MICHAEL ANDREAE
Michael Andreae is making no promises.
“Someone told me I was almost doing the students a disservice by not making any promises,” said Andreae yesterday afternoon.
“But I don’t think that’s true. I’m going to get results, but I’m not going to throw around a lot of lies that my opponents are throwing around. I’ll say I have the experience, the confidence, the speaking abilities.”
Andreae says this is the crucial difference between him and the other candidates running for president of the Students’ Administrative Council (SAC).
“I have student political experience, although I don’t think that’s a requirement for the job,” he added.
“I’m going to try to cut costs, work with governments to get their help—I think we can all see that protests don’t work—talking things through works, working with the admin works.”
So while he doesn’t have any promises to make, Andreae says he’s the person to head SAC, based on his leadership abilities.
“The way to save SAC is to put someone in charge who can lead teams,” he said. “One of the best features of my background is that I’ve taught leadership,” referring to his position at a leadership camp for immigrant students last summer.
His other strength, he says, is networking: “I know people like John Manley, Pierre Pettigrew, I used to know Mike Harris’ secretary. The most important part is that while I have connections, I’m meeting new people all the time. I know how to connect with people, and make new connections.”
Andreae says just getting people to vote in student elections is his hardest task.
“That’s nine-tenths of the job,” he laughs. “Voter apathy stems from a lack of initiative by SAC. Nobody cares. Despite the fact that people pay their $20 to SAC, they don’t log on to ROSI.”
Though he blames this year’s SAC administration for much of the voter apathy he’s encountering, he also says current SAC president Rocco Kusi-Achampong’s work should be recognized.
“I don’t think Rocco gets enough credit. I’m not in a position to make a judgment on that party,” he said, referring to a SAC Christmas party which has embroiled Kusi-Achampong in controversy, “and I don’t think anyone does. He made good on his campaign promises, and did what he said he would do.”
Andreae was sanguine about the other controversial issue of the election, the recent Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) referendum review by Student Affairs. “There’s no answer on the CFS,” he said. “Everyone is confused about what the CFS is, and everyone’s viewpoint is wrong.”
He said he believes the CFS could be a powerful voice for students, but “what they do now is weak and meaningless.”
He said he disagrees with the CFS’s methods, not their philosophy.
“I’d say, ‘look guys, you’re doing yourself a discredit, not because of what you believe, but the way you espouse it.”
Asked whether he thinks he’s going to win the election, he only said, “I feel optimistic about my abilities, but my chances are left up to the voters.”
—by Graham F. Scott
PAUL BRETSCHER
Paul Bretscher says community is the key to a successful Students’ Administrative Council (SAC). During his campaign for SAC president, Bretscher said he’s seen this lack of community across all three campuses.
Bretscher said SAC has to be more open to student input. “I thought this year’s upper executive at SAC were not accountable to students.” In particular, the second-year political science and economics student said, the Kusi-Achampong administration “used the funds of SAC for their own pleasures,” citing the SAC 101st-anniversary black-tie dinner and the Christmastime party at the Guvernment nightclub.
Bretscher said this year’s SAC did do a good job on clubs, battling suburban alienation and promoting campus building accessibility for disabled students.
“I wish what we had at UC and the larger community could be re-created across the tri-campus area,” he said, adding that he sits on UC college council subcommittees and has spent much of the past year attending SAC board meetings and Governing Council proceedings to learn more about how U of T functions.
If elected president, Bretscher said his “Students United” ticket would push for “a good quality education.” He said he was dismayed by the proposed tuition increases currently working their way through the Governing Council, and added he is worried about the dramatic increases in law school tuition.
Students are carrying “cereal in ziplock bags just to have something to eat” because of higher tuition. But if he is elected, Bretscher said the upcoming provincial election will be an opportunity for advocacy around tuition and student loan reform. He said his platform will try to help financially-strapped tuition by stepping up the distribution of Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) ISIC cards, and will hold free income-tax clinics for students. “We want to see a realization on the promised TTC discount,” Bretscher added.
The Students United platform also calls for switching SAC’s health and dental plan from the current provider to a not-for-profit company.
Bretscher said more money would be spend on clubs if he became SAC president, through “re-allocation of resources” away from parties. He said he would make SAC “a web portal for student information and clubs” and allow student groups to use SAC’s in-house graphic designer. Also on offer is a move “away from a corporate frosh week,” fewer barriers to students in wheelchairs, and more co-operation with other campus student organizations like college councils, he added.
When asked about the administration’s overturning of last November’s CFS referendum, Bretscher said he “respects the autonomy of our Students’ Administrative Council” but thinks the admin’s actions are out of line. “I find it very dubious that the U of T administration would withhold funds from the only association that is effectively lobbying for a tuition freeze, while our administration is lobbying for the deregulation of Arts and Sciences” tuition.
