This year, voter turnout for non-residence-specific positions on the McMaster Students Union First Year Council sat at approximately 23 percent, with approximately 1,147 students of the 5,000 potential voters participating in the election.
Turnout rates for first-year faculty representative positions were also low, with the majority of first year students not casting their vote. For instance, while voter turnout for niche programs such as arts and science sat at 35 percent, larger programs such as the McMaster Humanities Society only achieved a 4.8 percent turnout.
A lack of student participation in the MSU continues to be a pressing problem.
At last year’s General Assembly, which took place in March 2017 and was specifically designed to amplify McMaster students’ voices, only 16 voters registered. In the wake of the notably low voter turnout, Kathleen Quinn, former Student Representative Assembly (social sciences) member, put forward a motion to hold a general meeting aimed at increasing participation in the MSU from the start of the year.
Although the motion initially passed, it was knocked down at the SRA meeting on Sept. 10, when 12 SRA members voted in favour of the motion, but 18 voted it down.
Ryan Deshpande, MSU vice president (Education), opposed the motion on the grounds that the meeting would be poorly attended if it was held in September. Max Lightstone, caucus leader (engineering), however, noted that engineering holds a semi-annual general meeting that achieves a high attendance.
After the discussion fizzled out, Chukky Ibe, MSU President, concluded that the best plan moving forward would entail hosting an MSU open house and town hall.
Under the status quo, the MSU employs other strategies to increase voter turnouts in first year elections.
In particular, each year, the MSU allots a generous amount of time to prompting the department during Welcome Week. The MSU also raises awareness by working with FYC Coordinator Hazra Chowdhury and being present at Clubsfest.
In addition, the MSU hosts events, spearheads MSU Wants You campaigns aimed at ameliorating MSU engagement amongst outreach groups that are traditionally less inclined to get involved, and partners with MSU Spark, FYC and Residence Life.
One event that the MSU hosted this year, Elections 1A03, consisted of a workshop and question and answer session aimed at informing first year students about elections and MSU involvement.
However, the Elections 1A03 event was not particularly accessible, being held at Mohawk College, not McMaster University. The event garnered only 58 signs-ups on its Facebook page.
Chloe Deraiche, MSU Chief Returning Officer, notes that, in spite of the apparent voter apathy, the MSU has achieved comparatively high voter turnout rates. In particular, McMaster has one of the highest voter turnouts for student elections in Ontario, sitting at around 40 percent.
“This is remarkably strong for a school of our size and leads me to believe the civic engagement at McMaster is exceptionally robust,” said Deraiche. “I think this is something that we are doing extremely well and should be proud of as a school. The Elections Department will strive to continue this excellent work.”
Continuing promotion work and increasing the accessibility of events promise to ignite more interest in student governance.
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Every September, a new cohort of first-years come to McMaster, some for the very first time. With these new students comes a new election, this time for the McMaster Students Union First Year Council. By the time you have read this article, the 2017-2018 council will have been voted in and will begin their journey in representing first-year students in student governance.
The need for FYC is simple: the MSU holds elections for their Student Representative Assembly and their committees during the winter for 12-month terms, meaning first-year students do not have any representation within the governing body of the MSU. FYC attempts to fill that void.
Last year, much of FYC’s structure changed to make up for the shutdown of the Inter-Residence Council in 2016 following an internal audit. The IRC was a student council who represented students living in residence and worked with the Residence Life to enact change. IRC was largely responsible for material changes to residence improvements, such as the extended Centro hours during the exam periods.
Following the IRC’s dissolution, FYC took on their roles. They introduced residence councillors, who act as a mini IRC within the larger FYC body.
FYC focuses on advocacy, mentorship, event planning and volunteering. They often collaborate with other MSU services such as Spark and the Maroons to hold events for first-year students. During the MSU presidential campaign in 2017, FYC held “meet the candidates” events in residence to introduce first-year students to MSU politics.
In particular, FYC held a formal in conjunction with Spark in November, first-year Olympics and a paint night with the Maroons.
Hazra Chowdhury, the FYC coordinator, hopes to continue the advocacy and events of their predecessors. She is currently working with Kevin Beatty of Residence Life to create consultation committees within residence. Her main goal is to make the committees more efficient and effective, by first condensing the original six committees into four and working on communication between both FYC and Residence Life.
“The six committees that were in place last year had been in place with the IRC for a very long time, but that doesn’t mean they’ve been the most effective,” said Chowdhury.
In addition, Chowdhury hopes to work with Residence Life, particularly residence orientation representatives, to put on more programming throughout the year.
“This year we’ll be extending [the programming] but I know that as a first year it’s difficult to run an event when you’re the only chair,” Chowdhury said.
“Since RORs this year have a full year contract and community advisors are there to help, it’s a part of the alternate programming committee; those RORs will help students put on events throughout the year,” she added.
As the election results are tallied, one can expect FYC to continue to do work throughout the school year to support first-year students and have their voices heard within the union.
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By: Louis Ferracuti
Recent changes made to the First Year Council aim to increase first year student engagement with student governance.
