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GSS 2010: Meet your candidates
By David Proctor
SFU’s grad students will have the opportunity to vote for the individuals that will fill the positions of president, secretary, and treasurer of the GSS in an online vote that will take place between Tuesday, April 6, and Thursday, April 8. For more information about the GSS candidates, see our coverage of the all-candidate question-and-answer period hosted by the GSS Electoral Committee last Wednesday on page 6.
Christina Bielek for president
“Grads need a voice — advocacy now!”
Relevant experience: I draw from three years of experience working with student unions and five years working as project coordinator for non-profit organizations. I held an executive position with the Capilano Students’ Union, also serving as women’s issues liaison, signing authority, and equity and diversity committee member. I am the Sociology/Anthropology steward for the TSSU as well as a finance and job action committee member. Given my track record of advocating for members’ rights and organizing member participation, my candidacy for GSS president has been endorsed by the TSSU stewards’ network. Further, I am a founding member of 45West (a cooperative artists’ space), a community garden, and a grassroots theatre group. Given this experience, I understand the importance of grassroots involvement in decision-making processes and the need for strong and accessible community organizations. I believe that the GSS will benefit from my facilitation, advocacy, communication, project coordination, research, conflict resolution, budgeting, and reporting skills.
Platform and goals: Being from a department that has been through massive funding cuts, I have experienced, first hand, the difficulties of pursuing a graduate degree given an overall lack of TA-ships, GFs, and other scholarships, the downsizing of graduate administrative services, and a tendency towards financial and food insecurity. Given that these issues are not restricted to my department, but are rather a reality for many grads, I believe that it is essential to strengthen the GSS as a participatory advocacy organization. This not only means creating more spaces for members to participate and vote on a regular basis, but it also means capacitating the GSS to represent grads at the individual, departmental, university, provincial, and national levels. I plan to advance coordinated efforts to advocate for increases to graduate student funding, a reduction in tuition fees, as well as other issues that are put forward by the general membership.
Duncan Wlodarczak for president
“Advocacy, Communication, Engagement (A.C.E.)”
Relevant experience: I am a two-term elected GSS Executive Committee member. During this time, I have taken a very active role in the organization, acting as a representative on many GSS committees. These include the Executive Director Hiring Committee, Benefit Plan Committee, Graduate Space Committee, Bargaining Committee, as well as being the chair of the GSS Sustainability Committee. I am also the past chair and GSS council rep for the Urban Studies Graduate Student Association. Outside of the GSS, I act as a graduate student representative on the University’s Ethical Procurement Committee, Senate Graduate Studies Committee, and the Sustainability Advisory Committee.
My experience has allowed me to develop a solid understanding of university issues and governance, post-secondary funding, and student-administration relations. I believe this knowledge will ensure that I am an effective representative for graduate student interests as your GSS president.
Platform and goals: Advocacy is the primary objective of my platform to ensure that issues more important to grads are represented to the university community. This includes access to funding, campus sustainability, and accessibility for all students. Improved communication with grads supports this mandate by ensuring accountability, transparency, and effective outreach. With the engagement of all grads, departmental caucuses will be supported in achieving their goals and greater collaboration between organizations will occur. One of the ways I will work towards this objective is through strengthening graduate community and positively affecting grad life on campus. This includes hosting more socials to encourage interdepartmental interaction, and developing a graduate student recreational sports league that will promote community among students and encourage a healthy, active lifestyle.
As a member of the A.C.E. for GSS slate with Christi Garneau-Scott, I am committed to strong advocacy, communication, and engagement with the graduate student population at SFU.
Christi Garneau-Scott for secretary
“Advocacy, Communication, Engagement (A.C.E.)”
Relevant experience: I have over five years of student leadership experience and the skills necessary to be the GSS secretary. My undergrad is from the University of Guelph where I was academic commissioner of the Central Student Association, a full-time executive position representing over 17,000 students. At Guelph, I was also a student senator and twice-elected faculty student government president.
Since arriving at SFU, I’ve been an active member of the GSS Executive, Council, and founder and chair of the Task Force for Graduate Students with Disabilities. I represent grads on the Senate Library Committee and the Senate Policy Committee on scholarships, awards, and bursaries, and next year I’ll be a graduate student senator.
Through these positions I’ve developed a solid understanding of university issues and governance, post-secondary funding, the role of labour unions, and student-faculty relations. I believe this knowledge will ensure that I’m an effective representative for graduate student interests.
Platform and goals: Accountability and transparency are major priorities for me. I am committed to responsible governance of the GSS to ensure that all decisions are representative of graduate student values and concerns. Part of my role is to help students understand how the GSS operates and where they can get involved. Records need to be made available to all members and decision-making processes clear and participatory. Increased support for departmental caucuses, both funding and training, is necessary to empower them to achieve their goals.
