The internal battle

Meet the two candidates for Vice-President (Internal)

Kyle Lamothe Staff

The vice-president (internal) position is much like the former director of internal administration and will deal with financial accountability issues, maintain the budget, and overlook the health and dental plan and student-run businesses.

What made you decided to run for vice-president (internal)?

Jim Barnby: There are a lot of great things happening on campus, but there are a lot of things if you look around that we feel we could do better. As your career goes on in university, you look around you and constantly say, “oh, I might have done that differently, I might have done this differently,” then when the chance comes you just take it, so we both did our research.

Amanda Jonson: A lot of it has had to do with the past year and a half and my involvement with UMSU and just my past general education. I’ve always been about efficiency and trying to help people, and I’ve studied environment design, so you’re always designing for people, so UMSU is very similar in its structure. If you are trying to help students or please students, then you have to make them happy for you to be happy.

What in your background do you feel makes you particularly suited for vice-president internal?

JB: I think I have fairly good leadership abilities. I was captain for the high school football team and I think that that is very well-suited to the UMSU executive. I also belong to a couple of other unions on Canada: CUPE and the United Workers of Canada, a food distribution union, and I belong to IEEE, so I know some of the basics that go on and what will be needed for the position.

AJ: Again that comes back to my education experience and my involvement with UMSU. I have helped out a lot with orientation week, celebration week, and I’ve done a lot of graphics and web design, so got to know UMSU very well. With the internal, the position itself includes the health and dental plan and the finance and budgeting as well as the different services that UMSU provides for students. As a student myself, I have become familiar and have used these services . . . .

Do you feel that the way that UMSU has been run in the past is accountable to students and financially accountable?

JB: I think that in a lot of ways they have been very accountable. They have great representation, which is a very important thing but some of the discussions that they have made we feel could have been done better . . . .

AJ: I believe that UMSU already has an open-door policy and is accountable, however there is always room for improvement. Just letting students know that we do have an open-door by pushing them further and getting them involved with budget consultation and letting them know where their money is going to be spent and also getting them to tell us where they want the money to be spent. It’s a back and forth kind of thing, since it’s their money we are spending . . . .

Since the ARAMARK contact is expiring in April 2007, what would you like to see happen with food services on campus?

JB: We’d like to see a greater diversity with the food distribution services — the same diversity that we have with our students — so we can’t say that we can get ARAMARK out, but we can say that we can limit the places they have. We can promote open-market tendering, and this will give students a better choice of food and more competition would mean better prices, so it’s to our advantage to try and get an open-market system.

AJ: Getting students what they really want. Because it’s running out, UMSU does have the opportunity to make a bid on the contract and, yes, it might be out of the question to some because no other student association in Canada actually has a food services bid or has control of the food services. I think that we should either establish a precedent or at least push for it or try — there is no reason that we shouldn’t try for this bid . . . .

What past developments in the student union, since you’ve been here, have you been most proud of and is there anything you regret?

JB: What I’m most proud of is the spirit that we try and get out. I think orientation week when we first get here is extremely effective at integrating high school students into the university. I think if the budget that is set aside for that was used properly, I think that it could be extremely good, and I think that we could use it better but that’s probably the thing I am most proud of.

The thing I’m least proud of is some of the attitude that we have towards the administration and government levels. I think that if we were to work in a partnership that we would be further ahead and that it would actually help us in the long run.

AJ: I’m proud that UMSU is allowing students to become more aware that UMSU exists. When I started school here six years ago I had no idea what UMSU was. Over the years I’ve seen UMSU become more of a presence and actually be there for the students . . . . When the University Centre was built it was owned 30 per cent by the students’ union, and nowadays it seems that UMSU is getting less and less [ownership] . . . . It’s kind of unfortunate that we don’t really have this place where you could create this “community culture” of students because it’s been taken over by other services . . . .

What would you like to tell the students/voters that differentiates you from the other candidate and why they should think about voting for you?

JB: I think I’m a better representation of the students on campus. My opponent already has a degree, so she’s not as close to the U1 group, which is the biggest group on campus, as myself. I think I know what it’s like to take a full, rigorous course load where you are staying here for labs until 6 o’clock at night and waking up for 8:30 classes, so I guess I just feel I better represent students.

AJ: I think that students should get involved with their students’ union. You are paying fees, so why not get out there and vote? You have the choice; ultimately it’s just a mark on the paper that will decide your next year here and will decide the next year on campus.

As for voting for me, I stand by my past involvement with UMSU and my passion for running. I believe in students because you can get through this, you can graduate, it’s ok. The students union is here for you.