Campaigning for re-election, Popovic's platform focuses on alleviating food and housing insecurity while improving student life on campus
Current McMaster Students Union President Jovan Popovic is running for re-election for this year’s election, with a large and diverse platform covering a range of issues. In his written campaign statement, Popovic expressed his commitment to help alleviate the stress of rising food and housing costs, improve student events and recreational services on campus and advocating for increased transparency, improved transit for commuter students and for changes to McMaster’s policies on the use of generative artificial intelligence.
Alleviate stress of rising living costs
Recognizing that many students are facing the strain of the rising cost of food, Popovic proposes to initiate a program that would serve complimentary soup and bread to students four days a week from noon to 2:00 p.m. throughout the school year.
Popovic states in his platform that the program would be able to serve between 75,000 and 95,000 portions throughout the year. To fund the initiative, Popovic plans to hold a referendum to instate what he believes is a “modest” five dollar increase in student union fees.
To address the rising cost of housing and the greater and greater difficulty students face in finding housing, Popovic has the goal of advocating for and bringing McMaster to commit to halting further increases in the student population. Popovic also has pledged to lobby the federal government to provide Hamilton with financial assistance to build more housing, via the housing accelerator fund.
Improve student events
In light of this past year’s order from the university for students to not attend homecoming parties in neighbourhoods surrounding campus, Popovic has promised to ensure the first university-approved on-campus homecoming event next September — the first since 2019.
Popovic has stated in his platform that both McMaster University President David Farrar and Hamilton Ward 1 councillor Maureen Wilson have expressed to him strong support for this plan. Plans for the return of homecoming include having food trucks, community vendors, live performers and a late night concert.
Recognizing that McMaster sports teams and the Department of Athletics and Recreation currently face financial constraints, Popovic has stated he intends to assist sports teams and recreational clubs by establishing a new line of funding to assist such groups. In an interview, it was elaborated that this funding would specifically be used to provide venues for team and club events at reduced or no cost.
Further aiming to empower and improve athletics on campus, Popovic has indicated his plans to improve the ability of student athletes and sports teams to make their concerns heard and known. A specific and detailed plan has not been included as to how to achieve this end, but Popovic refers to making use of the Varsity Leadership Committee and forming “new communication channels for athletes” in his platform statement.
Aiming to improve opportunities for social events and outings on campus, Popovic proposes extending the hours of TwelvEighty Bar and Grill to be open until at least 10:00 p.m. Additionally, Popovic envisions TwelvEighty continuing to serve as a restaurant throughout the day, while serving as a bar during the extended late hours.
Furthermore, Popovic proposes the introduction of game day specials at the venue, such as half-price wings, on days when sport games are being played. This initiative, along with having more nights dedicated for hosting club events, looks to increase the attractiveness of TwelvEighty as a social hub for students.
Increase MSU transparency
An apparent lack of transparency and communication between students and the MSU, as well as students' awareness of the MSU, is one critical area in which the current president outlines significant improvement is required. Popovic has proposed a restructuring of the MSU’s media team, while taking inspiration from Brock University Student Union.
The proposed plan to improve communication and student awareness involved creating three student positions to create and post content on the MSU’s media platforms, which would rotate shifts throughout the week. Popovic elaborated in an interview that the idea behind the rotational roles is to improve the quality of content produced by having a more diverse team of student employees that can better achieve the work together and engage with students more frequently.
Advocate for improved transit
To improve transportation for students who commute, Popovic aims to collaborate with Metrolinx to both increase GO bus route frequency and expand routes. Popovic also has stated an intention to work with McMaster Parking Services to devise solutions to improve availability and affordability of parking for students who commute.
Meanwhile, to improve mobility for students nearby and across campus, Popovic endorses holding a referendum to enact a bike pass program to increase the number of bikes on campus and make them more affordable to use.
Change to McMaster's AI policy
Lastly, Popovic has outlined that he believes McMaster’s current stance on and policies regarding the use of generative AI in academic work is too restrictive and vague. He has indicated his intention to advocate for the university to improve clarity in its written AI policies and to argue for the loosening of restrictions on the use of AI by students.
Overall, Popovic's platform is an extensive one that aims to improve student life by addressing food and housing insecurity, and improving transparency, transportation and social and extracurricular experiences on campus.
Voting for the MSU presidential election takes place from Jan. 23 to Jan. 25 using the Simply Voting platform. More information about the election can be found on the MSU Elections website.
C/O Robert Bye, Unsplash
Check out these advocacy and social justice groups on and off campus to start finding your community
Community is a crucial piece of any university experience. It will be even more important this year as we return to campus, particularly for the many students for whom it is not only their first time in Hamilton but also their first time away from home entirely.
