Carly Sahagian is a fourth-year student studying Molecular Biology, Immunology & Disease, and Women’s and Gender Studies, who is running on the SCSYou slate for Vice-President Academics & University Affairs.
Since she first came to Canada after transferring from the University of Aleppo in Syria, Sahagian has worked at the UTSC registrar’s office in the admissions and recruitment department for two years, and currently represents full-time undergraduates on the Campus Affairs Committee of the UTSC Campus Council.
“As a leader on campus and being very heavily involved, I wanted to run in the union because the union can actually do more than that,” said Sahagian.
Sahagian wants to work toward making UTSC fees, including those related to exam deferral and rereads, more accessible. Citing free exam rereads at the Faculty of Arts & Science at UTSG, Sahagian doesn’t see any obstacles to establishing the same process at UTSC.
Her other campaign points include web options for 8:00 am classes, expanding the Self-Declaration of Illness form from the Department of Psychology to other departments, creating a course retake policy for UTSC, and establishing a system for students to write deferred exams in the same exam period.
Union transparency is also a concern for Sahagian, who believes that, without term limits, certain groups can run continuously and discourage others from running.
Sahagian hopes to use data and statistics from the admissions office to aid in discussion and lobbying for expanding residences for UTSC students, but also wants to look at alternatives, like townhouses, to expand residence accommodation options.
Editor’s Note (February 6, 12:30pm): This article has been updated to correct that Sahagian went to the University of Aleppo.
