Gweon’s campaign focuses on holding the UTSU and its executives accountable. “Campaign promises sometimes are not met when [executives are] elected,” he explained. “My job as president [would be to] make sure everybody’s promises are kept [and] help them accomplish these promises.”

In addition, he emphasized the importance of balancing long-term goals with short-term gains. 

Noting the failed 2017–2018 UTSU referendum to increase student fees to fund a U-Pass and the continued lack of a U-Pass at UTSG, Gweon explained that a short-term approach, such as partially reimbursing TTC passes like the WCSA, would benefit students more immediately.

He remarked, “[The referendum] goes to show that raising fees isn’t always the answer to a problem we have… We have to approach [it] in another way.”

When asked about what aspects of the UTSU he’d like to improve, Gweon emphasized a need for more transparency, pointing out that students had mixed reactions to the current union’s Annual General Meeting and were confused about where expenses were allocated. 

Additionally, he feels the UTSU needs more engaging events. “Student engagement can be step number one for better governance,” he said.

The main focus of her campaign is on improving communication — both enhancing the flow of information from the UTSU to the student body as well as providing clubs, organizations, and individual students with more access to the union. 

She plans to have bi-weekly office hours with students and learn more about the issues that they want the union to address. Vevecka also wants the student body to become more aware of the student programs offered by the union. “I think one thing that I want to improve is having more visibility [and] recognition for people to take advantage of the great things [the UTSU] has to offer.” 

The other campaign goals Vevecka is focusing on include creating a comprehensive system for students to get involved in clubs, establishing a TTC subsidy program for commuter students, and introducing a retroactive Credit/No Credit (CR/NCR) option. 

Her aim with the last program is to allow students to explore various options with their degree before committing to a specific program of study. “I do think that people grow up. They find new passions, and they [discover] new interests — what you did in first-year doesn’t necessarily serve you in your fourth- [year].”

Among her achievements over the past three years, Shechtman mentioned the launch of MyUTSU — a platform for student groups to manage activities, book spaces, and secure funding. She also mentioned how she increased awareness about Empower Me — a program that offers students in-person mental health services.

Shechtman’s campaign focuses include building a café at the Student Commons, where “student employment is very much happening.” She also hopes to fill all 50 seats on the UTSU’s Student Senate — the union’s governance organ that advises the Board of Directors. Finally, she aims to make the union’s food bank available five days a week for students, instead of only on Fridays, so students can “just come in [and] pick up things as they go, without having to sign up for anything.”

Shechtman added that throughout her time as the VP Finance and Operations, the union has kept their levy increases minimal. However, she stated that the union — and herself, if re-elected — hope to raise the orientation levy “to host bigger events.”

Additionally, she is the youth representative for the United Nations and the vice-president of the Turkish Student Association.

Yenilmez’s campaign focuses on transparency, as she wants to ensure that students know how the union uses their student levy. She plans to use her skills in computer science to build an artificial intelligence website that would ensure easy access to the UTSU’s financial information. The UTSU currently has a website where they upload budget documents, but it has not been updated since August 2024. She also mentioned that the platform would reduce the UTSU’s operational costs, allowing funds to be spent on student needs.

For Yenilmez, figuring out where to allocate funds requires constant communication with students. She mentioned having office hours for students to voice concerns, such as about where the UTSU budget should be spent. 

Yenilmez believes that previous VPs have ignored students’ needs while not being transparent about their financial operations — something she hopes to change.

Zhao emphasized that his campaign’s overall theme is transparency and has “three pillars”: communication, allocation of budget, and accountability.

Whether it’s transparency in informing students about what the executives are working on or what promised project they were unable to accomplish, Zhao reiterated that “something I want to push is accountability in what the executives do.”

Zhao recalled when the UTSU announced its changes to students’ mental health coverage, and how he wants to be more transparent in internal communication: “I didn’t find out about it until the day the students found out about it… I couldn’t provide the support that I was supposed to provide.”

In her interview Dina emphasized that, “You can’t thrive as a student [if] your basic needs aren’t met.” Noting that U of T is a commuter school, Dina outlined her plans as VP PUA to lower meal plan costs, work toward a free transit system for students, and follow through on establishing new student residences.

Further, Dina plans to amend the current CR/NCR system. Since “the university understands that there is a need for a pass-fail system,” she advocates for allowing NCR courses to count toward program applications and requirements.

Building on her past advocacy work, Dina hopes to continue these efforts as VP PUA, while also improving the union’s transparency. She plans to revisit policies — including anti-racist and sexual violence policies — to raise awareness of the issues that students face and advocate for change.