“The issue is still up in the air,” Bretscher said, adding “U of T students will be members of CFS next year.”
Bretscher said he is running with a team of “exceptional, well-experienced students,” including current SAC external commissioner Alexandra Artful-Dodger, SAC university affairs commissioner Mohammed Hashim, and Julia Munk. If elected, he said his running-mates would seek to improve on what he called “SAC’s very strong working relationship” with MPs and MPPs. “Ideally, I would like to be able to bring in different members of the provincial parliament” to discuss education issues, he added, citing his experience working with a Liberal MP as a learning experience in politics: “I was not happy with their post-secondary platform, and therefore, I left.”
“A tuition freeze or decrease is attainable if [students] mobilize and effect change,” Bretscher said, adding that his ticket would provide “a unified voice to SAC.
“The other candidates lack a strong group of dedicated individuals” and “will not be accountable,” he said.
MARK FREEMAN
Mark Freeman came to U of T determined not to get sucked back into student politics, something he did a lot of in high school.
He failed so badly in high school politics that now he’s running to be president of the Students’ Administrative Council (SAC). But he intends to be a successful candidate.
“My background, politically, is in community development,” said Freeman yesterday afternoon in an interview with The Varsity. “I’ve been politically active at the university, but not at SAC. They seemed to be about talk and not action.”
He cited two episodes which he said prove he takes action when it’s needed. First, he was involved in a project two years ago which created a co-ed residence floor at gender-segregated Trinity College. Second, when the student bodies of Trinity and University College were feuding over some stolen property, Freeman went to UC’s dean and got the stolen object—a much beloved hat—back right away. “It was the simple option, to just do something,” he said.
And he wants to do more. Freeman’s platform includes plans for solar cells to power the SAC offices, roof gardens around campus, a human rights code specifically for U of T students, and increased autonomy for the suburban campuses in Scarborough and Mississauga.
“We don’t have our heads in the clouds,” he said. “A lot of things on our platform are about giving more power where the people are. The smaller groups know how to hold events and spend money better.” He believes SAC has been neglecting the satellite campuses and student groups, hoarding the decision-making power for itself.
He knows his plan to diffuse SAC’s power as a way to make it relevant sounds like a paradox. But, he said, “you have to give them [the campus groups and societies] more autonomy to keep them within the community. U of T has so many resources, and we could do so much, but SAC is neglecting the students. You’re giving them your money, and there’s not much coming back.”
He wants a human rights code for students because “there’s not an affirmative code saying what the university stands for.” The student Code of Conduct, he said, doesn’t cut it. “There’s not that statement that says, ‘This is what we believe in, this is what we’re all about.’ It’ll be a big step for the administration.”
And on the hot-button issue of the moment—the disputed CFS referendum—Freeman said, “if we’re stuck with them [the CFS], they’re going to work for their $13.” He said he’d like to see a student-run review of the election, instead an official review by Student Affairs.
On the performance of this year’s SAC president, Rocco Kusi-Achampong, Freeman said the president had done “an interesting job.
“Rocco’s a very charismatic guy, and I think he could have done a lot of great things.” However, he added the recent scandal over a SAC Christmas party which Kusi-Achampong has been embroiled in has to be acknowledged. “I think it’s unfortunate that this is the note he’s going to leave on.”
Freeman recognizes he wasn’t a front-runner going into the race a few weeks ago, but he’s optimistic about his chances.
“We came into this as the big underdogs,” he said, “but after the forum last Friday, things changed a lot.” He said people are responding because he’s not a die-hard student politician: “I don’t think students should suffer because someone wants to pad their resume. I don’t think they have the students in mind.”
“Students are upset with SAC. They’re not going to put up with more student politicians. We think they’re mad enough to start a revolution.”
—by Graham F. Scott
ASHLEY MORTON
Ashley Morton said he’s learned a lot at U of T as an engineering student. But he also said he’s learned a lot outside of class: learning to deal with defeat. The fifth-year native of Bella Coola, BC was removed as president of the Engineering Society when a course change switched his status from full, to part-time.
“It was hell,” Morton said, sitting in a Spadina Ave. café. “I stepped into a pub and called my girlfriend” when he learned of his dismissal. “I didn’t realize it made me part-time, and hence ineligible,” he added.
Morton hopes to make up for this loss by running for the Students’ Administrative Council presidency. “I’m willing to commit a lot of time to this thing,” he said. Morton is running as part of the “Student Potential” ticket along with Kevin Keane, Faran Umar-Khitab, and Mike Foderick.
If he gets U of T’s top undergraduate job, Morton said he will push for student-centred changes to SAC. He wants to start up more food service in the engineering buildings, so students can have a wider variety of on-campus eating options, especially when studying late at night.
