Graduate Constituency I—Humanities and Social Sciences: 4 candidates, 1 seat
Olivier Sorin, the incumbent candidate, said that one of his accomplishments was improving communication between students and admin by setting up regular meetings with deans and vice-deans. His goals for next year are to increase support for first-time TAs. Sorin said he was putting the finishing touches on a proposal with fellow governor Greg West to provide funding for sixth- and seventh-year grad students, and that the lack of funding beyond the fifth year contributed to attrition rates.
Grace Karram Stephenson, one of the challengers, is a Master’s student in the higher education program at OISE. She said she turned down endorsements from student groups because she wanted to be judged on her merits. Karram Stephenson cited experience working in university administration at Eastern University in Pennsylvania and that she studies university governance in her program. She said she wanted to sit on the Academic Board and work with the School of Graduate Studies to make facilities like OISE’s Centre for Research Design and Analysis accessible to students in other departments.
Part-Time Undergraduate Students: 3 candidates, 2 seats
Jeff Peters, APUS president and former governor, is challenging incumbents Joeita Gupta and Ken Davy. Peters, who is a reliable guest presence at nearly all GC meetings, has a speech impediment. He was recently denied speaking requests by GC and asked to submit his statements in writing. “I believe the issues facing today’s student are perennial, and I have been a good steward in advancing these by carrying on the work of previous colleagues,” wrote Peters in an email. Asked about his relationship with other GC members, Peters said his role would be to do what is best for students and not to make friends. “My ability to influence the other members of the GC is sometimes hampered by my radical views,” he conceded. “However, I try and change the direction of GC to be more student-focused.”
Davy has been a governor for three years. He said he was in the process of completing a proposal to extend financial aid to part-time students, which he plans to submit to the provost by June.
Gupta echoed many of Peters’ priorities. She also has a tense relationship with Jack Petch, the GC chair. She said how well a candidate got along with other members should not necessarily be a consideration for voters. Asked how she felt about criticisms that her governing style was too confrontational, she said, “It’s not because I’m belligerent. It’s because Governing Council is a space that is so intolerant of any kind of dissenting view [it] is automatically dealt with in the harshest way possible.”
Graduate Constituency II—Physical Sciences and Life Sciences: 2 candidates, 1 seat
Incumbent Greg West, whose victory last year came as voter turnout nearly doubled, said he would continue his efforts to get Governing Council to host open town halls in order to deal with some of the tension at recent meetings. “I think what the Governing Council needs to do is open up the doors a little bit and let in the community members and let them speak,” he said. “I think it’s clear at all the Governing Council meetings that you can feel the frustration in the room from people not being able to participate in a way that they want to.”
Challenger Sepehr Ehsani is a PhD student working on neurodegenerative diseases. Asked about his priorities, Ehsani said that he will act according to constituents’ wishes and that as a governor he would not have the right to act on his own initiative.
