PRESIDENTIAL CANDDATES BARE ' SOULS AND GOALS

Michelle Dorsey

throws

challenge to UPEI

down

~.Sl‘udents

“I dare you to elect me and impeach me! ”

Thus speaks Michelle Dorsey, one of the two candidates for the position of UPEI Student Union Pre- sident for 1984-85.

She WOnders how many people on cam- pus know that they have the power to impeach an executive for doing a bad job, and calls it just one example of a general lack of knowledge on the SU that students are suffering.

“The Student Union has a potentially great impact on this univer: sity it just hasn’t use it yet,” she con- tinues.

And she wants to try to change that.

Michelle has held a eat on Senate and the ’".I,Council for the test year. She" was tecenly appointed. a 5. Senate Steering Com-

mittee on the Vet Col- lege and a SU Council inquiry committee on the same topic.

She also is the stu- dent representative for P.E.I. on a commis- sion on humanism, and sits on a com— mittee for the Chap- laincy Centre.

Michelle feels the President should be totally aware of what’s going on around cam— pus, listen to students, work. for what they want, and provide a voice for all students at UPEI.

The position in- volves making sure

everyone’s pulling his or her weight at the ,

Barn, says Michelle, organizing, carrying out, and participating in both Council and executive business and social activities.

The University was created, after all, by and for students. We

all have the power to swing things,” ex-

plains Michelle. This

is the reasoning be- hind her .favourite slogan: that the ability is to, rally support and lobby belongs to the average student.

She firmly believes that there have been major issues on campus this year that students have either

not know about or of - which they have under-_ _ estimated the import-

ance.'An example she gives is the Senate motion this fall to

- combine the Sociology

and Anthropology pro- grams into a single joint major (a motion that was eventually defeated).

Michelle thinks that,

in order to get stu- dent to partieipate in the Student Union’s many facets, you have to “do it by hand. General posters don’t work.” She feels you have to ask people personally at all levels, and not expect them to volunteer.

And, since part of the Presidential man- date is to be able to delegate duties res— ponsibily, she plans to “get people to go out and make people in- terested.”

Michelle concludes by stating that she intends, if elected, to change the general attitude around the university that the SU Council can’t do things for more than one year at .a time.

“We should be more than just caretakers,” she affirms, “we have to be able to make long-term decisions and commitments.”

Randy Gass

, pushes for,

information,

representation, ’ cooperation

“I want to bring the Student Union closer to students I don’t like to see students alienated from it as they are now,” says Randy Gass, the man who will be Pre- sident of the afore- mentioned SU for 1984-85 if students choose him on March 7.

Randy is a third year Political Studies/ Psychology major who doesn’t feel the Stu- dent Union Council at UPEI is giving the representation of stu— dents it potentially could.

“it’s more of a business than a ser: vice to students,” he protests. - ..

He holds that the SU Council’s position as a body elected to speak on behalf of the whole student body is

t The Netted Gem

critical, and those elected should never lose sight of that. In his opinion, the ex- ecutive’s approach to the administration and government will deter- mine how muchbene- fit can be gained from the contact.

Randy feels the President’s major ori- entation should be academic rather than social, and that the university’s mainten— ance as a broad func- ation for education rather than an instru- ment of specialization should be a presiden- tial priority.

“Also, the onus is on him to focus the other three executives in a representative capacity, and to urge Council to inform students and eliminate apathy.”

Randy feels this

latter function was not adequately carried out in the recent Canadian Federation of Students referendum since “some students still don’t know what CFS is.”

“But now that we’re in it,” he shrugs, “let’s see what we can get out of it.”

Randy readily lists his goals for next year: 1) to hold more general meetings, per- haps once or twice a month, for informa- tion and feedback purposes, 2) to work toward getting repre- sentatives elected from both daytime students and the residence- dwellers, 3) to esta- blish an ombudsman at the Barn who would be elected by students and have no reserva— tions in dealing with, or even fighting with, the executive to solve problems students bring to him, 4) to bring the Student Union and Student Services into a closer alliance, so that students may benefit from the com- bined expertise of the two groups, 5) to work with the other executives to attempt to incorporate the $4' CFS membership fee each student must pay next year into the present figure for Stu- dent Union fees.

Randy concludes, “i want a more access- ible Student Union. There’s now a gap separating it from the students that shouldn’t be there.”

He adds that with the students’ support he feels he ‘can :ie- . finite.y contribute to the services provided by the Student Union.

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