Morton is also pushing for reforms to U of T’s health plan, including an opt-in eye-care and drug plan. “Glasses, pharmaceuticals…. You take or leave the basic plan,” he said.
His ticket also plans to try to get students their health plan opt-out cheques sooner—a change brought about by the administration’s changes to the registration system. “We know that you are a full-time student in the fall.”
Morton said he is not ignoring students at the suburban campuses, including a more flexible parking pass for the Mississauga campus that would let students pay on a per-day basis. “SAC’s going to have a lot of money,” he said, adding that he would consider getting SAC to chip in to upgrade parking technology to implement his plan. “There are a lot of ideas that I’d be willing to provide first-year capital.” Morton added he would like to lobby the city of Mississauga for a bus link between Square One Mall, a major transit hub, and UTM. For the Scarborough campus, Morton said he wants to re-instate bus service from St. George to UTSC.
As part of his plan to increase accountability at SAC, Morton said he would try to allow ROSI opt-outs of student fees for some campus clubs and organizations—a move that might put groups like the Solar Car and the Ontario Public Interest Research Group, which depend on refundable fees, at a loss. “If the idea [creates] a significant drop” in funding, Morton said he would fund affected organizations in the interim.
On the issue of tuition, Morton said he was “not even sure I want a tuition freeze, if there’s no guaranteed funding” for universities from the government. He said he was wary of BC, where “when the tuition freeze came into place, it starved universities.” But he added he would push the Ontario Liberals and NDP to “stick to their promise” of a fees freeze or rollback. Morton said he would also push for reforms to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) and the University of Toronto Advance Planning for Students (UTAPS) funds, and would fight against deregulation of Arts and Sciences degrees. He noted the Queen’s student government was successful in challenging deregulation without outside help, and he said he would like to emulate their success: “We will learn from those successful lobby campaigns.”
Another setback Morton learned from was the failed Varsity Centre referendum. Morton was a paid member of the committee that was trying to get the new sports facility approved. “Our campaign wasn’t student-driven enough,” Morton said, mulling over the project’s defeat. If he was head of SAC, Morton said, he would encourage a “get-shit-done atmosphere.”
Morton said “Students United” are not consensus-builders, adding “I know what I’m talking about with student issues.”
On the issue of the Canadian Federation of Students, Morton said he was part of the “No” campaign during the referendum last November, which was thrown out by the administration for being undemocratic. But he said if the lobby group were to force another referendum, “I would stand where the SAC Board of Directors told me to stand.”
—by Ian Ferguson
JUSTIN KIM
If you’re looking for a discounted cell phone plan, check out Student Administrative Council (SAC) presidential candidate Justin Kim’s Web site.
“What does every student need in this ever-advancing technical world?” the site asks. “An improved and easy way of communicating.”
“There are alternative ways to save students’ money,” said Kim.
The Web site, found at doucare.net, outlines Kim’s variety of presidential plans including a special discounted cell phone plan for students, a new student centre, a new user-friendly SAC Web site, a Students Club magazine and a multicultural conference for SAC’s clubs.
But Kim’s number one priority is diversity.
“I want to contribute to bringing multiculturalism to this school,” said Kim. “I can deal with different people from different backgrounds. I can let people bring out, enjoy and accept other people’s cultures.”
Kim, a commerce student, volunteered in Korea for the World Cup festivities in the summer of 2002. Inspired by the excitement of many different nations coming together to bond over a single event, Kim felt the same momentum was possible on the Uof T campus and vowed to help it happen. He has participated in various student organizations, including a position as the external vice-president of the U of T Korean Student Association. He also started his own student group called the Trinity College Korean-Canadian Association.
“Because of the harsh academic nature of this school, people sit in their rooms and don’t get involved in extracurricular activities,” said Kim. By creating a Students Club magazine twice per semester, communication can be increased so the student body can see what other groups are doing and get more involved.
Kim also plans to organize a multicultural conference for SAC’s range of clubs.
“I really think this needs to be done,” said Kim. The conference will discuss issues such as racism, sexism and anti-Semitism in order to share cultural information and create a more multicultural environment.
“I want to find the true meaning of diversity,” said Kim. “I will do my best to bring this out.”
Other ideas involve more office space for student clubs, a SAC scholarship fund for most-improved students, a SAC club carnival during frosh week and a university-wide talent show.
Kim claims one of the biggest issues facing students today is tuition. “People don’t want to spend that much money,” he said. “U of T has a lot of people, but we need to get all universities together. Let people know that we’re out there. It will happen if we do our best.”
“People don’t know about the existence of SAC,” said Kim. “We’ve got to get people more involved. There’s so much potential for diversity.”
—by Vanessa Fischer
Photographs by Simon Turnbull
