Sacha Delouvrier Sacha Delouvrier, a U2 Arts student majoring in international development and political science, is running unopposed for the position of SSMU Vice-President External. Delouvrier’s experience includes working for several Montreal-based nonprofit organizations and the International Relations Students’ Association of McGill (IRSAM). He intends to bring SSMU into the Union étudiant du Québec (UEQ), the largest Quebec Students’ Union. Stressing that the UÉQ has come more into line with SSMU policies since the group formed in 2015, Delouvrier believes that full membership in the student union would allow McGill students to have a greater influence on provincial policies. He believes that the due of $4.84/student paid to UÉQ ought to be opt-outable. Delouvrier hopes to continue with incumbent President Earle’s five-year plan, and expand the role played by the VP External in said plan. Regarding the francization of SSMU documents, Delouvrier hopes to continue and go beyond. He said that he “want[s] to hire a French language commissioner to oversee both the translators [and] the work-centric language program.” Delvouvrier plans to boost McGill students’ work opportunities include reaching out to local businesses to encourage them to hire McGill students, and possibly offering a wage subsidy. To further improve relations between the Milton-Parc community and McGill students, he proposes for SSMU to deepen relations with local volunteer associations. To improve living standards in the Milton-Parc area, Delouvrier wants to continue SSMU’s support for the affordable housing project, and he hopes to lobby the municipal government to increase the number of trash bins. Furthermore, he wants SSMU to run information campaigns to students on trash disposal and recycling. His full platform can be found here. |
Claire Downie Claire Downie is a U3 Arts student, majoring in economics and double minoring in history and health geography, running for VP University Affairs. She has worked inside the University Affairs Portfolio for the past two years as menstrual products coordinator, and has sat on the Mental Health Advocacy Committee. She is currently a SSMUnion executive. Her threefold platform addresses student concerns about McGill’s response to COVID-19: academic rights, accessibility issues, and student health and safety. Given the lack of details about the Fall 2021 return to in-person classes, Downie’s goals are to meet student needs as they evolve. She also wants to build on what incumbent VP University Affairs Brooklyn Fizzle has done this past year, by continuing the extended S/U Policy, furthering the Library Improvement Fund and the Know Your Rights Campaign, and establishing a standard of basic student rights for the coming year. “In a traditional year you’d get things like attendance grades, participation points, that sort of thing, and I think COVID has made it a lot clearer for a lot of people that these policies are really harmful to students that are chronically ill, or students with disabilities,” Downie said. “And in a COVID context when we’re back in in-person classes [...] and professors are pushing for things like mandatory attendance, you’re gonna get scenarios where people are saying ‘Oh I’m not feeling great but I can’t miss class,’ and that extends into a public health issue way beyond McGill.” With this standard of rights, Downie is keeping in mind the potential barriers caused by COVID-19 (financial costs of quarantines, student vaccinations, travel restrictions), as well as potential health precautions (spaced seating in smaller classes, mandatory masks). The standard would also address academic expectations (what percentage of the final grade an exam can count for, ‘missed’ coursework during Add/Drop), and long-standing accessibility issues like laptop bans, and the inefficacy of the OSD’s unpaid note-taking services. |
Neel Soman Neel Soman is a U3 Arts student studying Russian language, and is running for VP University Affairs. One of his priorities is shifting the way the university addresses sexual violence, and he has researched legal rights on this subject and multiple university policies to fully understand what barriers there are in reporting instances of sexual violence. Through this research, he has discovered that McGill’s current Policy Against Sexual Violence and Policy on Harassment and Discrimination Prohibited by Law include some aspects that do not properly and specifically protect transgender students or are not as clear as they should be. Soman believes that this causes issues for students when reporting instances of sexual violence or harassment. “I would love to work with the provost and vice-principal academic to possibly look at the option of merging these [two policies] and making a policy on discrimination and sexual violence,” explains Soman. He says he would also like to work with the Post-Graduate Students’ Society to demand a higher standard in regards to their sexual misconduct policy from students who are and will be in positions of power in the future. Soman’s platform also addresses the challenges that francophone students face in accessing information services and their right to submit work in French. According to Soman, different student services, including the Wellness Hub and the OSD, have inadequate information and services for francophone students. If elected, he plans to work with the Francophone Affairs Commission on this. Further, Soman will push for this policy to be included on syllabi and actively enforce it, as well as demand transparency in grading papers. With regards to McGill’s return to in-person learning in fall 2021, Soman highlighted the importance of giving students options and the freedom to choose their academic study plan. He also intends to work on lifting class attendance requirements, declaring that “policies like that don’t work and encourage students to put attendance before things like their health, both physical and mental.” In terms of administrative experience, Soman was a member of his Residence Council and the Inter-Residence Council. He was also the president of his high school’s Music Council and has worked with local schools to increase enrollment. In high school, he worked with the superintendent and the school board to “bring in a formal process for auditing classes,” and he advocated for teaching American Sign Language. While on exchange in Australia in 2019, Soman was involved with the board of directors of the Melbourne Figure Skating club, helping with finances and event management. However, Soman prefers to put more emphasis on his personal and lived experiences as a queer person of colour than his administrative experience. He is a survivor of sexual violence, and he explains that this has given him an “understanding of what barriers there can be to reporting things like this and what pathways can be taken both at McGill and outside.” He believes that these aspects of his background make him “very qualified to represent the students of this school at multiple levels.” |