Lwanga Musisi is a second-year PhD candidate in the Department of Social Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. He is running for University Governance Commissioner.
“Student leadership and policy are not foreign terrain to me,” wrote Musisi. He pointed to his experience in student caucuses and other forums for helping him develop the skills necessary for the position, including networking, lobbying, and negotiation.
When asked why he is running for a position on the UTGSU Executive Committee, Musisi wrote, “I strongly believe that every great institution requires a selfless individual with the qualities, principles, ability and dedication to successfully move things for the benefit of the larger graduate student body without the expectations of immediate self-gratification.”
Musisi applauded the UTGSU for keeping its membership updated on key issues, including lobbying of the provincial and federal governments and scholarship opportunities. He believes some areas that require further development are funding opportunities for conferences and research, discussions of mental health services and accessibility, and increasing governance transparency to members.
Musisi would seek to lobby the university on issues including secure funding, mental health services, better integration of international graduate students into the U of T community, and affordable graduate student accomodations.
When asked whether he plans to lobby the Ford government in response to the recent changes in postsecondary educational funding, Musisi answered, “The student body at large has ideas on how this could be effected. So first and foremost, I will consult the student body for ideas of the best way to go about it.”