Gardapkhadze’s platform has three goals: student empowerment, advocacy, and expanding opportunities. She wants students to “have a say in the policies” at U of T. If elected, Gardapkhadze will advocate for mandatory academic advisory check-ins for students and an improved course enrolment system.

Additionally, she wants to “push for creating new opportunities like grants and scholarships that could aid students in terms of finances” and “introduce a TTC fare specifically for U of T students.” 

Throughout this academic year, UTSU’s current VP PUA Avreet Jagdev, has been advocating for a similar initiative — the TTC free pass program that would cover students’ TTC tickets for a 15-to-20-week duration.

Finally, Gardapkhadze plans to create more scholarship opportunities for students by leveraging her connections with representatives of the municipal, provincial, and federal governments that she met during her work as an ambassador for the Arts and Science Internship Program.

Ramhendar-Armogan’s campaign focuses on advocacy and transparency. She wants to create more opportunities for student feedback such as “a feedback website” or town halls where students can speak to the union about issues affecting them. 

She also wants to improve academic policies, such as implementing clearer guidelines around artificial intelligence use; reducing wait times for accessibility services and mental health services; and improving transit access through a university pass. 

While the UTSU tried to create a U-Pass program that would provide students with unlimited, fare-free rides on the TTC, prepaid by tuition fees, they recently announced that the program wouldn’t likely happen in the 2024–2025 academic year.

“I feel like it’s really important for students to have a say in the administration of the university, and sometimes it feels like we’re not necessarily being considered,” she told The Varsity. “I want to run for this role [because] I feel like students need to have their voice heard.”

During the AGM, a member of SS4P asked if the UTSU would support the international university strike for Palestine in November 2024. Saha said the UTSU allegedly never responded to SS4P about the strike, and he felt that student concerns were being dismissed. 

“I want students to actually feel like UTSU is not just some random organization that they follow on Instagram… but something that they can interact with, and they know and feel they have a say in,” Saha explained. 

His campaign is centred around accountability, democracy, and transparency. He wants to decentralize the UTSU’s decision-making and introduce more referendums on contentious issues, as well as hold mandatory town halls before decisions are made. 

Saha has experience as a Warrant Officer for his Air Cadets squadron, where he was in charge of 60 cadets, and as a House Representative on the Woodsworth Residence Council, where he represents his house and helps with events. 

Areiza has worked as a community resource specialist at the UTSU for the past two years and currently serves as president of the Organization of Latin American Students. In his interview, he said that these roles have equipped him with front-facing skills and an equity lens. 

His campaign focuses on two central goals: improving student representation and increasing the UTSU’s recognition among students.

For the first, Areiza plans to organize one large-scale student life initiative per semester aside from orientation, including a “culture fest” where people from minority groups on campus can showcase their heritage. Areiza explained that the UTSU must collaborate “with student groups to highlight their culture [and] identities on campus” to be more equitable.

For the second, Areiza plans on changing the UTSU’s funding system to an “initiative-based” system to have a more fair distribution of funding for clubs.

Additionally, Areiza believes that the “myUTSU” website and the UTSU’s social media accounts are being underutilized. He plans to use these platforms more to promote the work and events of student clubs. 

In her interview, Arpat said she wishes to help students beyond their academics and with their personal growth. She noted that most UTSG students are not a part of or regularly attending clubs, despite it being a major part of student life. Thus, she intends to help promote clubs on campus. In addition, she wishes to bargain for student discounts at stores near campus to help ease the cost of living. 

Arpat also plans to engage students by being more active on the union’s Instagram account, such as through doing Q&As, as well as holding more events for first- and second-year students after Orientation Week, as she feels that “not a lot of people know how important the union is and how much power of change [it] holds.”

Bansal is also an administrative director on the Woodsworth Residence Council and VP of Sponsorship on U of T’s Trek for Teens: a non-profit organization that raises funds and awareness for youth experiencing homelessness in Canada.

Bansal’s platform focuses on raising awareness about UTSU’s resources for clubs and attracting a wider range of clubs. She also seeks to cater the events hosted by the UTSU to UTSG’s diverse student community. 

Bansal is especially interested in engaging commuter students for whom “it’s hard to integrate onto campus.” For the next orientation, she suggested creating spaces “for commuter students to hang out and have a space to stay” between lectures.

