There are nine candidates for MSU president this year which is quite a turn out compared to previous years. MacInsiders has a few threads dedicated to the election so I encourage you to check out their site for links to the candidate’s website/Facebook groups.
I attended the second MSU presidential debate yesterday at 12:30pm in Gilmour Hall 111 and took some notes on my revived Pocket PC. Here they are somewhat unedited (there were a lot of short forms so I expanded them).
Please note: These are transcribed from my short form notes. Anything that is italicized is a comment I added while writing this post. If you would like to add bacon to this post click here.
Sam Minniti, Executive Director of MAPS welcomes everyone and explains the rules. This will be a question period rather than an actual debate (I was told earlier that it would be too difficult to have an actual debate between all the candidates). The candidates will have a minute thirty for opening and closing remarks and one minute for answering questions.
Opening Remarks
Matt Terry
- Has a four step plan for Quarters
- Wants to cut student fees and give money back
Matt Hopper
- Quarters needs to control liquor sales to stop losing money
C.J. Smith
- Fix Quarters underachievement
- Set up a book swap
- Make campus more environmentally friendly
- Keep HSR on campus
James Lim
- Giggles and laughs when he stood up but didn’t say anything of importance
Greg Elvikis
- Looking to bring accountability to MSU et. al.
- MSU needs strong leadership
- He was reading off this paper a lot and stumbled a few times
Vishal Tiwari
- Wants a water bottle free campus (pointed out he had an aluminum bottle) by offering refill stations
- Support for community outreach programs through funding
- Review of Quarters
Joy Singh
- Stronger sense of community
- Bring wind and solar power to the student centre
Mitch Zinally
- Corruption in the MSU will be stopped
Florence Prabhu
- Commented that she was last in order of speakers (candidates drew numbers at the beginning to determine seat position)
- The HSR service is a big problem that needs to be worked on
QUESTION 1
(paraphrased) What issues would you advocate on behalf of students?
MH
- Restrictions must be put in place on student housing around campus
CJS
- Need to find a bargaining chip with the university (i.e. something we can hold against them)
- Limit the number of students in a house
GE
- Advocating for lower tuition is a waste of time
- Need to concentrate on controllable costs: books and courseware by talking to the university and profs
- Having a housing licence will increase the cost of rent to students
- Reiterates that there is no use in advocating for lower tuition
VT
- Mentions he has experience advocating (has met with MPs and MPPs in Ottawa)
- Asking for money in today’s economy is not an option, instead let’s use what we have now
- Mentioned limit of working hours to receive OSAP should be raised or eliminated
JS
- Need better value for our tuition money from our education
MZ
- Need the right people fighting for student’s money
FP
- Need cheaper courseware by printing elsewhere (off campus/Underground)
- We depend on buses so they need to stay on campus; bus terminal is the only option right now, need to find another option
- Advertise bursaries and health plan
- No advocacy is needed
MT
- Not realistic to expect thousands of dollars cut off tuition
- Why not go to alumni like the university does when it needs money
Question 2
(paraphrased) How would you fix the Quarters problem? Give specific examples of actions to be taken.
CJS
- Not the only campus pub which is losing money; many others have deficits so they close
- Current management needs to be replaced
JL
- Asked how many people there, by show of hands, are not involved with the MSU, SRA or a campaign team. Went on to comment that it was an insanely small number of people. I would estimate maybe 10-15 hands went up
- “Shut the fucking place down. I would just shut it the fuck down!” He then proceeded to hit his water bottle off the table
GE
- Managers not surprised at the losses
- Need to cut down on staff (too many bouncers)
- New food and beverage manager position within the MSU will help with this
- Make it a study place
VT
- The current exec team cut down Q’s losses by $30,000
- I know who to get to look at the business model to fix it.
- Do an internal review and get student input
JS
- Would not mix studying and bar unless students wanted it
- Need more accountability from managers
- Control sales and losses, make it a hot spot for food
- Promotions and outside sponsorships
MZ
- Need accountability
- Mocked idea to make Quarters a study space
- Student body doesn’t revolve around alcohol
- Experience promoting events; promotes MES events and they are sold out
FP
- Don’t want profits but we want it to break even
- More theme nights (poker, mahjong)
- Find a way to bring people to Quarters
MT
- Has 4 point plan
- 1. Meet with all stakeholders
- 2. Meet with campus groups and bring them into Quarters
- 3. Have a student marketer; new job position
- 4. Reassess business model so its not in red.
MH
- Experience running bars
- Need inventory control and student promotions
- Want people to want to be there
- Separate restaurant from bar/club; make Quarters a good restaurant during the day and a good place to party at night
Question 3
Pick one campaign idea from a competitor and explain if you agree or disagree and why?
