The slates hoping to run UTSU next year came to the Bahen Centre on Wednesday evening to take questions from students. Stronger Together, running with two incumbent execs, faced off against challengers from Change U of T, who have experience on college councils. Both sides had to answer to specific and pointed criticism about their candidates, often from supporters of the rival slate. Three executives from the Equity Studies Students’ Union, which has officially endorsed Stronger Together, read prepared statements during question period.

Over 76 U of T students attended in person, half of them sporting orange scarves to indicate their support for Change U of T. Ninety-nine students watched the debates live via streaming video.

Five executive positions are up for grabs. Each candidate was allotted time for an opening statement, followed by a question period with the audience and a two-minute final statement.

“Try to make the questions really relevant to the content [...] specifically, what the candidates are speaking about,” said debate moderator Dave Meslin, but multiple audience members strayed from these instructions and went on the offensive.

President

Steve Masse for Change U of T: “ I want you to imagine a union you can be proud of—one that provides easy-to-use, well-promoted services. One where equity is a way of life and not just a series of campaigns. Since my time here, I've seen the Drop Fees campaign bring out less and less people, and higher and higher tuition fees. [...] It's time for change.”

Adam Awad for Stronger Together: “I fought against flat fees, the cutting of disability studies and other interdisciplinary programs, the implementation of regressive university polices, and the continued erosion of provincial funding for post-secondary education.”

Awad, the current VP university affairs for UTSU, and Masse, president of the Woodsworth College Students' Association, took questions for over 40 minutes. The atmosphere became charged when current VP external Hadia Ahktar criticized Masse’s performance as an associate to president Sandy Hudson. “I was also part of the Towards 2030 campaign and the Drop Fees Campaign. I went to every single meeting […] I never once saw you,” Akhtar said to Masse.

“Lies!” shouted Gabe de Roche, a frequent commentator, over the audience. Change supporters demanded questions be “reality-based.”

“[Questions] do not need to be truthful,” said Meslin, adding that it was up to candidates to judge the truthfulness of the questions and reply accordingly.

Masse responded, “I met various members of the GSU in the basement numerous times [to work on the Towards 2030 opposition]. I met with members of the CFS from across the GTA in OISE to organize the Drop Fees campaign. I was also a marshal during that campaign.”

James Finlay, the Change candidate for VP external, disputed Awad’s contributions to the Student Commons project. Finlay recounted a conversation where Awad said he didn't know about the project and that Sandy Hudson was handling it. He added, “The biggest complaint [students] have had is that you haven't been in consultation with them. Adding people on Facebook is not a form of outreach. A couple of walk-bys and a little bit of token visits is not considered outreach,” Finlay said.

Awad replied that he had said the commons project was close to being finished and had referred details to the union's lawyers and the university's lawyers. He said he had tried to get out to as many students as possible, citing his heavy involvement in meetings.

ESSU exec Anisha Thomas questioned Masse's choice of candidates, accusing Finlay of denying the oppressive nature of using race as a costume (a reference to the blackface Halloween incident in first term) and Alyssa James of using ableist language in a Facebook post three years ago. Change supporters once again protested the question.

In response, Masse distanced Finlay's involvement in the blackface incident and defended James, stating that she had been very clear in her support for people from a wide variety of backgrounds and her dedication to equity.

Asked by The Varsity how they plan to encourage electoral involvement and represent opposing views if their slate wins, Awad said, “I do want to say one of the biggest challenges this year is the ability to send an e-mail out to all students. [...] Industry Canada says we should have access to our membership list.” He added that using the commission structure was an effective way of engaging students.

Masse said, “The union needs to set an expectation for itself. Connecting students with the union activities come from good leaders, and that is what we will do next year. ” He also emphasized the importance of working with those who disagree.

VP Equity

Alyssa James for Change U of T: Platform includes a body awareness campaign, making the Wheelchair Access Committee more effective, and an invisible disabilities campaign.

Danielle Sandhu for Stronger Together: Platform included lobbying for a human rights office, OHIP for international students, and anti-oppression training for professors, administrators, and student leaders.

