The average student has probably noticed that we have something of an election going on. Not only are we electing our new Engineering Society Executive, but we’re also electing our new Federation of Students Executive and Council.
Elections come and go and people complain about the recently deceased and soon (hopefully) to be rejuvenated Bomber, about how high the fees are, about mental health and academics, and sexual assault and harassment policies on campus.
Did you know there are students on campus right now whose whole job is to look after these concerns?
Your co-op and academic issues are largely tackled by the VPs Education or Academic. Your community and mental health issues are often tackled by your VPs Student Life. Your financial concerns (Where is my money going? What’s happening to UPASS? Do we have student insurance and healthcare and legal services?) are handled by your VPs Finance.
These are important issues. They affect us every day. They affect whether you’re allowed to leave a co-op job when you’re facing harassment, they affect what the co-op fee looks like, they affect how you get to class in the morning (busing), and they affect the mental health training your professors and teaching assistants receive.
So you’ve never voted in an election before, why should you now?
Because you should care about the things being decided by these leaders. Because your FedS President is part of the conversation that decides what orientation week looks like. Because your FedS VP Operations and Finance are part of the conversation of what your health insurance looks like. Because your FedS VP Education is part of the provincial lobbying that dictates what your tuition and fees and sexual harassment policies look like. They also determine what kind of input we, the average student, have in the decision.
We all need to care about voting for FedS a little more because these people will make the decisions with or without us.
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