When Amina Khan and Yusra Munawar were told last year that their on-campus prayer room would be torn down, they didn’t hit the panic button.
Khan and Munawar, executive members of the McMaster Muslim Students Association, were assured by the university that they would be relocated before Wentworth House, home of their space, was demolished.
Now, with a few weeks left until eviction, the MSA and other student groups in Wentworth House are still looking for answers.
“Everybody’s scrambling. They’re trying to find spots for us in random places on campus, trying to find temporary solutions. We don’t know how long we’ll be in those spaces and it’s just really frustrating,” said Khan.
The MSA has more than 1,000 Muslim student members at McMaster and has two rooms in Wentworth House that allow up to 100 students to pray at a time.
“We were clear about our requirements – that the [new] space needs to be carpeted. It needs to be a large, accommodating area that’s accessible to campus in order for Muslim students to pray there. Surprisingly, the space we were given is anything but that,” said Khan.
Recently, several tenants including the MSA were told they would likely be moving to a portable unit in Lot O. The lot is about 1.5 km from campus, located past the bridge behind the Mary E. Keyes building. Shuttle buses run from campus to Lot O between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. Monday to Friday.
“Muslim students pray five times a day between classes,” said Khan. “A place that needs a shuttle bus to reach is completely unacceptable to the Muslim community.”
Khan and Munawar said if the MSA had to temporarily move to Lot O, students would end up praying in various nooks on campus.
“You can’t fit a thousand Muslim students in hallways of libraries and little corners across campus,” said Khan.
About two weeks ago, representatives from four groups located in the Wentworth House came together in hopes of getting their individual needs across with more impact.
“We’re deeply concerned there hasn’t been uniformity in the communication between McMaster and the tenants,” said Norm Pase, vice-president (external) of CUPE 3906.
Pase started an open Facebook group Monday called “Save Our Space: Wentworth House Shutting Down” to create a forum for the parties involved.
The MACycle bike co-op, owned and operated by the McMaster Students Union, finds itself in the same position as the MSA and CUPE 3906.
MACycle director Connor Bennett knew that relocating would be a big project. He did some research on his own last summer, feeling a “slight sense of urgency.” Even so, he assumed a space would be secured by March.
“When you’re told not to worry, it’s nice to hear, especially when you’re dealing with school. I feel silly at this point, seeing how unprepared they are. Now we’re getting to the end of March and they’re saying, ‘we need your help,’” he said.
Bennett said MACycle having to move twice is the worst-case scenario because it has so many pieces of bike equipment.
“This has worried me a lot. I care about MACycle. A lot of people care about it,” said Bennett. He said that moving to Lot O temporarily would discourage cyclists from using the co-op because of the uphill ride afterward.
Roger Couldrey, McMaster’s vice-president of administration, said he was surprised tenants were worried about going to Lot O. He added that, so far, it’s only been decided that the McMaster Children’s Centre will move there by the end of April.
“It seems that what I’m being told isn’t fully understood by the tenants or wasn’t communicated to them,” he said.
Couldrey said an alternate space would be proposed to the MSA at a meeting on Friday. He said finding a space for MACycle would be more challenging but discussions are still ongoing.
However, Facility Services coordinator Robert Craik confirmed that Lot O would be a default solution if no other arrangements are made by the end of April.
For the tenants, getting mixed messages from Facility Services and the university's administration isn't new. David Campbell, the McMaster Students Union's VP (administration), expressed similar frustrations. He’s been advocating for some of the groups and asking for updates throughout the year.
“The first I heard about the Lot O decision was in January, and I was disappointed that that was the decision they came up with,” said Campbell.
The Photo Club's darkroom manager, Myles Francis, has been reaching out to administrators on his own since last spring, concerned about the darkroom being left behind.
“I felt like if I didn’t go out there and tell people that it existed, the building would have been demolished with the darkroom still there,” said Francis.
The Lodge, a temporary space for off-campus students in Wentworth House this year in lieu of the old Phoenix bar, seems to have been scrapped due to lack of space, according to coordinator Jennifer Kleven.
Francis didn’t want the same thing to happen to the darkroom.
Since February, Francis has been researching darkroom spaces in the downtown core, where he says involved students would be willing to go.
“I don’t like the idea of things being done for me that I feel I should have a hand in. I mean, nowadays who knows how to create a darkroom? Who knows what the darkroom needs, other than me?”