In terms of advocacy work, I will continue to support the Task Force for Graduate Students with Disabilities to ensure greater accessibility for all students, and collaboratively working towards improving graduate student funding and equitable distribution of financial support.
As a member of the A.C.E. for GSS slate with Duncan Wlodarczak, I am committed to strong advocacy, communication, and engagement with the graduate student population at SFU.
Chris Westendorf for secretary
“Unified graduate communities at all campuses.”
Relevant experience: I am the founder and president of the Education Students Action Committee at UBC. There, I led a successful advocacy campaign, which resulted in the creation of a paid ombudsperson to service the specific needs of student teachers. I have worked in the captioning industry and have an excellent WPM. I have large-scale communications and administration experience through coordinating elementary school athletic programs.
Platform and goals: I will listen to the concerns of graduate students and advocate with dedication for their interests. I will also create unified graduate communities at all campuses by working with the GSS to create GSS sub-councils at the downtown and Surrey campuses. These sub-councils would improve accessibility, offer events and services, and lay the foundations for a unified graduate community.
Raged Anwar for treasurer
“Fighting for our graduate lives . . . together.”
Relevant experience: I am currently serving a second term as president of the Economics Graduate Student Society, a steward to the TSSU, and a representative to my department’s graduate program committee. I have a BSc in Business Administration and will soon have an MA in Economics. In addition to my formal education in economics, finance, and accounting, I served as an assistant to the general manager at a hotel for two years and regularly handled financial matters.
Platform and goals: I will help create a graduate community that helps students deal with issues like funding, working conditions (too much work or difficult supervisor), difficulties striking a work/leisure balance, and transition issues for international students, students with families, and students returning to academia after a break. In essence, I want the GSS to be an organization that graduate students can turn to when dealing with issues unique to us, by building stronger interdepartmental relationships.
Charles Bond Kebbi for treasurer
“To have the best, be with the best.”
Experience and platform: As a graduate student in Finance, I would provide the tools and expertise necessary for investing and keeping the school’s budget and accounts in order. Being an ex-U.S. Army, I know how important it is to work on a team. I plan on being a good team member and working closely with the other members of the Board to make sure this year’s goals are met on time and as planned. As a former manager of two pharmaceutical companies, I have helped auditors carry out audits and I have carried out numerous financial audits. I plan to continue with this spirit to ensure all money in our budget is accounted for and every action has a track record.
Jag Tamber for treasurer
“Unifying SFU’s graduate community.”
Experience and platform: I am currently an MBA student at SFU’s Segal Graduate School of Business. My undergraduate education was in science at the University of Victoria, where I studied Kinesiology and helped advocate and organize events on behalf of the Kinesiology Student Society. In my current studies, my area of interest is finance. I hope to use the skills I have developed to serve the graduate community at SFU as the Graduate Student Society treasurer. As a member of the Graduate Community Unification Party (GCUP), Chris Westendorf and I hope to increase accessibility to GSS services and events to not only the Burnaby campus, but the surrounding Vancouver and Surrey campuses as well. We are committed to advocating on behalf of SFU’s growing graduate community and want to focus on issues important to all graduate students, such as funding and benefits. Concurrently with the officer elections, grad students will have the opportunity to vote on three referendum questions. Voting for the referenda will also take place online from Tuesday, April 6, to Thursday, April 8.
Referendum question one: “Do you agree to the following changes to the Society’s by-laws?
Addition of By-law XIII — Executive Director
The Executive Director of the Society shall be a signing officer of the Society.
The duties and remuneration of the Executive Eirector shall be determined by Council. Council may authorize any or all of the Society’s officers to sign a binding contract with the executive director to this effect.
The Executive Director shall be a non-voting member of the Executive Committee.
The Executive Director shall be a non-voting member of Council.
Other duties of the Executive Director may be established from time to time by the Executive Committee or by Council.”
Referendum question two: “Do you agree to the following change to the Society’s By-law VI — Executive Committee, section 6?
6.To be eligible to be elected as an Executive, a person must be:
a.a member of the Society in good standing and
b.a regular member of Council and must not be an undischarged bankrupt.
- Composition of the Executive Committee:
a. Every Executive must be a member of the Society in good standing and must not be an undischarged bankrupt.
b. No more than two (2) Executives may be regular members of the Society and not regular sitting members of Council.
c. No more than three (3) Executives may be regular sitting members of Council.
d. In the event that there are fewer than two (2) candidates for the Executive Committee who are regular members of the Society and not regular sitting members of Council, the remaining seat(s) on the Executive may be filled by regular sitting members of Council.”
Referendum question three: “Do you agree that the Society discontinue collecting the special membership fee for the Peak Publication Society, effective Fall 2010, resulting in a reduction of $4.90 per full-time student and $2.45 per part-time student per term in the Graduate Student Society Activity fee?”