JL
- Overpass idea. We should be able to cross the street ourselves. We’re in university now
GE
- Agree with replacing Quarters management
VT
- Studying at Quarter’s, my idea is better than the others’ because I want to expand services such as wifi
- Not make it a strict study space
JS
- Don’t give cash straight to students. Invest it in long term projects.
MZ
- Studying at Quarters? “Do a shot then do another calculus question? Do you guys really think this is a good idea?”
- No light, not a good studying space
- Use the MSU offices instead if you want more study space for students
FP
- Hope overpass was in jest
- Want water bottle refill station
- Don’t know what to do with the surplus
- Don’t see Quarters as a study area
MT
- Don’t agree with the water bottle refill stations
- “Already have them, they’re called water fountains”
- No use changing Quarters during the day
MH
- Overpass idea was his. In Calgary they have overpass over high way near university
- Disagrees with making health plan opt in; students need it
- Health plan one of the best in Canada
CJS
- Refilling water bottles? Bigger issues to deal with instead such as recycleable coffee cups at Union Market
- Disagree with the saying not doing philosophy
Question 4
Federal budget: Do you know what happened in it and what will you lobby for from the amounts set aside for education?
GE
- Accessibility to education for under represented groups
- Did not watch / read about the federal budget
VT
- We’re in a recession
- Text n Tech grant came from lobbying
- Need to push for more funds for students
JS
- Quality of education must go up
- Put more money towards education not so much into research
MZ
- Go for what you believe in
- Get something you want
FP
- Happy she’s not the only one that hasn’t looked into the budget
- Will devote more time to learning about these issues as president; has tests and assignments now
- Make more materials optional rather than required to save money
MT
- Spending money is a waste if we don’t get a good return from it
- The budget wasn’t kind to students
MH
- There are people in the MSU more educated on the subject that he’s looking forward to working with
- Doesn’t know enough on the subject but will look into it and post on his website
CJS
- Ask for policy through advocacy
- Ask for tuition freeze not necessarily a reduction
- Use older editions of textbooks
JL
- The federal budget is out of scope for the MSU president, other things to worry about closer to home
At this point the person who asked the question wanted to answer but was denied
QUESTION 5
This question was from the Executive editor of the Silhouette
Neither he nor student body impressed with candidate feeling good about her and the others’ ignorance of the federal budget.
Should students be encouraged to move downtown and how can we have a better image in the community?
VT
- Help out outreach programs with funds set aside
- Encourage students to explore Hamilton and if this means living downtown that’s ok
JS
- Westdale must realize how important we are to their community
- We provide services in the community not just trouble
- If students are encouraged to move downtown, let’s improve quality of housing
MZ
- Downtown is not a good solution
- Need to work with city to integrate McMaster community with downtown
FP
- Not the job of the MSU to tell students where to live
- Students shouldn’t walk in a dark alley at night
- We have SWHAT to help walk students home
- Support Hamilton by going to the Farmer’s market
- Already doing a lot for the community
MT
- Only candidate from the city
- Downtown is a great place; Bulldogs next closest thing to Habs
- Community outreach is a good program presented earlier in the year but other groups
MH
- If students move downtown we need to increase the number of buses coming in
- Need more communication between between MSU and Westdale community
- Control parties
CJS
- Housing bylaws limiting number of students per house will force students downtown
- Students do things for the community that are not appreciated (i.e. shovel neighbour’s driveway)
- Burst the bubble program was a great idea
JL
- Wants to give his time to the person who asked the question about the federal budget
GE
- SOCS random acts of kindness program
- Community must know students are helping and good for it
- It will encourage students to stay in Hamilton after grad will improve
Closing Statements
FP
- Need cheaper courseware and student services that don’t lose money
- Recycle pizza boxes
- Want to represent students
MZ
- This is all a popularity game
- Need to question why the problems exist in the first place
- Need more accountability in the MSU
JS
- Need services to break even
- A green student centre; wind/solar powered
- Convenient HSR services and 24/7 study areas
- Better community relations
- Better healthcare
VT
- Cut spending
- He’s done his research
- Win or lose he will follow up with his ideas
JL
- Sorry there aren’t enough students to be representative of the majority. Not even 1% of the student population
CJS
- Set up a bookswap
- Improve recycling
- Run Quarters well
- Cut president pay; MSU pres is not a job but a privilege
MH
- Contact him for more info on the campaign
- Explained preferential voting system
MT
- Realistic plans for Quarters
- Cut CFMU fee
- More communication between MSU and students
There you have it folks! My notes on the second debate.
Voting happens on Wednesday, February 4th and Thursday February 5th. Check the MSU Website for more information and for voting locations.
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