While they’re unsure of long-term plans, tenants aren’t giving up on their cause. But they’re not buying university officials’ advice to not worry.
“I think it’s an issue of prioritization on the university’s end,” Khan said. “Each club has different needs, but we’re united in that we all share the same space. Whatever we can do to help each other, we will.”
Photos by Anqi Shen.
In the midst of second semester, summer might be the furthest thing from students’ minds. But the MSU and its partners are looking even further ahead: to Welcome Week.
As faculty societies begin to gear up for another year of planning for the incoming first-years, the Student Success Centre (SSC) and the MSU, as part of the Welcome Week Review subcommittee of the Student Services Committee, have just compiled their financial report from Welcome Week 2012.
The report comes in the wake of last year’s changes to orientation fees. In the past, incoming first-years had to register and pay for a MacPass, allowing them entry for the week’s events; they no longer have to, and are instead automatically charged fees.
In a campaign led by then-MSU president Matt Dillon-Leitch, the 2012 annual general assembly met its quorum of three percent of the student body for the first time in 17 years. Because it had the required 601 students, all votes passed were binding. And the students chose to implement the $110 mandatory fee for Welcome Week for new first-years.
The aim was to create a system with a widely bought but reasonably priced pass in order to have a “bigger and better” Welcome Week.
But despite the ample cash and months for all of the parties to report back, the finances remain unclear.
“This is our first year of developing what this consolidated financial report is,” explained Gina Robinson, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Director of the Student Success Centre.
But David Campbell, MSU VP (Administration), added that of the current breakdown, “we didn’t find any drastic areas that are way off.”
The $110 spent by each student is split between the MSU, the Student Success Centre, off-campus residence life, swag and miscellaneous merchandise, and the nine different faculties.
Campbell noted that there was some chance a “few dollars here and there” might be shifted from one division to another, but that the total value of the levy would stay consistent, potentially being indexed to CPI.
Although the breakdown was good, Campbell and Robinson explained that the reports sent to them from the faculty societies were far from consistent.
“Some of the statements weren’t really well put together,” said Robinson. “They didn’t always add [up] properly.”
Each faculty received $11 per student, but most supplemented this basic fee with additional money from their faculty societies.
“There were some faculties we had to go back to and ask for a second round of reporting, but there were no major [discrepancies],” Campbell said. “There’s nobody we suspect that egregiously misspent.”
He elaborated by saying that the faculties had no real guidelines for determining what constituted a Welcome Week expense.
Things like summer rep training or post-Welcome Week rep appreciation create some ambiguity when it comes to budgeting and reporting. And certain expenditures, like last-minute rain locations for faculty day, have resulted in misrepresented budgets and false deficits.
With this in mind, the faculty expenditures will be confirmed, said Campbell, but he didn’t expect the differences determined from clearing up ambiguity to amount to a lot of money.
Both Robinson and Campbell described their new roles as “gatekeepers” for the faculty finances, which are compiled and streamlined by the Office of Student Affairs for the first time this year.
“I feel really good about it because that way we can account to the student body exactly,” Robinson said.
The MSU and the Student Success Centre, like the faculties, received funds from the guaranteed sale of MacPasses to all first years.
The MSU and its divisions of Avtek and Campus Events are responsible for putting on Welcome Week concerts; this year, the performances by the Sheepdogs and Steve Angello cost roughly $40,000 and $50,000 respectively, including production costs, making them some of the biggest concerts Welcome Week has ever seen.
Meanwhile, the Student Success Centre offered a range of programming similar to what it has in past years, including $16000 spent on the Summer reading Program and $10,000 spent on the IRIS theatre production. It also funded the off-campus students’ Sunday night social, spending $7,000 as part of their goal to expand programming for off-campus students.
For David Campbell, once wasn’t enough. After running for the second year in a row, Campbell was named the new president-elect of the MSU on Jan. 31.
Campbell, who graduated from Arts & Science last year, is the current VP (Administration) of the Students Union. He ran for president in the 2012 election, ultimately placing second to Siobhan Stewart by a margin of 47 votes.
While some of the other six candidates in this year’s election ran on platforms of broader, more ambitious reform, Campbell focused on smaller details, such as adding more outlets and seating in MUSC and extending library hours.
“There are a lot of simple things we can do, for which the money is readily available,” he said.
