Three candidates are in the run to become the next SGPS vice-president (graduate).
The contest will select a representative to advocate for graduate students at Queen’s through engagement in policy and governance, acting as a liaison between students at the University administration. Olivia DiPaolo, MSc ’27, Olusola Akintola, PhD ’29, and Sakura Koner, PhD ’28, all sat down with The Journal to discuss their platforms.
Olusola Akintola
A PhD candidate in Global Development Studies, Akintola’s platform is focused on wellbeing, communication, and community. His pillars are academic and professional support, community building, enhanced student representation, and transparency.
Former president of the Brandon University Students’ Union and vice-president of the Graduate Student Association at the University of Saskatchewan, Akintola explained how he has a variety of experiences in student government to support him in this role.
“These are experiences that have strengthened my commitment to representing the student,” he said.
Akintola emphasized graduate students’ struggles relating to funding, housing, and mental health support. Hightlighting the need for graduate student’s struggles to become more visible to the administration, Akintola wants to take the approach of listening to graduate students then advocating on their behalf.
“I want to push for stronger institutional support, […] better access to the resources for students, and a more inclusive positive environment,” he said.
Akintola mentioned increasing the visibility of services such as the Food Bank, while simultaneously advocating for funding necessary to sustain their provision.
Concerned about the lack of communication between the SGPS and the student body, Akintola plans to help foster a more connected graduate school, where everyone feels their voices can be heard and understood. He plans to use his experience as a graduate mentor to initiate conversations about engagement, ensuring students feel represented.
Olivia DiPaolo
DiPaolo, a first-year translational medicine student, and former president of the Pom Team, Queen’s competitive cheer leading team, feels confident her experience in management will be an asset in the role. As president of the Pom team, DiPaolo coordinated a variety of events, and was the primary point of contact between the team and Queen’s Athletics and Recreation.
DiPaolo listed mental health, financial stress, and career uncertainty as the primary issues graduate students face daily. Her platform is built on three main pillars including mental health, financial wellbeing, and support for graduate students.
To combat mounting feelings of professional instability among graduate students, DiPaolo plans to host career workshops with alumni focused on strengthening financial literacy and navigating what comes after graduate school.
Reflecting on her time at Queen’s, DiPaolo recalls feeling busy, overwhelmed, and not very connected to the SGPS. To help ease barriers to communication, she plans on communicating directly with all department representatives and implementing their suggestions and feedback. Further, DiPaolo plans to utilize social media and anonymous forms to interact with the student body.
Focused on alleviating career uncertainty and financial pressure, in addition to upholding clear communication with graduate students, DiPaolo is confident in her platform, and excited about the potential to be the SGPS’s next vice-president (graduate). “I love Queen’s,” she said. “I want to help support my peers, and I love taking on leadership roles.”
Sakura Koner
With a focus on improving the housing and food insecurity issue for graduate students, Koner wants to open the conversation regarding stipends. “It comes back to the stipend, it comes back to can we [graduate students] afford our rent,” Koner said.
Having spent two years as a graduate student senator and current chair of student senate caucus, a forum that allows student senators to coordinate and share information on issues pertaining to the University, Koner is no stranger to representing the interests of graduate students.
“It [serving as the graduate student senator] really gave me that opportunity to come to be more in touch with a lot of the issues that Queen’s is facing,” Koner said. “I’m also uniquely placed to be able to have a lot of conversations with administration.”
Focused on housing and food insecurity, Koner wants to leverage her experience to advocate for renegotiating stipend payments with the University administration and providing a platform for graduate students to share their grievances. As an international student, Koner explained she wants to ensure no student feels disconnected or lonely and can come to her with any concerns they may have. She mentioned how some students can feel isolated, emphasizing how important it is to create a culture of community within the student body.
Koner’s also interested in increasing communication from the SGPS to graduate students.
Koner wants to create a safe environment within the SGPS where students feel comfortable confiding in her in both a formal and informal capacity. “I want to create an environment of safety and freedom of expression,” she said. Koner wants to initiate a mentor program where students can become involved in governance in the mentee context, that could inspire them to apply for future roles in student government.
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The All-Candidates debate took place on Jan. 26 at 6 p.m., with voting taking place from Jan. 29 to 30.
Tags
Elections 2026, SGPS elections, SGPS executive, SGPS Vice-President (Graduate)
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