Vice-president admin candidates talk money, transparency

    By
    Caitlin Dutt
    -
    (Shannon Cornelius/AQ)

    After the vice-president administration position was left vacant in the St. Thomas University Students’ Union general spring election, a byelection was called to elect the fourth member of the STUSU executive team.

    Matthew Oram and Tyrique Hamil are the candidates. They participated in a debate two days before the voting period on March 20.

    The vice-president administration’s responsibilities and duties consist of human resources tasks, managing the budget and overseeing clubs and societies.

    Here’s what you missed.

    The candidates and their platforms

    Tyrique Hamil:

    Tyrique Hamil is a second-year student honouring in economics and majoring in political science. He’s a member of the Economics Society and is the co-founder and vice-president of the St. Thomas Linguistics and Language Society. He hasn’t had a position on STUSU. If he is elected as vice-president administration, he wants to engage students and practice fiscal prudence.

    Here are his summarized platform points:

    • Diversification of STUSU’s income
      • Make the union more financially independent by having STUSU undertake its own business venture after figuring out if it’s possible.
    • Creation of (club and society) President Oversight Body
      • This body would consist of various club and society presidents or clubs and society spokespeople and the vice-president administration. They would meet once a week or biweekly to communicate and give the vice-president administration feedback on their club’s needs.
    • Increase club advertisements across campus
    • Creation of the Student Innovation Fund

      • The Student Innovation Fund would be the renamed Academic Assistance line and go toward students who want to create “active change.” He said it would be more specific than the “broad sense” of Academic Assistance and he would want to put more money toward it.
    • Increase awareness of mental health services at STU
    • Revision of the process used to allocate funds to clubs
    • Making the budget drafting process more inclusive and encouraging students to give feedback
    • Reducing the union’s expenses and directing money toward clubs and societies
    • Introduction of budget information bylaw. The bylaw would require the vice-president administration to respond to an inquiry within 48 hours

    Matthew Oram:

    Matthew Oram is a second-year student double-majoring in political science and economics. He participated in moot court in the 2018-19 academic year. He was also a part of the Student Advisory Committee this year. He wants to focus on transparency and furthering initiatives, prioritizing access to student resources and developing student friendly policies and reviewing policies.

    Here are his summarized platform points:

    • Transparency and furthering initiatives
      • Continue the efforts taken by the STUSU 2018-19 team. He mentioned monthly budget updates, the STUSU newsletter, social media and budget meetings
      • Promote transparency of CASA and NBSA through social media
      • Target “certain groups of students” to discuss the business and duties of STUSU and the vice-president administration’s role
      • “Present more opportunities” for students to voice their opinions on matters concerning the STUSU
      • Full transparency of the budget
    • Prioritizing access to student resources
      • Increase funding for mental health services and increase it within the budget if there is room
      • Work with the vice-president student life to expand the accessibility of mental health services at STU
      • Make sure all students know and have the opportunity to be a part of clubs, societies and student jobs
      • Increase funding for clubs and societies with the help of off-campus businesses and organizations
      • Meet with organizers of clubs and societies more often to help promote their groups and expand their “functions”
    • Developing student friendly policies
      • Focus on STU Sustainability and work with the vice-president education to develop sustainability at the university
      • Refine student access to STUSU policies
      • Make sure the Student Advisory Committee continues
      • Interact regularly with certain groups of students to understand their needs and wants

    Click here to be directed to The Aquinian’s live Facebook stream of the debate.

    The debate