Finding and building community can be difficult enough after a move, nevermind during a pandemic. It can be difficult to know where to start. One place might be the issues in the world you’re passionate about. Groups or organizations dedicated to these issues are wonderful places where both community and social justice advocacy can thrive. Furthermore, having a strong sense of community, while also tackling these issues you care about can help you cultivate support systems not only as you navigate university but also in the face of larger issues.
Included below is a list of groups both on and off campus, sorted by the social justice issues they’re concerned with, who are doing some excellent work in the Hamilton community. It should be noted this is not an exhaustive list of all the wonderful groups and organizations in Hamilton; there are many more groups that can be found both on campus and off.
If you identify as 2SLGBTQIA+, are passionate about 2SLGBTQIA+ rights and peer support:
If you’re passionate about anti-racist and anti-oppressive work, check out:
If you’re passionate about climate and environmental justice, check out:
If you’re passionate about food security and nutrition, check out:
If you’re passionate about healthcare and public health, check out:
If you’re passionate about housing and supporting unhoused individuals, check out
The plight of the Uyghurs must be recognized as genocide by the international community and students have a responsibility to advocate for their human rights
cw: genocide
What is happening to the Uyghurs? Depending on who you ask, you will receive helpfully pedantic descriptions such as: “education,” “vocational training,” “repression,” “violent suppression,” “cultural genocide,” “postmodern genocide” and “demographic genocide.” The first two, offered as explanations by the Chinese state are fictitious to the point of absurdity. Similarly, the finger-wagging condemnations of “repression” and even “violent suppression,” while ostensibly denouncing the treatment of Uyghurs evade more significant criticisms.
Rather incomprehensibly, most accusations of genocide invariably insert a qualifier — “demographic,” “cultural” and “postmodern” — perhaps to make the charges more palatable, less alarming and less meaningful. The fundamental question remains: is this a genocide, in the true sense of the word?
Unfortunately, previous experiences with the matter furnish us with the answer. The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which was signed by China in 1948, lists the actions that qualify as genocidal when they are inflicted with the intent to destroy, entirely or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. One such condition is the infliction of severe physical or mental harm on members of the group.
Since 2014, the Chinese government has routinely and arbitrarily imprisoned Uyghurs in “re-education camps” — essentially concentration camps where detainees are tortured, starved and beaten, subjected to waterboarding and electric shocks and psychologically tortured. Testimony from escaped detainees and their families can hardly fail to convince even the most dispassionate judge that such actions constitute serious physical and mental harm. This is genocide.
Under said UN convention, that should be enough to constitute genocide. However, we are fortunate enough to be supplied with enough evidence so as to be excessive in our exposition. Another condition for genocide is the undertaking of activities to prevent births within the group.
An investigation by the Associated Press revealed that Uyghur women were: forcibly implanted with an intrauterine device; underwent unwanted sterilization, abortions and pregnancy checks; were force-fed birth control pills and injected with unknown fluids; had their children removed and placed in orphanages; and were sent to camps for giving birth to multiple children.
Between 2015 and 2018, the birth rate in some ethnically Uyghur areas had plummeted more than 60 per cent. To all appearances, these actions can only be aimed at dramatically decreasing the Uyghur birth rate and ultimately reducing the size of the group until it is easily assimilable. This is genocide.
This is not to say that the charges of, say, cultural genocide are any less morally repugnant; they are simply not enough. An article first published in the Financial Times argues that our society has “fetishized” genocide as the ultimate, virtually uncommittable horror — historical memory has set the bar too high. Such a view of genocide makes possible only retrospective acknowledgment, thereby obstructing efforts at prevention.
Shall we then settle for milder, qualified accusations and hope for an equally mild response? Certainly not. What is needed now is the civic and political courage to stand behind that coda to one of humanity’s greatest failings, “Never Again,” and ensure that the genocide of the Uyghurs is recognized, terminated and prosecuted.
University students have a long and venerable tradition as progressive champions of human rights. From the Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley campus to climate change advocacy, university students have a unique cohesion and shared experience that makes organization and protest against injustices a successful weapon of change.
As the Canadian government moves towards recognizing the Chinese government’s policy as genocide, the McMaster University student body, along with other groups in Canada, have the responsibility to advocate for oppressed peoples around the globe. Letter writing campaigns, opinion pieces, protests, raising social awareness — these are all actions we can and must undertake to stop the Uyghur genocide and ensure that the “Never Again” does not happen again.