“I think my platform shows that I have a much greater understanding of what can be done, what should be done, and what’s feasible,” he told the Silhouette during the election.
And it’s clear that voters identified with his vision. Campbell won the election in the first round of voting, earning first choice on 53 per cent of the nearly 6000 votes cast.
While his landslide victory may have come as a surprise to some given the field of seven candidates, a first-round win is not unheard of. Over the past 40 years, there have been seven first-ballot victories, of which Campbell’s win marked the second-narrowest winning margin.
The most recent first-ballot victory was in a two-person race in 1996.
Although his term as president doesn’t start until May 1, Campbell is already planning ahead.
“Siobhan [Stewart] and I will be sitting down at dinner soon and talking about respective goals,” he said when asked about his transition with the current MSU president.
Campbell explained his intention to start working on some of his platform points even before his term begins.
“I’ve added library hours and MAPS fees as my first to-dos,” he said. “Those are two things I hope to see change before I take office. Besides that, other things are more targets to have in place before next fall.”
He also hopes to incorporate the negotiation of a 12-month bus pass into his agenda for the year. Third-place candidate James Dowdall had proposed the idea during the campaign.
“I’m excited to take the job because I’ve started to develop a historical vision of the MSU,” Campbell explained. “That’s helped me have a more refined vision of what I’d like to see next year.”
Campbell is one of nine VPs in the last 13 years to run in MSU presidential elections and win the top office. Vishal Tiwari, a former VP (Education), won in 2009, after eight consecutive years of VPs becoming president from 2001 to 2007.
It was second time’s a charm for David Campbell. In a landslide victory, the Arts & Science graduate beat out six other candidates to win the election for MSU President.
At about 10 p.m. on Thursday night, he got the good news in a phone call from current MSU president Siobhan Stewart.
David was speechless when we contacted him at home after the announcement was made.
"I don't know," he said when asked how he was feeling. "That's tough. Pretty excited."
"My phone just started ringing off the hook."
In an above-average turnout, 29.3 per cent of the student body voted, with 5972 votes total. Campbell won with 3146 first-place votes.
Jacob Brodka came in second with 1338 votes. James Dowdall had 360, Adrian Emmanuel had 343, Dan Fahey had 332, Haman Man had 77 and Rory Yendt had 58. There were 318 abstentions.
With Campbell winning a majority of the first-place votes, only one round of counting was needed.
Campbell, who is currently serving as the MSU’s Vice President (Administration), campaigned last year but lost the title to Siobhan Stewart by a narrow margin of 47 votes.
This year, his campaign focused on a series of straightforward and feasible goals to improve student experience at McMaster. Major platform points include eliminating unnecessary summer student fees, extending library hours, implementing a shuttle bus service, and training teaching assistants.
The referendum question to decrease the CFMU fee to $12.50 per student from $17.29 passed easily. The McMaster Marching Band was granted its $0.90 per student fee by only a narrow margin.
Campbell will begin his term in office on May 1.
Last night’s informal debate at TwelvEighty offered a look at how the candidates stand out in a crowd, but it wasn’t the night for tough questions or head-to-heads.
Personalities and common goals emerged early in the hour-long panel talk, which allowed candidates who have fallen under the radar to share the floor with the frontrunners.
Haman Man, who has kept the lowest profile since announcing his candidacy, opened with a light-hearted joke. His demeanour was easygoing, but he was serious about his wide-ranging platform, from improved accessibility to students representing the MSU in parliament.
FYI, his posters are coming soon, and they’ll have Braille on them.
He sat next to Dan Fahey, who got riled up about campus food prices, tuition and book fees.
“We need more space in the libraries, but we also need some bloody books!” said Fahey.
Fahey’s answers weren’t as specific as other candidates. He spoke about the need for “students to take power into their own hands” and his fond impressions of McMaster’s student body as an exchange student, but didn’t elaborate much on his platform.
“I’ve got a lot of experience at my students union back home, and I wanted to bring some ideas here,” he said.
“I want to give back to McMaster and Hamilton, which I’ve really enjoyed so much.”
Rory Yendt, sitting at one end of the panel, took the most straightforward approach and focused more on explaining his platform than engaging with the audience. He was the most insistent on fiscal transparency.
“Students should have a say in all financial matters in the MSU, not leave it to the SRA,” said Yendt, who proposes that referenda be held in every case that student funds will be spent.
