This year’s Arts and Science Undergraduate Society (ASUS) executive election sees a significant change—candidates are running alone.
For the upcoming ASUS executive election, all positions are uncontested. The roles of president, vice-president (operations), and vice-president (student affairs) each have a sole candidate vying for the position.
In interviews with The Journal, all three candidates dove into their platforms, sharing their visions for ASUS while outlining their goals for the upcoming year.
President
For Cole Olidis, ArtSci ’25, the uncontested election for ASUS President speaks volumes.
“That’s really the core of my platform. We’re not having engagement with students [bringing] their concerns to us,” Olidis said in an interview with The Journal.
In elementary school, Olidis read out the morning announcements to his classmates. In high school, he thrived in leadership positions. He joined ASUS as a wide-eyed first-year intern and now believes he’s ready to lead the organization.
“We’re entirely funded through student dollars. I think it’s so important we’re accurately representing students,” Olidis said.
For Olidis, the most important part of being the ASUS president is advocating for students. To start, he wants to find out what students want and need from their elected government, and more importantly, where they want their money to go.
With the threat of budget cuts looming over the Faculty of Arts and Science, Olidis hopes to understand student perspectives on the issue, eventually bringing them to Dean Barbara Crow and other members of upper administration.
“We want students to be informed, and [we will be] working with the Dean to make sure we’re keeping students informed about the budget cuts and other topics,” Olidis said
Olidis acknowledges engaging in student government can seem daunting to the average ArtSci student. If elected, he hopes to communicate more effectively with students about avenues to have their voices heard.
“I think there is a bit of a bubble with student government where it’s the same people hitting the same events,” Olidis said.
He hopes through drop-in talking sessions in the Queen’s Centre and other outreach initiatives, he can engage with students across Queen’s largest faculty.
As the Services Commissioner this year, Olidis oversaw ASUS services such as exchange buddies and peer mentorship programs, but is most proud of the Good Times Diner, a service offering free food to anyone in Kingston.
In the fall exam season, he organized for 106 free food bags to be handed out to students. With a passion for food insecurity, Olidis believes he played a role in increasing the budget for the Good Times Diner and aims to keep it up.
Vice-president (operations)
Silas Tamlyn, ArtSci ’25, is running as the vice-president (operations) candidate on a platform of increased transparency and accountability. Despite lacking experience in student government, Tamlyn feels his Commerce Certificate and time as Finance Director at Queen’s Pre-Law Society prepared him for the role.
If he becomes vice-president (operations), Tamlyn’s main goal is to reduce unnecessary spending. For expenses at every level of the society, he hopes to ensure costs are useful to students and ASUS is getting the best price possible. Using the example of booking rooms for a conference, Tamlyn said he will ensure no one is wasting money.
Accountability is another one of Tamlyn’s main platform points, ensuring budget lines are being spent in ways which benefit the ASUS community and money is being distributed equitably among all six commissions.
To ensure transparency, Tamlyn plans to continue with live spending updates on the ASUS website. However, he plans to increase its accessibility, as he believes it’s currently unknown to many students.
“If there’s any ever inquiries about why something was [bought], I would like to publicly outline it and explain the rationale behind things,” Tamlyn said.
ASUS operates on an annual budget of roughly $1 million funded mostly by mandatory student fees. Currently, the ASUS Membership Fee costs each student $34.30.
As someone who hasn’t been involved in ASUS, Tamlyn plans to build off previous years to help create a better experience for both current and future students.
Vice-president (student affairs)
If elected vice-president (student affairs), Helena Shimwell, ArtSci ’25, plans to be an advocate for student interests, speaking with, but not for students.
Shimwell, currently working as the Marketing & Communications Officer at ASUS, believes she’s prepared for the role of vice-president (student affairs). Her time in the society has allowed her to see what is going well and what needs to be improved.
If elected, Shimwell hopes to promote increased transparency with students with an open-door policy.
“I do hope to actually enforce it by having specific open door office hours where no one has to schedule a meeting, you can just pop in and, guaranteed, someone from the executive team will be in the office to answer questions,” Shimwell said.
Shimwell would like to see more community around ASUS, driven by direct student feedback. To bridge the gap between students and their elected representatives, she proposes holding forums and monthly town hall meetings where students from equity-deserving groups and representatives can participate in casual conversations about issues and events.
With over 14,000 students in the Faculty of Arts and Science, Shimwell hopes to improve ASUS’s reach within the student body. Specifically, she’d like to reinstate the position of Sponsorship Director within ASUS to boost the amount of financial aid available to students interested in attending some of the society’s more costly events.
Shimwell believes the biggest challenge next year’s ASUS executives will face is the faculty budget cuts and ensuring they’re properly advocating for students. She promises to make sure all voices are heard, and relay information to students as quickly and accurately as possible.
“I think it’s important to have good working relationships with the faculty. However, if elected, we’re not elected by the faculty, we’re elected by the students,” Shimwell said.
Voting for all three races will take place Jan. 29 to 30.
Tags
Asus, ASUS elections, Elections, student government, uncontested
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