Jasleen Sekhon may not have a complete term to implement new projects but, as the new Vice President of Equity on SAC, she intends to make the most of the remaining academic year.
“The SAC VP of Equity should bring together the many equity events on campus [and assist with] finances and advice,” said Sekhon. She regards advocacy as an important part of the position and intends to help students express equity concerns to the university administration.
Sekhon plans to encourage more communication between the groups that receive SAC levies and SAC, connect equity organizations to diverse funding sources and establish the position of campus community gardening coordinator. Through all of these initiatives, she hopes to encourage student interest and involvement in equity issues on campus.
Campus-wide awareness of the principles of equity is a further concern for the new VP.
“Equity recognizes that there has been a historical exploitation of certain groups of people. We seek to address any form of marginalization.”
Sekhon’s desire to promote equity awareness is expressed through her memorandum initiative. This project will require each group that receives funding through SAC to submit a report to the council explaining its mandate and fund allocation.
These explanations will enable Sekhon to address inquiries about the various equity organizations on campus. Since SAC’s resources are derived from student levies, this initiative will make equity more accountable to the university population. “When people don’t know what’s happening with their money they tend to become frustrated,” she said.
Once this system of memorandums is in place, Sekhon intends to address the issue of funding for the various equity groups in campus.
“I often get money requests for periodicals” she said. “I want to get these groups together with potential donors and advertisers.” She hopes a committee will be put in place to address funding requests to ensure that SAC is not the sole source of support for campus equity groups.
The success of the campus equity garden-the plot of land in front of the SAC building where volunteers grow organic vegetables for the U of T food bank-has encouraged Sekhon to suggest that SAC should create a position for a campus gardening coordinator. The coordinator would attend to requests from students looking to set up their own equity gardens and “take care of tasks that our volunteers do not have time for.”
Sekhon hopes that all of these initiatives will encourage student participation in equity initiatives on campus. “I really hope that students will be more involved with the equity commission and I look forward to communicating [with equity groups] on campus.”
