Mary-Dan Johnston says she’s just getting started in her role as vice president administration on the STU students’ union, and is seeking reelection this week with the hope of building on her experience so far.
“I feel having been in this position for a little bit of time, I’m still fresh, I’m still hopeful and I’m not bogged down in the bureaucracy yet, you know. I feel I have the experience now behind me to make it a lot easier, that I won’t have to transition, that I can go right into it and continue to roll along.”
Johnston was voted vice president administration earlier this year in a by-election.
She said she had to hit the ground running, and had little time to adjust before her responsibilities kicked in.
Because of that, she has primarily focused on maintaining the business of the union this year. But if reelected, she said she’ll be able to initiate some of her own ideas.
“There’s really no formal application process for students applying for funding from academic assistance or clubs and societies (budget lines),” said Johnston, who’s originally from Halifax, NS. “They just sort of send me email and hope that I get it, and to me, that’s not a very stable system and there’s no real transparency there.”
Because students are often unaware of the factors that play into funding decisions made by the union, Johnston said she wants to develop a process that explains to students seeking SU money what each budget line represents, and which ones they are eligible to draw from.
Johnston is a third-year inequality studies student.
