Engineering Candidates Among Few Bright Spots of FEDS Debates

The FEDS media debate was hosted from noon to 3 PM, Monday January 31^st. Though poorly attended and with much of the expected antics, it was nonetheless elucidating.

The event started with questions to the engineering candidates for senate. Trevor Jenkins, Ben Selby and Adhiran Thirmal all spoke well; with little to differentiate among them (Jordan Lui was away on co-op). All three stressed the importance of greater communication to and from the faculty, and fostering closer connections with the other student representatives (VP Education and President).  The scant questions also gave each of the candidates the opportunity to re-iterate their qualifications and experience (http://vote.feds.ca/descriptions/senate).

The debate for at-large senator also resulted in much re-iteration and duplication among the candidates, with each candidate emphasizing their respective experience as communicator and collaborator (again, very little was said not available on the website).

The race for engineering council allowed Trevor Jenkins and Juzer Shafali to explain how they would reach out to all engineers, especially those outside of the typical “Engsoc crowd”. Yousif Al-Khder (on co-op) was the only absent candidate of the day to prepare a statement outlining his position. I can honestly state that I could not discern a single cogent statement from Syed Albiz.

I won’t comment on the other faculty’s debates, with the exception of a  Rhino candidate’s repeated promise of “five tons of flax” as a solution to all problems facing UW students, setting the tone for the rest of the debate.

The one surprise of the afternoon came withRob Fry announcing his departure from the race, citing a lack of passion for the position. The debate polarized into Luke Burke’s emphasis on upholding the existing services, with a look into additional support as necessary and John Stevenson’s promise to agglomerate all student societies into a single office in the SLC and the replacement of student space with a private pool for himself.

The VP Education debate was the most muddled, with some apparent confusion as to the responsibilities and authority of the position. Brian Maloney discussed the importance of working closely with faculties, citing his close working relationship with the current VP Education, as ASU VP Academic. Andre Magalhaes pushed his experience as MathSoc president. Natalie Cockburn was the only candidate to show any interest or knowledge of how co-op fees are set, while Edgar Bering re-iterated his platform of increasing the number of committees and conferences for him and his friends to attend on the students’ bill.

The most intense moments of the debate came with the ruthless grilling of VP Finance and Administration candidate Prashanth Patel over allegations of financial mismanagement of MathSoc, potential conflicts of interest and his role as MathFoc. Though clearly flustered at times, Prashanth attempted to answer clearly, with a direct acknowledgement and explanation of his censure as MathSoc VP Finance, an apology and re-commitment to the other MathFoc and reassurance that any potential conflicts would be ended before the start of his term, should he be elected. He stumbled especially while explaining his role as MathFOC, but eventually made clear that he had discussed the matter thoroughly with fellow FOC and felt the importance of the FEDS position outweighed the lost opportunity to orientation week. The audience could barely conceal its mirth at the Marc Burns’scalmly repeated assertion that he would resign immediately, should he be elected, with little further comment to add.

The Presidential debate was the most demarcated, with Team Real’s Matt Colphon emphasizing his commitment, vision and experience to FEDS, and Team Rhino’s Ian Charlesworth expressing continued contempt for existing FEDS processes, policies and staff, incurring the wrath of some staff in attendance. An especially memorable moment came when Charlesworth cited his experience as Grade 3 class representative for an elementary school student council as his most relevant experience to the position.

The debate will be continued February 1^st, again in the SLC Great Hall, with executive candidates receiving questions from the current FEDS executive. I encourage all to attend and to get informed and vote in the upcoming election.

To listen to recordings of the two debates, please visit – http://radio.feds.ca/