Rafay Malik — a third-year student specializing in political science — is the only candidate running to be the 2024–2025 Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) vice-president, campus life. The position is responsible for recommending, scheduling, advertising, and coordinating all of the SCSU’s events, along with processing clubs’ requests for funding and representing the union on UTSC committees related to residence, food, and licensing.

A part of the IMPACT UTSC slate, Malik has been involved in a number of clubs at UTSC, including the Pakistani Students’ Association and the Muslim Students’ Association. Malik has also served as an emcee for the SCSU’s Frosh.

In an interview with The Varsity, Malik emphasized a few of his campaign focuses. 

First, he plans to organize a start-up fund for clubs to streamline the process of creating a club on campus. He hopes that students who submit a request to start a club can be immediately accepted, receiving money from the fund to cover their start-up costs. 

Second, Malik hopes to improve collaboration between the SCSU and the Office of Student Experience & Wellbeing, which oversees multiple departments, including AccessAbility Services; the Academic Advising & Career Centre; the International Student Centre; and Student Housing and Residence Life. In particular, he wants to improve transparency and communication between the two organizations and introduce regular meetings between staff members to plan events ahead of time.

Finally, he’s planning to “bring back the Toronto Raptors subsidized sports games” and organize a beginning-of-the-year concert that would be free for students to attend.

If elected, Malik hopes to see the new SCSU executive team be “much more involved and incorporated into the actual student body” so students can recognize and approach them.