The Strand: Devon Wilton, why are you running for Board of Regents?
Coming out of a brief career in VUSAC politics, as a counselor and then as VPE, [I found] the work I wanted to do has a lot to do with the Board of Regents. The Renaming Ryerson proposal, a huge goal of my term, is going to the Board of Regents. Doing all that work this year showed me that decisions made at the Board really impact student life and what we want at the university. It opened my eyes to the changes that can happen if the people at the Board are hearing the right arguments and making the right decisions. There are things students have been asking for, for years, like fossil fuel divestment and gender-neutral washrooms across campus, free menstrual products across campus. Those are things that VUSAC has made some progress on in the Goldring Student Centre, but I believe that it’s the Board that can really make those things happen. I want to be one of the people pushing for those things.
Great! I would love to hear more about your platform
There aren’t specific goals that I’m coming out of this year to bring to the BoR. If the renaming Ryerson proposal is still before the Board next year if I’m elected would be a huge goal. I support that [proposal] and would leverage my position as a Board member to get it through.
[My platform is] about supporting the calls of the students at the time in the moment, so if divestment is a huge priority of the incoming VUSAC for example, then that’s something that’s going to have a lot more impetus at the Board level. I see it as listening to what’s needed and seeing what projects I can really devote time. Aside, from individual things, I know I want to bring more transparency and more accountability to the position.
I want to work a lot closer with the VUSAC representatives this year, because I think coordinating Vic external pressure can get a lot done. The student board members, the four of us as a team can work together in a more cohesive way. There’s a lot of potential change making power that can be leveraged at the university.
Being present at VUSAC meetings, making reports, a Facebook page, a public email are things that the board members don’t have right now in terms of facilitating student engagement. Those are things that I want to implement under sort of the structure that VUSAC already has for these sorts of engagements.
What makes you so well suited for the position?
I have a lot of experience in terms of Vic student politics and Vic internal lobbying. Coming into VPE I didn’t really know that much about the internal structure of the university but through things like Renaming Ryerson, observing the alcohol policy review and the free menstrual products project that some of my colleagues have been working on opened my eyes to how the university works. As well as what to do inside that framework to affect real change. The experience in those positions has shown that I’m someone who is committed to the work and getting the work done.
You mentioned before that your main goal as potential board of regent that you want to keep your finger on the pulse, how do you feel like you intend to do that?
To stay in contact with the elected VUSAC members and to allow public comments from anyone on the VCU, through Facebook, through other social media, through email. Those are channels that are available and should be available to be used, but in my experience, they aren’t often taken advantage of. Why would you go to a BoR with your problem if you don’t know what’s going on? But VUSAC has a more special place in the hearts and minds of student body. Those are the people who are doing the work and setting the priorities for what their work is doing.
Is there any short-term or long-term goals you would want to mention before we wrap up?
Devon: Just the ones that I listed and that are in my candidate statement. All things I think we need to bring the board of regents, the renaming Ryerson project, fossil fuel divestment, campus wide gender-neutral bathrooms, campus wide free menstrual products. These things that we dream of having at Vic but don’t actually happen, are things that the board can do, and they just need someone to go in there and tell them to do it.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity
