The Strand: You were on the Board of Regents this year. Why do you want to return to the Board?
I’ve had a very good experience this past year. I would like to return to the Board because I don’t think a year is enough time to affect change in the Board system, which runs on a 5-year term. Now that I understand how everything works and know the people on the Board, I think I am better situated to do more, and understand where I actually can do more.
You mentioned that you’d like to connect students’ ideas with the Board. Do you have ideas about how this can be done?
There is a Board Facebook group, but few people actually have access to it, so I wanted to revive that, and I wanted to have a Google forum on it where students could submit concerns that they had about what the Board is doing. We could bring up concerns as a “student report” in the Board meetings. Or, redirect concerns to where they should go.
What do you see as the greatest benefit of involving students in governing bodies within the university?
A lot of the people on the Board are very invested in Vic and feel a strong connection to it, but they went to Vic in the 80s, they have other jobs and live other places, so they’re not really connected in that sense. When they are trying to map out what they want Vic to be, they are thinking what them, in the 80s, wanted Vic to be. We are there to provide the [current] context for them.
What are some challenges?
We don’t meet that often. When you are there, you have to take advantage of those two hours in the meeting. Things move very slowly, since you meet in your committees and then go on to the Board. With environmental politics, there is definitely some apprehension on the Board. I would hope to affect change by building further relationships with members of the Board.
What was one thing you were proud of on the Board this year?
I was proud of speaking to President Robbins specifically about the OSAP changes for students. We talked a bit about how it’s important to have in-course scholarships because many students might have thought they were getting grants for their entire four years but now are not. President Robbins was very positive about my comments. I was happy with how it went.
Is there anything you would do differently on the board this year?
I would try to meet with either the Committee Chairs or with the Chair of the Board outside of the Board meetings. If elected, I was planning on meeting with the Chair of the Board to talk about what we can and cannot post on our board Facebook page, for legal reasons.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity
