“I have a much better idea than I did last year of what issues our students are currently struggling with, and where SCSU sort of comes in to fill in those gaps, to provide a better and more fulfilling experience for our students,” said Sindhu in his interview.

His main campaign points include creating a Student Needs survey at the beginning of the year where students can shape the campaign priorities of the union. He would also like to form a student-led task force with university faculty and administration to look into policies and investments, and create a formal complaint process for students to voice concerns and feedback with the union. 

“We have such a diverse student community at UTSC, I want to ensure that SCSU is programming next year [to] keep these communities in mind, and I want to ensure that there is [enough] programming done for them that makes them feel like they actually belong.” 

With files from Eleanor Yuneun Park.

One of her campaign focuses is creating an SCSU communication line, such as through an app, or introducing SCSU executives’ office hours. She also plans to increase funding for scholarships and bursaries through various U of T offices, such as the Office of Student Experience & Wellbeing. She wants to protect students’ rights to organize on campus and provide avenues to address systemic injustices as well. 

Shifara wants to open the Community Care Centre, which she said is “already underway,” but “there’s so much more that can be done.” She mentioned the centre’s establishment during her campaign last year when she ran for VP equity with the IMPACT UTSC slate. The Varsity was unable to verify that the union worked on the center during the past year.

“Students need to be able to see that their community is being represented… by leaders who are already actively involved on campus,” she said. “I want to make sure that every voice is heard [and] every person is being seen.”

His campaign is centred around three goals: financial support, food insecurity, and operational transparency. 

If elected, Simsek wants to invest the union’s money in “ethical endowment funds” and collaborate with the university administration to increase the amount of grants and bursaries for students.

The SCSU currently has a Food Centre that provides students with free groceries from Monday to Friday. However, Simsek hopes to expand the amount and affordability of food options at UTSC by bringing food trucks to campus with student discount deals. 

Finally, Simsek would ensure that the SCSU’s operations are transparent by making himself available through appointments with students and updating the union’s website so students can better navigate their services online. 

He mentioned hosting town hall meetings at least every month to allow students to voice their demands or concerns with the union. To further ensure transparency, he hopes to provide the UTSC community with monthly financial reports so students can see how the union allocates their money.

If elected, Prabagar hopes to ensure affordable and accessible food options, as she believes “food insecurity is a real issue for many students, as well as balancing tuition, rent, and expenses.” 

She also wants to make parking more affordable by alleviating commuter students’ costs that can build up to $50 a week. Pragabar noted that many students find parking at UTSC “very expensive” and “very overwhelming.” 

Prabagar plans to provide more on-campus job opportunities for students through the SCSU as well. 

To ensure that the union is financially transparent, Prabagar says she would work closely with the SCSU’s Finance Committee to “prepare accurate budgets, monitor spending, and ensure we’re making decisions that benefit students.” 

She also wants to present “clear and accessible reports” for students to stay informed and hold the union accountable. 

Reeyaz’s platform includes developing the Community Care Centre at the Student Centre to increase accessibility to mental and healthcare support. She also seeks to actualize the extension of the Credit/No Credit (CR/NR) deadline, and to further implement a second-attempt policy for a failed credit, or to increase the current second-attempt for credit limit from 1.0 to 2.0 credits. 

Reeyaz hopes to revitalize the ASC at SCSU by implementing bookable interview and study spaces and updating the existing exam archive. 

“I feel like improving certain policies where it… gears towards improving your final overall GPA is always something that students want,” said Khan. 

Her main campaign points include introducing a new policy that would allow students to exclude up to 1.0 credit from their transcripts and reconstructing the SCSU Academic Support Centre through new initiatives and events. She also plans on improving the current CR/NCR policy, extending the request deadline to after final marks are posted, and increasing the credit limit from 2.0 to 3.0 credits — including program-required courses.

“I don’t think it’s fair on students if they don’t maybe perform that well in first and second year, but they’ve gained that knowledge and… discipline to perform better in their upper years,” said Khan. “I feel like a lot of the policies and aspects that I do want to take care of is giving students a second chance to… redeem themselves.”

Ashraf serves as the director of sociology on the SCSU board, where she works directly with students facing academic and financial barriers. As the advocacy director of the UTSC Muslim Students’ Association, she has experience in bringing student concerns to university administration and pushing for change. 

One of her main priorities is securing an affordable GTA-wide U-Pass by collaborating with student and labour unions. She also aims to improve on- and off-campus housing by advocating for renovations in UTSC’s residences and creating a vetted off-campus housing repository to protect students from exploitative landlords. 

Ashraf is also pushing for greater student political engagement ahead of the looming federal election. She plans to partner with the Canadian Federation of Students to host educational workshops and promote media literacy to combat misinformation. 

She believes in empowering students to advocate for themselves, emphasizing the importance of encouraging students to “exercise their own agency, to advocate for themselves.”

Elhag seeks to bring forth transit access through U-Pass. She told The Varsity that, if elected, she would collaborate with Centennial College and UTSG to “increase the number of students who would be getting U-pass.”

Elhag also wants to provide more affordable housing for students, citing her own personal struggles with housing as a driving force for her campaign focus. “I had problems in housing, and not only me, but a lot of students around us face the same problems,” she said.

Another one of her campaign points focuses on generating more job opportunities for students. She plans to connect the SCSU and UTSU with other organizations to “make more internships or mentorship programs more viable and more easily accessible for students.” 

As an international student, Elhag also wants to bring equal medical rights to others like her by remediating the discrepancies between the UHIP coverage for international students and the OHIP coverage for domestic students.

In an interview with The Varsity, Mathu mentioned that while she sees diversity as a strength, many students on campus may believe that the SCSU lacks representation from certain communities. 

Her main campaign points include giving a voice to underrepresented communities on campus, increasing multi-faith spaces on campus, working with 2SLGBTQ+ student voices, and providing mental health support for students through bursaries. 

“It would make our campus feel more together and more solidified by knowing that there are at least different communities on campus, by having all the programming events to make sure that everyone is highlighted and appreciated and also felt heard by the SCSU,” said Mathu. 

Villa decided to run in the 2025 SCSU elections because they believe that “There’s a lot of barriers… that need to be overcome, especially [regarding] mental health resources.” They referenced their personal experience, saying, “I’ve been a student for five years… needing help with accessibility and not being able to fund assessments for ADHD… that I felt I needed.”

They said they want to overcome this issue by providing “bursaries and building up resources that are accessible from the Student Centre.”

Villa’s campaign also focuses on increasing the number of 2SLGBTQ+ initiatives on campus, “specifically within the decolonial lens, outside of Pride.” They mentioned the need for increased funding for student groups like LGBTOUT and the UTSC Women’s & Trans Centre to help create these initiatives. 

Finally, Villa wants to provide spaces for students to talk to each other if they feel they can’t talk to a campus counselor or other mental health professionals.

His campaign focuses on creating an events calendar that would help students plan ahead if they want to attend events, as well as establishing an equipment library for clubs to facilitate events more sustainably. 

To ensure students stay engaged past orientation week, Malik emphasized the importance of planning ahead and having various ongoing methods of communication, such as posters and tabling. 

When asked how he would respond when he disagreed with a club’s mandate, Malik emphasized, “I’m here to serve the students.” He told The Varsity that he would seek student feedback and respond accordingly. 

To ensure the longevity of student clubs, Malik wants to make club funding more accessible by introducing a direct deposit system, replacing the current cheque distribution system. 

“[I want to make] it simpler for clubs and students to just be on campus and give them a positive outlook and a good relationship with the union,” he said. “Building [a] better relationship with students and clubs is very important.”

One of Okolo’s main campaign focuses is maintaining full transparency between the vice-president, campus life and student clubs. He noted how transparency is “very key to building a sense of community and having people trust you.”

He also explained his desire to create a calendar that tracks events happening across UTSC and to expand SCSU Frosh to be more inclusive of upper-year students. Okolo also hopes to streamline the club recognition renewal process, so it’s easier for students to navigate.

In his previous role as a group lead for Frosh, he was responsible for managing over 20 first-year students. He continues to communicate with his group, informing them of ongoing events and clubs on campus or where to find academic support. 

In his interview, Okolo emphasized that community means a lot to him, and he wants to see “the best come out of everyone.”