2023 SU general election: Senate representatives
The University of Calgary Senate is comprised of members of the general public, alumni, students, and employed educators and academics who bridge the gap between the university and the wider community. The senate representatives meet with the senate to voice student concerns.
ALY SAMJI
Aly Samji is running to be elected as a senate representative for the upcoming term. Samji has a myriad of student leadership experiences from the Haskayne Wellness Society to multiple SU positions held during his time at the university.
Samji’s first advocacy goal listed would be to increase the awareness of the Senate in hopes to help engagement within the student community. Next, he looks to raise awareness of day-to-day struggles that students face — such as food insecurity, neurodivergency support, mental and physical health and systemic discrimination to name a few. Simultaneously, Samji will advocate for the creation of more scholarships and bursaries to help students’ finances.
Lastly, Samji calls out the previous senate representatives as being out of reach from the SU and thus, he is looking to correct this through new reporting systems insofar that the senate representatives can communicate better with the campus community and overall improve accountability.
Samji has continuously shown students that he is more than able to be an accountable leader to students and his platform exemplifies this once again.
All undergraduate students may vote on their ballot YES or NO for Aly Samji as one of two SENATE REPRESENTATIVE or ABSTAIN from voting.
REEANA TAZREEAN
Reeana Tazreean is another candidate for the position, but she did not interview with the Gauntlet, so here’s what students can expect from her solely based on her platform.
Tazreean is a third-year health and society student looking to help address student concerns. She’s been a part of the SU Undergraduate Research Symposium and the Teaching Excellence Awards committees, and was a Cumming School of Medicine representative this last term.
Her platform consists of four points: fight against tuition spikes, promote and improve student wellness resources, advocate for more transparency, and grow relationships with the community and organizations that benefit the university.
By using strategic advocacy initiatives, whatever that may mean, Tazreean wants to help fight against tuition increases.
She also wants to assess the effectiveness of the student wellness resources that exist, and conduct more consultation to keep things transparent between students and the university.
In her last point, Tazreean wants to further connect with the community and external organizations that benefit the university.
While Tazreean has experience in student politics already, having been a faculty representative for the Cumming School of Medicine last term, her platform is rather brief and it’s hard to know what her exact plans are in order to achieve her generalized goals.
All undergraduate students may vote on their ballot YES or NO for Reeana Tazreean as one of two SENATE REPRESENTATIVE or ABSTAIN from voting.