No competition in the VP Op-Fi race
By Sophia Lopez, March 4 2020—
With the Students’ Union General Election voting underway this week, vice-president operations and finance-elect Mohammad Ali spoke at a forum to explain his platform.
In contrast to last year, with three students running for this position, Ali was acclaimed, that is there were no competitors for the position that oversees finance, governance processes and third party agreements.
During the forum, Ali said he wants to better the lives of University of Calgary students by improving the SU Programs and Services, as he states in his platform.
With budget cuts and the rising cost of tuition, Ali wants to ensure that students are getting the help they need, especially when it comes to travelling. Ali’s platform states that he wishes to increase the SU’s Travel and Conference Fund from $50,000 to $60,000 — a $10,000 increase.
“There are a lot of students on campus who constantly travel around,” said Ali. “It’s important for students to have access to these sorts of funds so that these sorts of trips are more feasible for everyone.”
In his position, Ali wants the community at U of C to feel a connection with him, and see him as a fellow student who also benefits from the SU’s services, and plans on improving them. He wishes to appear as a student who is also affected by the financial changes made towards students.
“Just because I’ve utilized the travel fund, it’s really come in handy because these trips sometimes aren’t national — doesn’t mean they’re necessarily the cheapest,” said Ali, “But, if you have something like that supporting you it really helps you out and sort of softens the blow of financial costs.”
Aside from these funds, Ali also focuses on issues that concern the environment. With the world calling for more sustainability to be enforced, Ali plans to make sure as VP Op-Fi that he does his part in achieving a more sustainable community.
“I plan on working with a lot of clubs that focus on sustainable initiatives so we can bring more attention to sustainability,” said Ali, “so more students can understand how important it is.”
Overall, Ali wants to achieve goals that will positively affect his fellow students and fellow community.
“Personally, changing the life of students in a positive way is something I really look forward to accomplishing,” Ali said.
Ali appears to be eager to take on this role as vice-president operations and finance and clearly wishes to provide students with a more pleasant university experience.
Students can vote for non-acclaimed roles in their My U of C student centre until March 5.