As the 2025–2026 academic year nears its end, The Varsity sat down with current University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) president, Andrew Park, to discuss the union’s accomplishments, ongoing advocacy, and responses to criticisms.

Expectations coming into the presidency

Park describes coming into the role of President. “I tried to keep an open mind, take feedback from my team and students to shape my work throughout the year. So it was always both a growing and a learning process for me.”

In response to a question asking how he handled unexpected situations, Park said he has always tried to “expect the unexpected,” adding how interpersonal conflicts are possible in such a large organization. “I always made sure that I kept a clear mind, stay[ed] level headed, and made sure that all the decisions that we make were in the best interest of the students.”

The UTMSU’s 2025–2026 accomplishments

Park shared that the union managed to negotiate “no price increase for students, health, and dental plans.”

In September 2025, the UTMSU managed to successfully lobby MiWay to introduce weekend service to Route 110 University Express, which runs from City Centre Transit Terminal to UTM. The union also managed to extend route 48 to UTM.

Park added that the UTMSU observed a quadruple-increase in student responses to their transit survey. “Transit relies very heavily on data, so it’s going to be very useful to identify service gaps and strengthen our lobbying for the GTA.” 

As part of the union’s food insecurity campaign, they launched Free Dinner Fridays as a pilot program that was hosted three times throughout the academic year, with attendance ranging from 250–300 students. 

The food centre was revamped to implement a client choice method “to give students more agency when accessing the food centre, because when you’re going into these spaces, there might be stigma around how you’re accessing food,” adding that it’s now “more of a grocery shopping experience, instead of just being handed a bag full of stuff.”

Partnering with hospitality and ancillary services, the UTMSU also provided food vouchers to students, allowing them to access a “free meal anywhere on campus.”

Park mentioned that the installation of bidets in the student center was another “big win” this year, saying, “We have a very diverse campus of different cultures and backgrounds. A lot of students use bidets at home or back in their home country, so it was most certainly a need for a lot of students.”

The UTMSU also established a committee to work on Palestine-related initiatives and collaborated with the Palestinian Students and Scholars at Risk network. Other UTMSU events focused on raising awareness of ongoing issues across the world, including Congo, Iran, and Sudan.

As part of the UTMSU’s menstrual equity campaign, they received feedback on current free menstrual products in the washrooms not suiting student needs, citing the lack of product sizes and discomfort. In response, the union collaborated with Alea — an organic and sustainable period care company — and received its first shipment of reusable heating pads, menstrual cups, and organic products, which Park cited as being more sustainable.

The UTMSU also held two big campaigns to stand against the provincial government, specifically to combat Bill 33 and the more recent OSAP changes and tuition hikes. Park said, “This was something that we had to prioritize… we can’t predict what the provincial government is going to do, so we had to be ready to mobilize students.”

Park expressed that campus life under his presidency has been “on its way back since the pandemic,” citing how they hosted the first sold-out pub night in six years, featuring an appearance from Killy and Young M.A.

Advocacies that are still in progress or unfeasible

Park shared that the union held coalition meetings with other unions — including the graduate, St. George, Scarborough, and York student unions — regarding a GTA-wide U-Pass, but “mutually agreed that it’s not feasible at this time.” He added that the other unions currently don’t have a U-Pass, “so that’s kind of their priority, to get their [campus] U-Pass first before they proceed to the next level.”

Transit advocacies involving expanding the MiWay route 126 and getting a GO bus at UTM are still a work in progress, with Park mentioning that current VP External Rajas Dhamija will continue working on transit advocacy as he has been re-elected for the 2026–2027 academic year.

The union also attempted to push for “end-of-day half-priced meals,” but the administration had cited strict contract restrictions with UTM’s centralized food provider, Dana Hospitality. Despite this setback, Park stated they “will obviously continue to push for student-centred pricing and waste reduction for food.”

For its lobbying of extending the Second Attempt at Credit (SAC) policy for failed courses, the union presented a comprehensive lobby document to the UTM registrar, with Park saying it “received quite positive responses, and they’ll be holding another tri-campus registrar meeting sometime in April. So it has a very good outlook.”

The UTMSU’s lobbying to extend the deadline for Credit/No Credit (CR/NCR) was “temporarily stalled until certain technical challenges can be resolved.” Park further elaborated that these technical challenges were “strict timelines that the university has to maintain to ensure that the faculty and staff are able to grade, upload, and update.”

Controversies and criticisms

One of the major controversies surrounding the UTMSU this year was its “Honouring Our Martyrs” commemoration, which received criticisms from a variety of sources, including members of the UTM administration. Principal Alexandra Gillespie mentioned how the decision to hold the event on October 7 proceeded despite the administration raising concerns.

In response to this situation, Park said, “even at the administration level, there were opposing views… some people were against it. Others… did recognize our autonomy and what we do as a union, the stances that we take against social issues, [and] our right to freedom of speech.” 

He added that “a lot of the attention has been on the negatives and the backlash,” but he “feels like we should also hear from the students who [were] at the event, who can speak [on] what the backlash was saying was not true. This was a peaceful gathering meant for students to build a community and to grieve in peace.”

Park mentioned that the St. George and Scarborough campuses also held similar commemorations on the same day, but did not receive as much backlash. He cited the only difference being the name of the event, with the other two campuses naming it “Vigil For Our Martyrs.” The reason for the UTMSU not using the term “vigil” was that the event “was in collaboration with the Muslim Students Association, and they mentioned that ‘vigil’ has Christian connotations.”

Another conflict involved the Sexual Education Center (SEC) and its concerns with being moved to a smaller room on the second floor of the student center. This change occurred in response to the UTMSU hosting its new de-stressor room in the SEC’s previous location.

Park was asked whether the UTMSU made any efforts to have discussions with the SEC regarding this situation, to which he responded, “We’re always open to hearing what the concerns are. I think some of our team members did have discussions… we did provide them the equity office for one-on-one conversations, because that was a concern.” He further added, “We’re always looking to work together, it’s not us-against-them situation. So to them, to anyone, I would encourage, just come to us and speak with us, because we’re always listening.”

Advice for his successors and what the future holds

When asked what advice he would give his successor, Park said, “To the President, I would say, stay focused, be present. I think a lot of the work isn’t just in the back end, but it’s also about being physically here, being ready to talk to students when they come to the Student Centre, looking for you, asking for you, asking for advice, engaging with them, keeping an open mind to new ideas.”

“It’s one of the most rewarding experiences that you’ll have. So just be ready to learn. Stay engaged and keep an open mind,” Park concluded. 

What’s next for Andrew Park? He had this to say: “I think I’m gonna take a year off just to unwind. So I do have plans to travel, visit my family in Korea, who I haven’t seen in a couple of years, because I’ve been so busy. Hopefully, new doors open up for me after this.”