VP Academic Candidate: Alex Daly

RF: What do you think the responsibilities of the VP Academic are?

AD: Primarily they have to advocate for students on the various committees they sit on, they sit on Senate they consult with faculty administration and students about various issues and then they may go and present these issues to the various committees they sit on. They need to be aware of the pulse of the University for sure.

RF: What qualifications do you have for this job?

AD: I think I bring a fresh perspective I haven’t been on Council, but I have been involved a lot in the union especially this year as I am a student advocate. If someone is written up or they have a question about the conduct process they come and see me, and I give them the information they need. So, I have that one on one connection with students. I also go to administration and advocate for students and what they want. That requires the guts to go and not be afraid of the that power dynamic. I am also in the governance committee which means we go through all the by-laws and policies. Right now, we are updating everything because a lot of things are outdated and not working properly. I have read the by-laws back to front, so I know the intricacies of the union and how things are working and how to make things better.

RF: What are your platforms/pillars?

AD: I have six pillars, the first being to increase transparency and accountability in the student union. Voter turnout is extremally low for the union and the union is a multi-million-dollar corporation and we are here to do things for students, but a lot of students don’t know what the union does and provides, and they don’t advocate and get involved. The second thing is Open educational resources on campus, which would be free textbooks on online and such. There are many things we can do on campus to get infrastructure going and hire people for the library trained in that. The third thing that I am very passionate about is making sure that trans and non-binary students can get their preferred name on a official university documents, on class lists because currently they cannot to ensure that all students on campus can go to class and not be afraid of being outed if their gendered name is called out for attendance. The fourth thing is working with the Maple League (Bishops, Acadia, Mount Allison, StFX) which can create more course selections for students on campus. We are such a small university, so some things are just not offered, so it lets students take classes online and creates more opportunities for them. The fifth pillar is that the VP Academic sits on senate and senate is where most of the decisions are made especially on academics. The Board of Governors has a specific part of their agenda dedicated to student issues and I’d love to see that on Senate. I feel that this will prioritize student issues and makes sure student issues are at the forefront of whatever they are deciding. My sixth thing which is a low thing is marketing for the tutoring app, we have one, but no one uses it.

RF: What are you first going to do if elected?

AD: When I first get in I want to hire a good team, I’d want to hear from all the executives what they want to see done too, it’s not a one person show and I’d have to work with the President and talk to them and see what ideas they have. Lots of collaboration and work with students to see what they want and other people on council want.