The recent shutdown of the Inter-Residence Council left a void in terms of first year advocacy. Vice president (Administration) Shaarujaa Nadarajah says that the MSU stepped in to fill this void with the changes made to the FYC.
The biggest change being made is the introduction of the FYC Coordinator position, which is aimed to help First Year Councillors navigate the responsibilities of the FYC. KJ Webster will be taking on this role in its pilot year.
Webster is optimistic about the prospects for student engagement that come with the changes. She explained that the uniqueness of the FYC comes from the fact that it acts as both a service and a governing body.
“I am very excited for this restructured system,” said Webster. “I think this reorganizing has the power to redefine the first year experience, and will have a real impact on current first years and all the classes to come.”
In the past, the FYC was essentially self-sufficient and autonomous, but also without much direction.
“One of the yearly problems we hear about with the FYC is the fact that there’s no real person coordinating this structure,” said Nadarajah. “So [we decided to] develop a part-time manager position to oversee that.”
Beyond the introduction of the FYC Coordinator, the new structure will incorporate residence councillors from every residence building, who will be overseen by the VP Internal of the FYC. Representatives from the various faculty societies are overseen by the VP External of the FYC. Combining the structures of residence and faculty student governance is hoped to both simplify and increase student engagement in governance.
“One thing that we do see with respect to student governance is getting those perspectives and those voices, and first years obviously make a large proportion of those voices,” said Nadarajah. “Having an elected councillor for each of these buildings, and allowing us to implement the advocacy structures that we have on the SRA on a first year level, I think will increase engagement across the board.”
Nadarajah also noted that increased student engagement in first year on has numerous benefits. Students who are engaged early on tend to continue their engagement throughout their undergrad. Students who are engaged in student governance may also be more aware of the stances advocated for and services provided by the MSU, according to Nadarajah.
The changes were conceptualized and developed in June of this year in collaboration with the Elections Department and Housing and Conference Services, and are already in the process of being rolled out. Elections for first year councillor and residence councillor positions were held the past week, with nominations and campaigning already having begun from the first week of the fall term.
“I think the MSU being able to connect with more students starting on a first year level is going to make a massive change in terms of student engagement across the board,” said Nadarajah.
Sophia Topper
The Silhouette
The First Year Council could be great. At least, it’s a great time for the five first years who get to blow through $4000 with minimal interference from the MSU, and minimal notice from the students who fund it. That would be you, by the way—15 cents of your 122.61$ Student Organization Fee goes to the FYC to do… something.
What the FYC is about is unclear to even its members, who gave a vast variety of answers to my every inquiry. Alexander Coomes, last year’s chair, claimed: “No one will ever seriously change the first year experience from this council.” They have had several successful events, for instance, their club nights were successful enough to recoup their output. This, however, simply makes the rest of the spending more puzzling. The council also hosted a movie night, but the proof is in the popcorn—three out of four enormous boxes linger uneaten in FYC’s meeting room.
The annual FYC survey occurred as well, though we haven’t received the results. None of the councillors I asked could say what would be done with the results if they existed, or explain why the survey needed to be annual - surely the needs of first years do not change that much from year to year. Perhaps this is to inform the advocacy that supposedly occurs. David Campbell, President of the MSU, said that the “FYC is a fantastic venue for first years to advocate on behalf of their peers,” but again none of the four members I spoke could describe any advocacy done, or even ideas for what advocacy could occur. Dmitri Dobrov, who held the advocacy portfolio, could not be reached for comment at the time this article was published.
In the words of Alexander Coomes, former chair, “We are a social club. Sometimes we pretend that we’re more, but we’re not.” This self-awareness is laudable, but also betrays the discouragement felt by some members.
“I think the council has great potential for something amazing, but I believe it really comes down to how much each individual on the council wants to commit and dedicate. The more effort and hard work that is put into the first year council will definitely reflect in the success and the experiences one will have,” said Yipeng Ge, Former Vice Chair.
Unfortunately, the FYC is plagued by resume-builders and MSU bubbleheads, who gleefully describe the personal benefits of the FYC while glossing over the benefits to the student body. During a conversation with one member, he pulled out his discount card not once, but twice, as well as regaling me with tales of using the room as his personal gaming sanctuary, saying it was “convenient to have a little bit of authority now and then.” Other members described to me the invaluable connections they made higher up in the MSU echelons, and the importance of the FYC on their resumes. “It’s the best value-to-workload ratio,” said an unnamed councillor. Coomes said, “You can put as much effort as you want to into it… if you mess up, no one’s really there to get mad.”
There is someone there though: me. And you should be mad too. $4000 is a lot of money for some lines on a few people’s resumes. But we can’t just blame them, this is on us too. The fact is, we get who we elect, and what we demand. The FYC started a first year street team, which met twice and fizzled out. A night in Bridges to discuss the first year experience which was mostly attended by friends of the exec. And that isn’t their fault - it’s ours. If we want more than just some club nights and some flops, then we need to elect people who will give it to us. And while it’s easy to blame the election protocols, where five dollars will buy forgiveness for even the most blatant of abuses, we’re still the ones (not) voting. As Coomes says, “If the idealists don’t step up, the cynics take over.”