Yendt’s tone was less enthusiastic compared to others’ and it seemed at times as if he were ready to give up.
“Win or lose, I’m happy about it,” he said, referring to the result of the race.
The candidates seemed collegial and for the most part attentive to each other’s ideas. They each gave opening and closing statements, and responded separately to four questions.
The questions were easy to anticipate: What’s your vision for the MSU? Why did you choose your campaign slogan, colour and theme? What would you do during your first month in office? What can we expect from your campaign in the next eight days?
David Campbell had a consistently confident voice, and emphasized his experience on the MSU’s board of directors in his answers.
“I’ve heard people saying the MSU provides advocacy and services, but there’s a third element that’s left out,” he said. “It’s also about building community and campus tradition at our school.”
Jacob Brodka had an uplifting and charismatic tone. He expressed that he wants to make the MSU “fun and relevant again.”
Brodka chose to start his opening statement with “a shout-out to Huzaifa Saeed and Siobhan Stewart,” current VP (Education) and President of the MSU.
He then referenced Matthew Dillon-Leitch, President during 2011-12, and agreed with his point that “we need to invest in student ideas.”
Dowdall had a more job-interview tone when he talked about his experience as part-time manager of SWHAT and a teaching assistant. He then switched over to a more family-centred tone.
“I developed a group of friends that became my family,” he said. “My campaign is run with family here supporting me.”
More than once, Emmanuel broke out of his ‘space maroon emperor’ character, which was becoming repetitive after a few rounds of questions.
“I hope everyone’s aware that I’m running a joke campaign,” he said toward the end, getting a laugh out of the crowd.
He reassured the audience: “If I somehow get elected to office, I’ll do what needs to be done.”
The presidential pub night was a get-to-know-the-candidates event in advance of a more formal debate hosted by the MSU’s election department on Jan. 29, the same day polls open.
Here’s a line from each candidate’s closing statement, in order of speaking:
Rory Yendt
“It’s all about taking the engineering approach to the MSU.”
Haman Man
“Don’t vote for fancy slogans, vote for ideas. Don’t vote for change, vote for movements.”
Dan Fahey
“You are a very small minority of this institution – all of you are going to vote. You guys here, you’ve come out. Get as many people as you can to vote.”
Adrian Emmanuel
“Regardless of who you support, you support the space maroon empire in the end.”
James Dowdall
“We have seven fantastic candidates. We’ve come up with innovative ideas and we want to hear what you have to say. Come talk to us.”
David Campbell
“There’s a lot of opportunity for what we can do next year. I’m looking forward to seeing more of you next week.”
Jacob Brodka
“I think what’s incredible about an election is that we’re turning students attention to it. We’re really looking forward to getting your feedback.
He had no intention of coming back. But here he is, running for MSU president for the second year in a row. David Campbell, current VP (Administration) of the MSU, is following the footsteps of previous VPs and sticking around to aim for higher office.
RELATED: Selected questions and answers from our interview with David
“One year just isn’t a lot of time to get projects done,” he explained. “We have all these projects on the go with the whole organization that I want to see continue, and so I decided to run to see that happen.”
His 2012 campaign was popular, but ultimately put him in a close second to Siobhan Stewart. He considers this reason to stick to similar campaign points, and a strategy of being upfront and honest with voters, making the spirit of both years the same.
Campbell’s campaign is very practical. As the candidate most familiar with the inner workings of the MSU, he insists that he knows what can be achieved in a year-long term.
“My platform shows that I have a much greater understanding of what can be done, what should be done, and feasible ideas. I think I have a balance of that,” he argued. “In looking at the other candidates’ platforms, I don’t see that nearly so much.”
A series of simple points, such as adding more outlets around the student centre and extending library hours, promise concrete and tangible results. He is also adamant about saving students money by eliminating redundant part-time student fees in the summer, a point that has been echoed by other candidates, as MAPS is already under fire.
But while other candidates dream big, Campbell ultimately thinks inside the box. His campaign counts on students valuing the little things the MSU can do, rather than motivating them to effect bigger changes. If students are happy with the direction the MSU is headed, Campbell definitely has the skills and the know-how to keep it on track.
