobbying admin
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VP external | Marise Hopkins
- Lobby to extend OHIP to all international students
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VP equity | Maleeha Baig
- Lobby for additional multi-faith spaces on campus
- Provide free female hygiene products
- Work towards creating a trans-space on campus
- Cut UTMSU associate positions to reduce overlapping UTMSU duties and make UTMSU more efficient
- Remain neutral on official positions on political issues such as abortion
- Mend the student and administration relationship
- Simplify the UTMSU budget
- Openness towards the opinions of both the administration and the students
- Increase transparency for the UTMSU budget, by “push[ing] the VP internal to do their job”
- Add WiFi services on shuttle buses and increase bus availability during prime commuting hours
- Cut executive positions from UTMSU and create more coordinator positions for students
- Establish a social media coordinator to bring awareness to students about UTMSU positions and event promotions
- Improve UTM’s food options and start working towards the long-term goal of bringing more food establishments to UTM
- Bring Drake and Future to UTM to perform
- Launch a pilot program to aid students in finding off-campus housing by having UTMSU hire real estate agents to help students find homes close to school
- Use public address systems to announce job opportunities to increase student involvement
- Expand the current UTMSU breakfast program to the Davis Building
