Compiled by Jacqueline Perlin with files from Yuni Kim. Photos by Pippin Lee. (Pippin Lee)
Siva Vimalachandran VP equity Priorities To increase student space To increase prayer space
To phase out bottled water “Vp equity is a position that deals with human rights issues on campus. I’ve had a keen interest on this position of equity on this campus for about three to four years now.” “What I want to see next year is more prayer space and student space on campus that everyone can use. I want to expand the ‘Xpression against Oppression’ series and bring more high-profile speakers to the population about issues of racism, homophobia and discrimination on campus.” “I am very optimistic. We have a very great team, great people standing for great issues. I am confident in our work ethic and because we are building off the victories of our predecessors, I’m sure we can accomplish all these tasks.” (Pippin Lee)
Alastair Woods VP campaigns and advocacy Priorities Affordable public transit Affordable tuition/financial support through government lobbying
Phasing out water bottles “I’m really excited and honoured to have this position. I’m really pumped to get started […] We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I can’t wait to start.” “I want to fight to defend the $99 metropass for the part-time students. It’s a really important thing that students have fought for, and we need to defend it. I also want to ensure that we will be working with the TTC and city council, to hopefully extend that discount to tickets and tokens.” “We have a provincial election coming up for sure, possibly and federal election […] I want to be working with students from across Ontario to ensure we can get every party to make a commitment for students on tuition fees and financial aid.” (Pippin Lee)
Robert Cerjanec VP operations Priorities Expanding the online service portal of the YFS Budget auditing and ensuring the YFS has an unqualified budget
Managing club funding
Increasing club space “Not only will I be building upon the successes of the YFS has had in the past, but also come up with new ideas and things just like any other organization should.” “There’s a couple of interesting things [I want to do], one of which is an online service portal where we can put more of the YFS services online […] additionally, I think it’s important to have a balanced budget and an unqualified audit, which is really important to any organization, especially on campus when we are receiving money from students. You really have to be accountable for that.” (Pippin Lee) Monirul Pathan VP campus life Priorities More student space Student events
Developing YorkFest Welcome Week “I’m really excited to be serving 50,000 students. I’m super excited to be VP campus life.” “We’ve been working with clubs on campus. We’ve got a very rich and diverse number of cultures on campus. But the problem comes with student space; we just don’t have enough of it. Guess back in December, we had an AGM and a motion was brought forward that we should start planning a new Student Centre for new student space and it passed with strong support.” (Pippin Lee)
Vanessa Hunt President Priorities Creating womens’-only gym time Eliminating one percent interest rate on tuition fees
Extending the add-drop fee deadline “We have to work as a team, or nothing would ever get done. I’m looking forward to a really great year. We’ve had some really great successes over the last couple of years, and it’s something I really want to build on and keep pushing forward with.” “Being a woman, I definitely want to keep working to expand the women’s-only gym time and to expand the program […] We need to get the word out there. There was a period of time during the day that they had women’s only gym time available, but most women didn’t know about [it] because the message got lost over the summer.” “I put in a lot of effort during nomination time, and worked my butt off. It’s great to be in this position [president], but we still have two more people that we have to work to help out. I’m really dedicated to making sure that the entire team [of Students First] makes it.”