ESSU president Isabel Lay said to James, “I'm just wondering, as a self-proclaimed advocate for equity at U of T how can you justify having had zero communication with [ESSU] and being completely silent and absent when the equity studies program was under direct threat of funding reductions?” James said that she had been involved with other equity groups and projects, especially at Woodsworth College. She said she did want to work with ESSU on equity projects.

Another audience member asked both candidates if excluding some members from equity events was counter-intuitive to the notion of equity.

Sandhu said that although UTSU organizes inclusive events for as many members as people as possible, “[there] is also a need to create a safe space for students, so that can mean having to exclude some members of the community to create a safe space for others.”

James disagreed and said that all equity events should include as many people as possible. “Yes, safe spaces are very important, but all students who may not look the part, fit the part. They need to be brought in and made advocates. Part of inclusivity is bringing in our allies,” she said.

Akhtar asked both candidates their position on bottled water. Sandhu had a refillable water bottle, while James had bottled water. Sandhu said she would like to ban bottled water on campus. James said the issue was important and would be dealt with in the Change slate’s sustainability platform.

VP External

James Finlay for Change U of T: “Drop Fees happens one time in a year and it should be happening every day of the year.” Platform consisted of OSAP reform for Ontario students, improving student job prospects, and reforming UHIP for international students.

Zexi Wang for Stronger Together: Proposed exchanging ideas with people who are not part of the university and focusing on projects like banning bottled water, advocacy for signing the President's Climate Initiative, and plans to hold a teach-in for climate justice.

An audience member asked Finlay for the actual concrete steps he would take toward jobs and OSAP reform. Finlay responded that he would make partnerships with local businesses and bring more job fairs to U of T. He said education and effective lobbying was needed for OSAP reform. Wang also answered, saying that needs-based grants were required to get students away from relying on OSAP.

Current UTSU president Sandy Hudson asked both candidates how they would improve on the Drop Fees campaign. Wang answered that the campaign should draw attention to the connection between student poverty and systemic discrimination, while Finlay said that more awareness was needed for the campaign, since student attendance was dwindling.

ESSU exec Anthony Foster accused Finlay of compromising the safety of Dawn Samuel, president of the Black Students' Association, during the blackface Halloween costume incident last year. Finlay said that people were asking who they should direct queries to, and that he pointed them to the Black Students' Association Facebook page to contact the president and other executives.

VP Internal

Mike Maher for Change U of T: Declared his “commitment to students, commitment to transparency, and commitment to clubs.” His platform included a student scholarship guide, a campus guide to food, and a clubs space guide.

Rolli Adenmosun for Stronger Together: Pledged to continue the work of the union and extending discounts to TTC tokens.

Gabe de Roche asked both candidates about the Elections Procedures Code. “Currently the incumbency rate over the past seven years at the UTSU is one hundred per cent. I've never heard of another democracy where that's the incumbency rate,” he said.

“So to clarify what that means to the audience, candidates who are running as incumbents are winning every time?” asked Meslin.

“Yes, they’re incapable of losing,” said de Roche, drawing laughter from the audience.

Amendosun did not respond to the question. Maher said reform of the EPC is a top priority, and that he found the rules “restrictive” and “draconian.”

Jasmyn Attfield asked if Maher's plan for a student scholarship guide was redundant, since the UTSU website already has one. Attfield is a Change supporter and running for an UTSU board of directors position, representing Woodsworth. Maher said he would make the guide more interactive, so that students could input their names and majors to receive info about all the scholarships they could apply for, including the amount they could receive. Maher then said that the scholarship guide had been uploaded only the night before. The Varsity has found that the scholarship guide was uploaded at 2:34 a.m. on March 10, the day of the debate.

VP University Affairs

Jimmy Lu for Change U of T: Vowed to “put the student back in student union,” develop a closer relationship with the administration based on mutual respect, and improve sustainability with the “pedestrianization” of St. George Street.

Maria Pilar Galvez for Stronger Together: Proposed eliminating flat fees, banning turnitin.com, and working for environmental sustainability.

Asked to define sustainability, Galvez said, “It is basically making sure you do not use excess resources [...] and making sure you do not make excess waste at the same time."

Lu replied, "The definition of sustainability is the ability to meet the current generation's needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their need."