Members of both Team Unite and U of T Voice participated in the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) executive forum on Thursday, March 6, as part of the ongoing spring elections camping.
Former independent candidate Luis Moreno endorsed Team Unite at Thursday’s forum. TINA ZHOU/THE VARSITY
The most surprising development of the forum was Luis Moreno announcing that he was ending his candidacy for VP External. Moreno, previously the only independent executive candidate in the election, cited the potential for vote-splitting should he continue his candidacy, and his agreement with Team Unite’s platform. He then endorsed Team Unite in general and urged students to vote his previous opponent, Nicky Bhatty, for the position of VP external. “I believe in equal opportunity, I believe in fairness, unity, and most importantly, honesty. I am ending my candidacy because I share Team Unite’s vision of commitment to improve relationships with colleges and divisional student bodies, which have been strained over the past years. I am confident that Team Unite is ready to bring change to the Union” said Moreno.
After the debate, Bhatty thanked Moreno for his endorsement. “For Luis to run as an independent, that’s definitely commendable. I’m gracious that he was willing to support us.”
The forum was largely subdued, with candidates delivering their planned opening and closing remarks, followed by responses to questions fielded from students. Yolen Bollo-Kamara, current UTSU VP equity, and presidential candidate for Voice, highlighted her previous achievements with the union, including changing the structure of flat fees, and listed her goals for next year, which included eliminating some ancillary fees and regulating fees for professional faculties and international students next year.Team Unite’s presidential candidate Ye Huang outline his slate’s desire to “change UTSU into a better organization for students” by advocating for transparency and increasing funding for clubs.
Questions for the presidential candidates ranged from working to eliminate rape culture on campus, to improving accessibility, and the ongoing Student Societies Summit — in which Bollo-Kamara participated as a UTSU representative. When asked about her participation in the summit, particularly questions about her knowledgeablity raised in a letter from Innis College Student Society (ICSS) executives, Bollo-Kamara responded that she could not speak to ICSS president Mary Stefanidis’ intentions, but explained her take on the summit.
“The Student Societies’ Summit was good to have a discussion with all the various college and faculty councils, but I think it was problematic in a number of different instances, in that it excluded a lot of members of our community from the discussion, for example the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students was not there…all of our clubs and levy groups were not there as well,” she said.
Huang also responded to the summit questions, addressing the absence of current UTSU president, Munib Sajjad, from the summit. “As a president, I know Munib is very busy. But I can say, if elected, I will go to Student Societies Summit meetings. I will be there,” he said.
Bhatty and Grayce Slobodian, Voice’s VP external candidate, both articulated similar points on having a tri-campus bus services and increasing lobbying efforts to the government to address unpaid internships. When asked by Zack Medow, VP external of the Victoria University Students’ Administrative Council (VUSAC), how they would repair relations with dissatisfied student societies, both candidates stuck to their respective platforms of collaborating with society heads and listening to the concerns of individual members. Meadow then responded, “With due respect to what’s been said, we’ve been meeting a lot this year. We’ve had a summit, I don’t know if you’ve heard of it. So we know what the grievances are, and I’d like you to address them specifically.”
The VP equity candidates addressed mental health awareness, Governing Council’s recent decision to merge the Transitional Year Programme (TYP) with Woodsworth College, and controversial men’s rights groups’ events on campus. Both candidates support TYP, with Voice candidate Najiba Ali Sardar calling for increased rallying and Unite’s Balaqis Hashiru stressing the importance of lobbying the administration.
On men’s rights, Sardar and Hashiru had different views. Sardar said, “I don’t think we’re understanding sexism here. Reverse sexism doesn’t exist…I would like to address the fact that it is a power struggle, which is why the Men’s Rights Advocacy wasn’t supported.” Hashiru, on the other hand, condemned some of the activities the MRA has, but argued that, “they can host events as long as those events are inclusive of everyone on campus.”
Both candidates for VP university affairs largely stuck to their talking points. Voice’s Zijian Yang, who recently was awarded three demerit points for a printing error on posters, joked about his commitment to the “elimination of winter.” This was a truncated version of his real platform point, working to eliminate winter residence fees, which he discussed along with Yang advocating for a drop credit policy. Team Unite’s Pierre Harfouche pledged to restart the process for the university’s now stalled Student Commons and to change the policy on deferred exams.
Yang touted his relative lack of experience in student politics as an asset, arguing that as an outsider he better understands the issues. Harfouche, who has been a figure in student politics for years, and is currently running for president of the Engineering Society — the result of which will be announced later today — highlighted his experience with finances, advocacy, and management of student groups as an asset.
Finally, VP internal and services candidates largely answered questions regarding UTSU transparency, and finances. Incumbent VP internal Cameron Wathey, who is running for reelection with U of T Voice, highlighted his accomplishments throughout this year, from an updated UTSU website launched last month, to hosting a larger homecoming, and a policy town hall. Next year, he wants to rally for action on international student fees and change the structure of the UTSU Board of Directors, although he declined to offer any specifics on how he would accomplish either. Team Unite candidate Anna Yin stuck to her talking points, speaking about a desire to increase accountability at the UTSU. Yin pledged to release monthly financial reports online and reduce UTSU executive salaries by fifteen percent.
After the debate Nishi Kumar, current president of the University College Literary and Athletic Society said she was impressed by both groups and pleasantly surprised by the quality of debate overall: “I think it will be an interesting race as they clearly have two very distinct platforms which is refreshing to see in student politics.” Voting for the UTSU Election runs from Tuesday, March 11 to Thursday, March 13 across campus and online.
