On March 19, The Varsity sat down with the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) President Hunain Sindhu to discuss the challenges with his Palestine advocacy efforts, delivering his campaign promises, and issues he regrets not focusing on. 

Sindhu was set to end his term as president in April; however, the SCSU did not ratify the results of its Spring General Election at its March Board of Directors (BOD) meeting, meaning the election results were not officially approved. As a result, his term will likely be extended until the Fall By-Election.

The Varsity: Coming into this role, what were some of the expectations that you had, and what limitations did you realize you had once you actually started the role?

Hunain Sindhu: I don’t think anything could have prepared me for the actual role itself, which was a lot more hands-on than I thought it would be. 

The only limitation that I really observed — and that was a surprise to me — was that there are a lot of day-to-day parts of being an executive you don’t really think about, and those hit you once you start the role. 

Meetings that occur on a weekly basis take up a lot of time, so initiatives that you want to implement sometimes don’t get prioritized. 

TV: The SCSU has done a lot of work in regards to Palestine, being active at the pro-Palestine student encampment over the summer and protests since then. How has the union navigated any challenges you might have faced, either from students or from the administration?

HS: I was pleasantly surprised by how the union wasn’t really limited in advocating for Palestine and the issues we worked on. Looking back on the year, there’s nothing we weren’t able to do because the administration didn’t want us to.

The challenges we faced because of our advocacy weren’t always direct. The administration would tell us that something was okay, but then we would find out that they tried to stop a protest or sent Campus Safety to sit outside our office for two hours before it began. Things like that felt almost like subtle stabs in the back. [The Varsity was unable to independently verify this].

In terms of pushback from students, there has been some.

At the Annual Members Meeting (AMM), motions were submitted that called out both [me] and the union for protesting in certain spaces, for statements I made during protests, and for doing too many events for Palestine and not much for other causes — something I would disagree with, as we’ve organized many different events throughout the year. 

We try to meet with the students who bring up concerns, but often, it doesn’t seem like they want to have a discussion. The AMM motions were submitted, but the students didn’t show up to even move the motion at the meeting, so we couldn’t discuss them. 

However, there’s also been an overwhelming amount of support from students for a lot of programming that we’ve done. 

ZEYNEP POYANLI/THE VARSITY

TV: Your advocacy for Palestine has been very visible this year. What efforts have you made to advocate for other issues this past year? 

HS: One of the proudest initiatives we implemented this year was intertwining the Students for Global Action campaign with the Coffee House program, which provides free breakfast every last Wednesday of the month to raise awareness about what’s happening in different countries or distressed regions around the world. 

When students were being attacked in Bangladesh last year, I had numerous meetings with Health and Wellness, as well as the Office of Student Experience & Wellbeing, to try and get them to release a statement. 

We tried to advocate for any major problems that came up throughout the year. We also started a Trans Well-being Grant. 

TV: What issues do you regret not paying more attention to?

HS: I feel that there’s been a lot of issues around sustainability, but it’s not something we touched on this year much at all. 

We could have done a lot more for international students. The union uses phrases like, ‘We can’t let international students be the cash cows for the university,’ but do we take any actions on this? We try and engage with the administration, but substantial work is needed to either freeze the fees or to make enough of a difference that’s felt by students. 

This year, we had six campaigns that were chosen with little consideration or deliberation. There were a few discussions, but I feel the executives should review reports on the work done in previous years before deciding what to focus on. Campaigns need to be realistic, and that’s not something we didn’t fully consider at the beginning of the year. I wish we had that guidance.

TV: The changes to the UTSC Campus Farm, including the termination of the farm coordinator’s contract, were major events at UTSC this year that a lot of community members had concerns about. What efforts did the SCSU make to address this issue? 

HS: I spoke with the Dean of Student Experience & Wellbeing, and then had a meeting with the Principal the following week, where I brought it up again. They mentioned that the farm is not going anywhere; they’re just planning to renovate certain parts of it to better serve the farm, rather than take away from it. At least, that’s what we were told. 

