Platform critique: Chukky Ibe

With over 23 projects, Chukky Ibe’s platform is one packed with ideas that require the aid of multiple groups, ranging from the McMaster Students Union to the university provost to city hall itself. When considering a platform as large as his, it is imperative that thorough, preliminary consultation is done to ensure its feasibility. But certain aspects of his platform lack such consultation.

Consider Ibe’s point concerning expanding the MSU Underground Media + Design, which students use to print various assignments and projects. Aiming to improve infrastructure, Ibe’s platform seeks to cut lines at the Undergrounds by implementing a Smart Serve service which would allow students to pay for their printing online and pick up their assignments at their leisure. Additionally, Ibe hopes to create a satellite site on the other side of campus, near the engineering lecture halls.

It is clear that Ibe did not consult with the Underground when developing this platform point; if he had, he would have discovered the fundamental problems with it. His current platform would only increase student cost for little benefit, which contradicts Ibe’s stance on lowering student cost. What he is proposing is undeniably expensive, as it would require the purchasing of new technology and rental space, and according to research done by the Underground’s full-time staff, would only cause confusion and likely not shorten lines.

It should also be noted that the university already offers online printing at all libraries and a few other buildings through a service called PrintSmart, which also costs $0.06 per black and white page.

The Underground platform is indicative of a larger issue with Ibe’s campaign: the lack of comprehensive research. A simple email to one of the Underground’s full-time staff would have shown the logistical issues with his proposal, and such an issue can be found in other parts of his platform.

For example, Ibe wishes to mandate that Creating Leadership Amongst Youth conference to make it “effective to the needs of the city”. He did not consult with anyone on the current or past CLAY executive team, who are taking a different approach to reaching out to youth in Hamilton this year. While CLAY is excited to work with Ibe on this platform point, a simple consultation would have allowed for a greater dialogue and made sure that there were no redundancies.

In addition, Ibe did not consult any of the part-time service managers from MSU Diversity Services, the Student Health Education Centre or the Women and Gender Equity Network on his platform about clustering MSU clubs and MSU services and all noted the naturally-occurring relationship they already have with the pertinent clubs. All three services currently hold events with clubs with similar goals, making this point largely moot. It should also be noted that MSU clubs and MSU services fulfill very different niches within the McMaster community: clubs are meant to join students of a similar interest together, while services are meant to fill a gap within the McMaster university that may not be fulfilling. While these two are not mutually exclusive, this would only target clubs that deal with social causes who most likely already have a good relationship with their complementary MSU service.

Ibe also failed to consult the MSU Child Care Centre when formulating his platform point about expanding the centre to accommodate student parents. To his credit, Ibe does recognize the difficulty of such a platform point and has expressed this in past interviews, but without a proper consultation and discussion with the childcare director, the actual feasibility of this point remains up in the air.

A presidential candidate is expected to run on a platform that has already been thoroughly researched and already consulted with the necessary groups on campus. While it is true that the presidential candidate runs on a vision rather than a succinct plan, it is not fair to students to vote in a certain platform that is not feasible or already in the works. Although Ibe did consult with groups such as the Student Success Centre and the office of Ward 1 councillor Aidan Johnson, his failure to consult various groups on campus makes it difficult to trust his expansive platform.