SU By-Elections 2022: Haskayne School of Business
By Sophia Lopez, Julieanne Acosta, October 7 2022—
In this year’s Students’ Union (SU) by-election, one Haskayne School of Business representative position is up for grabs. There are two engineering 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.
ALY SAMJI
Aly Samji is a candidate for the Haskayne School of Buisness representative position. His platform and interview with the Gauntlet makes it clear that he is willing and capable to fight for students and provide transparent communication.
As fifth-year Haskayne student, Samji has helped a multitude of positions such as vice-president student life of the Haskayne Student Association (HSA), Haskayne’s Ambassador on the U of C mental health alliance, founding member of Haskyane’s first-year mentorship program, senator at U of C and the 78th SU’s Haskyane Representative which has allowed him the opportunity to gain different experiences in student advocation.
“I was able to really develop good relations with faculty and administration and learn who to go to for what particular sorts of problems students are facing and how to get them solved in an effective and efficient manner.” said Samji. “Through my role as 78th Haskayne representative of the SU I was able to learn more about the inner workings of the SU as well as the broader university administration. Through these diverse [leadership] experiences — as well as being a part of the business pride clube and the moot court society — allowed me to gain a collective and holistic understanding of the student experience.”
Samji’s main platform points focuses on financial and educational accessibility, mental health advocacy and financial transparency. If elected, throughout his term Samji notes that he will continue to ask for feedback from students.
“It’s going to be a hybrid structure of still using our social media for outreach and face to face connections. I really want to focus on those face to face connections — it’s a lot more effective to have that face to face interaction with students to really determine what their main points are.” said Samji.
Having already held this role before and the myriad of other leadership positions, Samji is a strong and trustworthy candidate for the position.
MATTHEW ROWBOTTOM
Matthew Rowbottom is another candidate for the Haskayne School of Business representative position, but he did not interview with the Gauntlet, so this is what students can expect from him solely based on his platform.
Rowbottom is a third-year finance student has two main platform points: increased tuition transparency and awareness of changes, and increased program engagement.
Along with the issues of tuition increases, Rowbottom wants to look into where addition Haskayne student fees are going and how they help provide for students. He wants students to get a say on whether or not these fees are beneficial to their education.
Regarding his second platform point, Rowbottom believes that there are many programs available for students that many simply just don’t know about, naming the BOLD program as an example. He plans to communicate these programs to students and make them more aware of what is already being offered.
While we can’t provide more information besides what is presented on his platform, Rowbottom has a few leadership experiences in clubs and his intramural hockey team that could help him meet the needs to business students.
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 Samji and Rowbottom, visit their and the other candidates’ platforms on the SU website.