SU By-Elections 2022: Board of Governors Student-at-Large
By Sophia Lopez, Eula Mengullo, October 7 2022—
In this year’s Students’ Union (SU) by-election, the Board of Governors (BoG) Student-at-Large position is up for grabs. There are two students running this time around, and one of them needs to secure the most amount of votes from students in order to get the position.
MUNTAHA AAMIR
Muntaha Aamir is a candidate for the BoG Student-at-Large position. Based on her platform and her interview with the Gauntlet, this is what students can expect from her.
Aamir’s platform focuses on three areas: student safety and well-being; Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives; and affordability.
For campus safety, Aamir aims to improve sexual violence support and the general campus security. She wants to provide resources for students who may need to escape difficult or abusive situations.
With regards to EDI, Aamir wants to ensure that the university maintains consistent communication with students so their voices are reflected in EDI initiatives. She aims to do this by introducing interactive-based platforms that can better engage students not only with their peers, but also their professors.
In recognizing the sheer volume of students, Aamir wants to develop a consulting-based approach to better engage and advocate for the diverse student body.
“So what I’m trying to do is get as many voices as I possibly can. I’m thinking of interacting with SU clubs and having workshops, things like presentations, so that students who are interested in having their voices heard have every opportunity to do so,” said Aamir.
For Aamir, affordability transcends beyond academics and tackles the general quality of living of students. She hopes to collaborate with SU clubs to combat food insecurity and explore affordable options for students. Considering the financial costs of living on residence, Aamir also wants to extend her efforts in providing assistance to students living off-campus.
She believes that her leadership and organizational skills derived from avid involvement in SU clubs’ executive boards have equipped her to represent the diverse student body.
“Make sure that you are comfortable with whoever is representing you. It’s not easy to go into an election and vote for someone [without knowing how they actually are] and what decisions they’re going to make for you. Make sure you know who you’re voting for and what they actually stand for.”
Based on her platform points and her drive to help support the campus community, Aamir is a strong candidate for this position.
RENZO PEREYRA
Renzo Pereyra is another candidate for the BoG Student-at-Large position. Based on his platform and his interview with the Gauntlet, this is what students can expect from him.
Pereyra has been involved in student politics throughout his university experience, and has always had the determination to fight for what students need. Pereyra’s has two main platform points: affordability and a student-centred future.
As the rise of tuition continues to be a problem, Pereyra’s platform point regarding affordability is especially important to him. He wants to help students to continue to have an accessible post-secondary education by advocating for data to be released of where their money is going and where it’s being used.
“Reality is, students are paying more and they’re receiving less,” he said. “This entire platform pillar revolves around making education more affordable and accessible for students by directly opposing any further increases to tuition, or other student fees.”
His platform point regarding a student-centred future involves more strategies to be set in place, but ones that specifically target student issues that many have been facing lately. This includes questions surrounding the quality of education we receive at the U of C and the resources we have to shape our post-secondary education experience. His idea for future flexible programming aims to combat this.
“One of the aspects of university life that has been left out of that conversation largely, and I’ve heard this from both students and other stakeholders on campus, is teaching,” he said. “Things like advocacy around open educational resources to ensure that students on top of tuition are not paying more dollars to attain their education, and to provide all students with an even playing field.”
Pereyra also highlighted the fact that relationship building can go a long way in helping student voices be heard at higher levels.
“I have connections across all levels of our institution, both administration, the provost team, and fellow board members,” he said. “I’m not a candidate that needs a crash course on what the Board is, I’m experienced.”
Based on he work he has done at the SU in his previous role as vice-president academic, and the confidence he has to fight for students’ needs, Pereyra is a very qualified candidate for this position.
Voting in this by-election can be done via online and in-person ballot on Oct. 12, 13 and 14. Online voting can be done through the myUofC Centre. Voting opens at 9 a.m. on Oct. 12 and closes at 4 p.m. on Oct. 14. All U of C undergraduate students are eligible to vote if they are enrolled in the Fall 2022 semester. To learn more about Aamir and Pereyra, visit their and the other candidates’ platforms on the SU website.