Editor’s note: The Campus Times welcomed SA presidential candidates to respond to our feedback on their proposals. See this ticket’s original proposals here.
We thank you for this new take on supporting the SA Government Elections! We were very happy to see an analysis of each proposal, which took into account not only the information sent in by candidates, but relevant information from their platforms as well.
With regards with our own proposals, we were very happy with your feedback! We too see the practicality and efficacy of a small Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC). We acknowledge that selecting a small group of individuals to represent and liaise with the diversity of groups on campus will be challenging, but we are determined to communicate with student groups (especially those that advocate for underrepresented populations) to ensure that the PAC is as representative as possible.
Considering our proposal regarding ISAC, we were also happy with your response. The goals that are mentioned are certainly important to the students, and it is worthwhile to pursue them. To clarify the point made about publicity, it is the case that much of the effort of ISAC is unknown by the international student population, and therefore students are not getting the most amount of benefit from their work. By stressing constant outreach by ISAC to international students and student groups, specific executive updates by the Office of the President, and publicity through emails, conversations, banners, and more, we are sure that ISAC’s projects will be better known to the student body. With increased publicity, we believe that ISAC events and projects will be better advertised, better utilized, and will better serve the students. Also, ISAC’s role is partially to liaise with administration. As SA Government has shown in the past, dedication to projects can certainly influence a change in administrative policies, including the open hours of offices.
Speaking to our SA Hackathon idea, we feel that some of the spirit of it was lost in our proposal. It is true that many forums exist to work on student-centered and student-proposed initiatives (such as the 5K challenge, which was mentioned).
However, we believe that the Hackathon would specifically bring student groups and SA Government together to creatively solve issues on campus. We envision that this would help bridge a gap that is present between different constituencies on campus by offering an environment for them to work together for common benefit. Subsequent to this event, it would be the role of the Executive Branch to review and assess the output of this event, and to empower student groups to achieve the ideas that most feasibly and rationally address issues.
Overall, we are very thankful for your work on this article. We believe that all candidates are framed fairly, objectively, and respectfully. Thank you again for deciding to take this new perspective on the candidates!
Sincerely,
Vlad Cazacu and Kamel Awayda
