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March 16, 2009

ELECTION

PANTHER POST

Cullen bringing students into decision making process

By Post staff

A third year Arts student here at UPEI, Tim Cullen is one of the candidates this year for Student Union President, so we sat down with him to gain some perspective on his campaign. A double major in Political Studies and French, Cullen had spent a year away from UPEI at the University of Ottawa and hopes to bring some of his experience to the table.

“T couldn’t be happier that I made the choice to come back.

.“T’ve always planned this as something I wanna do, lead- ing into my final year. And so here I am, it’s election time and I’m running for president.”

“{It’s] a big part of my plat-

By Post staff

If you ask Ali Fatehi, student engagement is needed at UPEI. In fact, it’s a big part of his platform.

In his run for the top spot in the UPEI Student Union he says that a vote for him will be a vote for “A united stu- dent voice, a strong student Union.”

He remained relatively un- der the radar for much of the student elections, choosing not to immediately put up any posters to bring in aware- ness. It was by no means an act of lazimess. The Presi- dential contender apparently was looking out for the envi- ronment when choosing not to post anything throughout

form...working on bringing students into the decision- making processes, the Stu- dent Union really involving them a lot more, and that the Union I think needs to be more proactive in going out and making sure that the students are involved, not waiting for them to come to us, should they choose to be involved. And part of that, obviously, means increased communication.”

“T would like to meet on a regular basis, with the presi- dents of, potentially an Arts society, the president or ex- ecutive of the Business soci- ety, the Science societies, of the Graduate Student Asso- ciation, of the AVC, and talk to these people. Because we have council, in one respect, but these are all very diverse students. All involved in

Fatehi wants

the school. As the days wore on, however, Ali began post- ing his face on UPEI walls and really started pushing for his cause.

His Facebok site has an im- pressive number of people, and his stances on issues are just as impressive:

“Increased _school/varsity spirit.”

“Increased funding for stu- dents.”

He also points out his global experience in his platform:

“As a person who has lived and studied in 4 different countries on 3 different con- tinents, I am well-aware of the challenges our growing international students face,” he states on his Facebook site.

The fourth-year Science

council and they are fairly engaged, they have a good pulse on what’s happening within the faculty, the issues and concerns of students within the faculty.

Engage these people, and they in turn can go out and engage other students around them for us,

I think people come here expecting [..] excellent rela~ tions between students and professors, classrooms small and tidy.

But I find that equates more sO as you reach your up- per levels here and so a lot of students discuss student

retention as being a really difficult problem for us at UPEL.”

“We need to reach out to these other student groups because they can help us cre- ate that sense of community, or “Panther Pride’, through student activities.”

and that we can reach more people that way.

“Communi- ty’s a really good word that you mentioned; I think that we lack a sense of commu- nity here, which is a little surpris-

Robertson Library Food for Fines

‘Do you have library fines? Would you like to help a fellow student or family on campus?

Bring 1- 5 non-perishable food or grocery items (e.g. canned goods, pasta, light bulbs, toilet paper, etc.) for the Campus Food Bank to the Circulation Desk at the

Library from Monday, March 23 to Monday, April 20 and we’ ll deduct $2.00 per item (up to $10.00) from your library fines.

ing, because

more student engagement

student has all ready made a dent in the UPEI Student Union political scene. He is currently a member of the Student Union, and has been the president of the Math Society, as well as the Vice President for the Physics So- ciety.

But Ali now plans to make the jump into the president’s seat, hoping to bring about more student engagement around the school.

Other points he’s made is to have the Wave open during school hours.

Through this, he feels the student body will have more options in terms of food, and makes the point of stating he is the only candidate to make this promise.

Other points include in-

Facebook group.

creased funding for students and for students to be more informed on particular events happening around the school.

Photo courtesy of ‘Ali for Student Union ne

Ali points specifically to the UPASS vote. He feels the students should have been made more aware.