Muskan Sethi is a third-year Chemical Engineering student running for Vice-President Professional Faculties.
Sethi listed her experience as a professional faculties student, saying that “I know what the gaps [are] and what our community needs overall,” adding that she served in various capacities in the U of T Engineering Society for the past three years. She is currently serving as the Alumni Outreach Director.
Sethi’s platform has two main facets, with the first being to support student societies. In the wake of the Student Choice Initiative, this commitment is aimed to ensure that student life is not affected.
The Student Choice Initiative is the provincial government’s mandate for an opt-out option for certain student fees starting September.
“As an engineer, we love to optimize,” said Sethi, who hopes to navigate possible cuts to funding by optimizing resources and fulfilling the goals of the UTSU, even with the cuts looming over the union’s future.
For her other platform point, Sethi would commit to improving mental health resources on campus, with the goal that “no student is left behind when it comes to mental health challenges and everyone has the resources that they deserve and they need.”
When asked about the current state of the union, Sethi believes that the UTSU has been working well with other student societies to lobby the provincial government. However, Sethi was critical of the UTSU’s slow action and lack of initiative on mental health, a problem that she believes has been a pressing issue at U of T for several years.
On the issue of improving outreach to students, Sethi plans to organize town halls and release surveys in order for students can better voice their concerns.
She also emphasized the importance of presenting a united front of students when lobbying university administration, especially when it comes to the recent issues with space allocation for the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design and its merger with the Faculty of Forestry.
Sethi hopes to work with student societies that are stakeholders in these issues to reach solutions that are beneficial for everyone.
— With files from Silas Le Blanc
