The St. Thomas University Students’ Union held its vice-president student life candidate debate on Feb. 20. Second-year student Sarah Kohut is the only candidate.
Here’s what you missed:
The candidate and her platform
Sarah Kohut
Kohut said she likes working with students, hearing their stories and helping them with their issues. In her first year at STU, she was a wing representative in her residence. This year, she is a Harrington Hall residence advisor, the STUSU social inclusion representative and the STUSU women’s centre liaison.
Here are her summarized platform points:
- Mental health awareness
- She wants to bring another counsellor to STU.
- Kohut said she wants to continue the conversation on mental health and increase funding for mental health-related initiatives. She said she wants to continue to support the Student Let’s Act campaign and the Peer Support Centre.
- Fostering relationships on campus
- She wants to have the Indigenous representative position on STUSU be led by the Wabanaki Resource Centre.
- She wants to have blanket exercises on campus.
- She wants the sexual and diversity representative to continue to have office hours in The 203 Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity and she wants students to be able to work at the centre.
- She wants to include the social inclusion committee as a necessary part of the social inclusion representation.
- Safety and security of students
- She wants to increase the lighting in the trail between UNB and STU and rename it.
- She wants to expand residence advisor training to include education on recognizing early signs of substance abuse and overdoses.
- She wants more NARCAN kits (for opioid overdose emergencies) and defibrillators on campus and in residence.
- She wants to offer self-defence training courses at the J.B. O’Keefe Gym.
- She wants to increase support for clubs and societies.
- She wants to improve the quality of food in meal hall.
- She wants a designated time for beginner gym-users at the J.B. O’Keefe Gym.
- She wants to establish a compost system on campus.
Check out our live stream of the debate here.
The debate:
Sarah Kohut is running for vice-president student life. She believes she’s qualified because she’s involved in many committees on campus.
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut says all the issues in her campaign platform are important, but fostering relationships among communities on campus is really important
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut said she wants to have a campus that’s inclusive to all.
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut said she has worked on her time management as a residence advisor. She doesn’t plan to continue as an advisor next year so she can “fully dedicate” her time to STUSU.
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
“Mental health is very important for students,” says Kohut.
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut said she wants to increase mental health support on campus and work toward accessibility of counsellors on campus.
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut says she plans to increase funding for mental health initiatives by working with vp admin and readjusting where money is spent
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut wants to eliminate accessibility barriers on campus (re. Lack of elevators in residence)
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut says she’d like to see the university rethink how campus is laid out to work toward accessibility for students.
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut says support can be more broad than funding.
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut says she’d like to increase communication of clubs and societies with students
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Audience question: what new ideas/initiatives will you bring?
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut says she wants to work out a deal with Aitkens Centre for discounted price for STU students, a beginners hour at the gym
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Audience question for Kohut: What’s your backup plan for mental health funding, if the lobbying tactic doesn’t work?
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut said she would work to rearrange money in the STUSU budget and work with alumni for donations.
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Audience question: what actual events and programs for mental health will you implement?
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut says a lot of people don’t know about the mental health initiatives on campus. She says some mental health initiatives (ie. glitter jars) may seem trivial, but bringing students together for a specific event can help. She says she’s open to hearing ideas
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Audience question: What events do you plan to put on that will require more funding from the mental health budget?
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut says she’d like to make students let’s act campaign bigger.
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut says she would like to have another mental health counsellor on campus
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut says she’s “completely open to student input.”
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Audience question: how specifically in a vp student life role will you go about addressing issues in platform (lobbying for mental health funding, accessibility)
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut says she’d like to bring student perspectives together to see what they need specifically on the STU campus.
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Audience question: how would you work with individual students to access supports so they don’t feel so alone when they come here?
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut says she’d like to have an interactive way for students to engage with STUSU (ie. online platform)
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut says she’d like promote everything STU has to offer.
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
Kohut says she’d like to be vp student life because she likes working with students, hearing their stories and helping them with their issues.
— The Aquinian (@Aquinian) February 20, 2019