Jacob Brodka
Website: Brodka2013.com
Facebook: Elect Jacob Brodka for MSU President
Twitter: @BRODKA2013
Video 1: BRODKA 2013: UP FROM HERE
Video 2: BRODKA 2013: Our Platform (see the BRODKA2013 channel for other platform videos)
Headquarters: Student Centre, on the balcony to the left of the entrance from the arts quad
[youtube id="7J0jaNOWH6Y" width="620" height="360"]
David Campbell
Website: DavidCampbell2013.com
Facebook: Elect David Campbell for MSU President
Twitter: @VoteDC2013
Video: Vote David Campbell for MSU President
More Video: See David's channel for videos related to his platform
Headquarters: Student Centre, next to Booster Juice
[youtube id="giPTvOpvghU" width="620" height="360"]
James Dowdall
Website: JamesDowdall.com
Facebook: Elect James Dowdall for MSU President
Twitter: @JamesDowdall1
Video: It's Time - James Dowdall, MSU President 2013
Headquarters: Student Centre, a table near the front entrance
[youtube id="cTPgcfpFkYs" width="620" height="360"]
Adrian Emmanuel
Facebook: Emperor Adrian I
Twitter: @bradrian
Video: Space Maroon Proclamation
[youtube id="NsmQhQRLZqA" width="620" height="360"]
Dan Fahey
Website: Dan4MSU.ca
Facebook: Elect Dan for MSU President
Headquarters: Student Centre, outside of Union Market
Haman Man
Website: Haman.ca
Facebook: Haman Man
Twitter: @MSUHaman
Rory Yendt
Website: RoryYendt.com
Facebook: Rory Yendt
Twitter: @RoryYendt
Campaigning for MSU president officially began at noon on Sunday, but not all of the seven candidates emerged at full force.
Jacob Brodka, David Campbell and James Dowdall wasted little time in launching their online and on-campus campaigns. Each lagged in certain areas, but generally appear to be frontrunners early in the race for the students union's top job.
Rory Yendt had some information on Facebook and was working on a website for most of Sunday, and then launched in the evening. Dan Fahey was still working on a campaign launch at the time, and little had been heard from Haman Man. Adrian Emmanuel began building his joke candidacy with a Facebook page and video.
The important campaigning won't really begin until Monday morning for the candidates, so there's still time for Emmanuel, Fahey, Man and Yendt to catch up on making a good first impression.
Here's our take on who won day one.
Website
Winner: Jacob Brodka
James Dowdall and Jacob Brodka launched live sites almost immediately, but Brodka's was stronger in design and content, except that his platform was only available in video form. Campbell's wasn't up until late sunday evening. Rory Yendt's site launched at around 8:30 p.m.
Facebook/Twitter
Winner: David Campbell
Campbell, with the help of his team and supporters, vaulted ahead of the pack in Facebook likes and was getting a lot of Twitter buzz. He was up over 300 likes by dinnertime on Sunday, and kept his feed interesting with photos from his video shoot.
Video
Winner: Jacob Brodka
Dowdall and Brodka launched videos right away. Brodka's got significantly more traffic, and was generally well-produced. In addition to his main video, Brodka launched another, interactive series of videos that contained his platform points. Campbell waited until 8 p.m. to launch a video after teasing it throughout the day. Campbell's video took a similar, light-hearted tone to Brodka's original video, featuring candidate and team having fun to upbeat music.
Campus Presence
Winner: Brodka and Campbell
Being the only two candidates to begin setting up spots in the student centre when campaigning began, Brodka and Campbell get a tie in this catergory. Campus was quiet on Sunday, but both were surrounded by their teams and colours, preparing for the week ahead. James Dowdall's team was also putting up posters, but chose not to set up a headquarters in MUSC so as not to take up space in an already congested area.
Seven candidates will compete for 2013-14 presidency of the McMaster Students Union.
Jacob Brodka
Second-year Life Science
David Campbell
Current MSU Vice-President (Administration)
James Dowdall
Fourth-year Math and Statistics
Adrian Emmanuel
Fourth-year Life Science
Daniel Fahey
Third-year Integrated Science
Haman Man
Unknown
Rory Yendt
Second-year Engineering
Candidates are not permitted to officially begin their campaigns until Sunday, Jan. 20 at noon, at which time they're expected to launch websites, put up posters and set up their campaign headquarters.
Voting will run from Jan. 29 to Jan. 31. The winner will take office on May 1 for a one-year, full-time post as the MSU's CEO.