If elected, Bansal also plans to deal with the heat during orientation outdoors, for which she proposed “using communal campus spaces like front campus to set up rest spaces.”

This year, Kashkari has served on the UTSU’s Student Senate, which gave her “insight within the student government and decision making.” She is also a director of social events for her sorority, Delta Delta Delta.

Kashkari said that the number one goal of her campaign is to increase student visibility by “reactivating the VP SL Instagram and expanding clubs fairs to its fullest potential to help students discover and connect with the clubs.” 

Her plans also include “expanding resources and different kinds of equipment for student groups” to “make sure that they have the proper things that they need to thrive.”

Finally, Kashkari wants to foster a “stronger sense of community within the campus” through “encouraging more collaboration between clubs and faculties.”

Marouf identifies food insecurity, safety, gender-based violence, and accessibility as key campus issues. 

She plans to support student initiatives like Regenesis Market and Food Coalition and expand the food bank. She would also like to develop the rideshare program for safer and cheaper student transportation; enhance UTSU’s partnership with Downtown Legal Services; and provide additional support after students exhaust institutional resources like the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office or Accessibility Services. 

She also intends to regularly meet with student groups to learn from their lived experiences. For students affected by international events, she wishes to advocate for accessibility — such as extensions on assignments — and institutional supports — like solidarity statements.

Lastly, she emphasized outreach as a priority, noting students’ lack of awareness of available services within the UTSU. “I want to make that clear — you are entitled to this… you deserve this, and [I] want to provide it for you.”

“I see people talking about why [they weren’t] able to partake in a certain event [or] attend a certain networking [event]… People are voicing these concerns, but nobody is hearing them or even willing to give them an opportunity to express their grievances.” 

Her campaign revolves around making UTSU’s social events more accessible and visible. 

Miglani hopes to spread more awareness of resources for students with disabilities, such as the mental health coverage students pay in their tuition that covers therapy sessions. She also wants to improve food equity on campus. 

She credits her Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion experiences to being the VP Funds of the UTSG chapter of Enactus, a global entrepreneurship group, and an Assistant Program Director and admissions officer for LaunchX — a summer program for high school students interested in entrepreneurship. 

Throughout her time at U of T, Onikoyi has recognized institutional shortcomings in supporting students with disabilities and mental health struggles. As a student with ADHD, she hopes to collaborate with Accessibility Services to advocate for disorder-specific accommodations and move away from the “cookie-cutter” approach the office currently takes. 

Onikoyi also criticized U of T’s needs-based grant, arguing that bursaries should be an ongoing initiative rather than awarded per semester. 

As a Nigerian student, she recognizes the importance of fostering strong community relationships for racialized international students. To support them, she hopes to facilitate more collaborations between UTSU and racialized student groups to address their specific concerns. 

Thanks to her work as a vice-president of the Nigerian Students Association and her efforts fundraising for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the New Democratic Party, Onikoyi said she has experience making decisions that directly “influence on something that would impact a real person’s life, whether it be school, or whether it be the funding.”

“I’ve learned a lot more about the other faculties besides my own, and it’s been really interesting to hear about the different issues and problems that we come across,” said Nguyen, a fourth-year student studying design and visual communications. “I feel like we really need to tackle them moving forward.” 

Nguyen’s campaign this year focuses on advocacy and communication. If reelected, she plans to streamline “communication between students and administration” as she believes professional faculty-student voices are “unheard on campus,” and “not the number one focus.”

She hopes to hold regular meetings with professional faculty members to connect with students and “thus [be] able to address their concerns.”

She also desires to continue working on the financial aid survey she created during her current term. She said she’s been collecting data on the “hidden costs that [specific] professional faculty students have,” such as art supplies for architecture students and lab materials for nursing and medical students.

Nguyen hopes to use her survey findings to “push for further financial aid.”

As a former Orientation Week leader, Nguyen has firsthand experience helping first-years transition into life at university. Her campaign focuses on two key goals: addressing professional faculty-specific concerns and fostering cross-faculty connections. 

She hopes to improve course enrolment, ensuring that required courses are prioritized for students in their respective programs. “I find that certain required courses aren’t being put as a priority or aren’t being blocked off for at least the first few days for students in the program to register into them.”

Some professional faculties like Daniels already have a priority period, during which students enrolled in each faculty are given priority for enrolment into certain courses depending on their program and year of study. 

Nguyen also wants to “provide more opportunities for students to connect with other peers outside of their faculties.” 

“I feel like it’s important for students to interact with different ideas and people beyond their program or faculty,” she added.