The Strand sat down with Emilia de Fabritiis, who is running uncontested for the position of Commuter Commissioner this election season.
The Strand: Why are you running for this position?
Emilia de Fabritiis: I’m running for Commuter Commissioner because I’m currently the VOCA Co-Chair, and I have run some really good initiatives and things I’d like to see done again. Helping commuter life on campus is really important, especially since most of Victoria College is off-campus or commuter students, so it’s really important to me. I’ve been a commuter student for the last three years, and I know how hard it is. Especially in my first year, from high-school to university, [it took] over an hour and a half to get to campus every day. I was lucky in my first year to have a community of commuter students, and upper-year students who helped me get more comfortable and know the Vic resources more. Being that source for other people— that’s something I’d really like to do. Being VOCA Co-Chair this year I’ve run a lot of events, collaborating with VUSAC Sustainability, and APD [Academic and Professional Development], and other clubs and levies, that I’d like to see done again. I feel like it’s my natural next step.
Why are you a good fit for this position?
Continuing the work I’ve been doing. There’s only so much you can do in one year, and I have lots more ideas and collaborations in mind.
Is there something you’d like to add or change about VOCA?
So we really wanted to push for vegan pancakes this year. It was very expensive, and this upset me because one of my biggest things when applying for Co-Chair was [pushing for] vegan pancakes, and that was really hard because when we did the math, it was a huge chunk of our budget. So as a result, I wanted to focus more on programming and commuter events. People know VOCA just for pancakes, and as much as that is something that we do, what I’d like to see done is more focus on commuter representation—similar to the commuter dons. More programming, not just food events, and shift our focus.
What do you think is an important issue facing commuter students and what would you like to do to address that, and what is VOCA’s role in terms of addressing that?
A lot of the time people just don’t know about the events on campus. It’s kind of a subjective thing, because there are people that don’t care about student life. Something I like to do is be like “do you know about this, this is what we offer.” I don’t necessarily make it a VOCA thing, it could be a VISA, or Strand thing, just making people aware of what’s going on. Another thing I’ve done this year is promoting outside Vic. Vic students just don’t spend time at Vic, so promoting Vic events in places like Bahen and Sid Smith, is helpful.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