We brought the suggestion of incorporating courses that’ll be taught at the farm itself, so that more students can benefit from them. 

Obviously it wasn’t enough of a response to satisfy the community, but Linda Johnston said there will be no more discussion on that matter.

We could have done more to connect with the community, update them, address any ongoing concerns, and continue advocating to bring those issues up.

TV: During your election campaign in 2024, one of your main campaign points was establishing avenues of communication between the SCSU and students so that they could share their ideas and concerns about initiatives and operations. What have you done to increase communication with UTSC students during your term?

HS: One idea we had was to hold commission spaces for students to provide feedback on what the SCSU has done. I wanted to hold one every semester, but that was not encouraged within the union. We hadn’t done much over the summer, and the fall was too busy. For January, because of Campaigns Week, the date and time that were moved, and then availability got dispersed. 

Something that I’ve personally done over the past year, anytime there are issues in any space I was in, is tell students to email me, because a lot of times, students have concerns, but won’t voice them. And I don’t blame the students. It’s more about creating these spaces to make students feel comfortable enough to talk to you. 

Throughout the year, if a complaint was submitted to the [general] front desk email, it was just forwarded to me, and then I would bring it up in an executive meeting. I don’t think that’s sufficient for concerns about me.

One idea was for a Policy and By-law committee to handle complaints because they have BOD and at-large members present. It was supposed to be submitted for the Winter Members’ Meeting (WMM) to make it a formal system, but it’s also a recommendation that can go to the board, and that is something that they’re [can] establish this coming year.

One recommendation I’m putting forward to the next president or to the next year’s team is to make sure that board meeting times are advertised and students know when they’re happening, so that students come to hear about what SCSU is doing. 

TV: The Varsity has had trouble communicating with the SCSU this past year, and there have been times when the SCSU has been unreachable. How would you evaluate your relationship with The Varsity this year, and what would you have improved on?

HS: This past year, there were many times when The Varsity would reach out with questions or clarifications about board meetings, and I would want to bring them up at an executive meeting. But they would end up getting delayed, and eventually fall off record, which is really, really bad. 

I had my hands full at all times, but it’s not an excuse for not responding to any student who may have been waiting on me. I strongly feel that it’s a lot easier to communicate when there’s more of an in-person connection, but, again, that’s not an excuse. In the future, I think being more responsive and being attentive to questions or concerns or clarifications required from The Varsity is really important.

TV: Voter turnout decreased slightly this year compared to when you were elected. What would you attribute this to? Is there anything you want to say about your efforts to increase student engagement this year? 

HS: I personally felt that student engagement with the SCSU was really low this year. The SCSU represents 14,000 full-time undergraduate students, yet our events only had [about] 40 students. 

Moving forward, I would really encourage SCSU to hold fewer events, but put more effort into making sure that students actually attend. That can only be done if the events align with what students actually want to see — something that requires actively seeking their feedback. 

I feel the union could have done a lot more outreach for the elections. Because I was a candidate, I didn’t want to be the one pushing these efforts forward. For example, the all-candidates debate had only 10 to 15 people show up in person and was promoted with just one Instagram post about it. 

For SCSU to do its part, I feel that there should have been outreach to different groups on campus to make them aware of the fact that elections are happening. I don’t think it’s the responsibility of the candidates to make students aware of where to vote. I think SCSU should be doing that. 

TV: What are your plans for the future? 

HS: I’ve been extremely grateful for the opportunity to serve this role and contribute to the work that’s needed on campus for our students. It’s been such a big learning experience for me, and I’ve had a lot of growth personally and professionally that I think will help me a lot in any endeavours that I take on in my near future. 

I hope to be involved in advocacy work. Over the past four to four and a half years, I’ve been involved as a student leader on campus, and it’s been an extremely rewarding experience. 

I will continue to serve as the Racialized Representative for the Canadian Federation of Students Ontario. I hope to leverage this role after my current position ends, allowing me to stay involved in student movement work. 

There’s a lot of potential that I think I have, and I want to use that to benefit others, and I hope I can do that throughout my next endeavors. 

This article has been edited for length and clarity.