Patrick Whelan
The USC Elections are right around the corner (February 12th and 13th) and with it the race for USC President. As the head of the most powerful student union in Ontario and one of the largest in Canada, the winning presidential candidate will, to put it lightly, have his or her hands full. This year the elections are a little different; the presidential candidates are running as a team with a VP Internal and VP External candidate. As a Western student, the outcome of the election will affect our lives and so it’s every student’s responsibility to take action, learn about the candidates and make an informed decision. To help you along the process, we interviewed the presidential candidates and got to know them as a potential leader and as a person.
For our first interview we met up with Patrick Whelan and his team. Patrick is a fourth year computer science and MOS student from Hamilton. He has been involved in the USC for a couple of years; “I’ve been a counsellor and a senator. I’ve been a soph for three years as well for social science. Off campus I’ve spent my summers doing weird stuff. I’ve been researching a very bizarre subject of the cash flow of clinical trials in cancer research; I don’t know how I got into that! So I spent the summer in the UK doing that. I had a great summer and met a lot of new British friends.”
According to Patrick, his team’s platform is all about listening; “For me it’s listening. I think the USC does a terrible job of listening. Communicating for them is putting posters out, email, always pumping out, pumping out, and pumping out. And I think we need to take a look at how we’re going to listen and how we’re going to say what are the students’ priorities? Because right now they don’t ever say am I right? What are the other priorities? What am I missing? So that’s a big part of the platform for me, is finding ways people can actively give feedback on what’s going on at Western.”
If elected, Patrick plans on changing the way the USC listens and responds to student issues and problems. The USC makes a lot of decisions on our behalf and not always in our best interest and Patrick believes that’s because of a communication gap. “Say I didn’t like the coffee at the spoke. As a student what would my process be? To try and talk to a counsellor on the USC, try and talk to the president, or VP finance? I could try and stand in the spoke and talk to someone who looks important but there’s no real process for me to talk about issues. That’s a small thing but it’s the same thing issues like exam schedules. What we need to do is create a space where we can have these discussions and I want that to be both offline and online and then you can directly take that decision back to the decision makers.” His vision means that if you had a problem with the Spoke coffee then you just press print on that page and give it to the person who’s running the Spoke cafe and if it’s something more serious like exam scheduling, then you type it all up in a formal email and send it to every administrator in the academic office. He states, “For me, it’s what the USC should be, a place where we’re the sort of gathering place for students. You got an issue, come to us, you’ve got solutions come to us and we’re going to help bring it all together and bring it to the right people. That’s my main goal.”
Western pride is evident in all of the candidates’ campaign and is the source of Patrick’s most memorable experience at Western; “when I was in second year in o-week as a soph for the first time. When you’re a soph for the first time you’re blinded to all the sort of politics of o-week. It’s amazing because you’re in the moment, you’ve had no sleep so you’re heavily emotional and they’re playing music and you’re with all your friends. The closing ceremonies of o-week in second year were the most memorable moment of my undergrad at Western.”
Since his first year at Western, Patrick has been involved with many clubs on campus as well as the USC and believes that getting involved is the key to making the most of your experience at Western; “there’s so many things to do at Western. There’s 200 clubs, there’s sophing, there are committees, like the USC, and then there is so much stuff in London. There are things like Get Real, and lots of other volunteer organizations. There are so many opportunities to do amazing things while you’re here.”
So why should you vote for Patrick and his team? Patrick says “We want something a little bit different. What we’re looking to do is to make the USC work again, work at its peak. The USC came together to build the UCC, all the med student council, the arts student council and the other students’ councils got together. So let’s get together because together we’re stronger than when we’re separate. Let’s make the university students’ council instead of these smaller ones. Let’s come together and do what we can’t do by ourselves. That’s what the USC should be and that’s what I think it has lost track of. What I would like to see it doing is focusing on all of Western and trying to be the solution to a lot of student problems.”
HC Quiz:
Celebrity crush: Mila kunis
Dream job: As long as my job involves solving problems and making some part of society better then I’ll be happy doing it
Guilty Pleasure: television series, my guilt pleasure is to spend all Sunday catching up on all the shows
Pet Peeves: I can’t really think of anything, I’m pretty easy going
I am terrified of: snakes, snakes in water specifically, the whole third dimension of movement in terrifying
People who know me well know that: they get my sense of humor which is challenging if you don’t know me that well
One thing you want to do before graduating: tray-bogganing. I never really got to do it and I feel like I missed out
If you could have one super power, what would it be? I’d like to fly but I don’t want to be cold. Flying would be really cool but it would be freezing so as long as there’s some sort of protection like a suit maybe, like an iron man suit.
If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why? I really want to meet Stephen Colbert. I’m a huge fan, huge fan and I watched him all during high school.
Favorites:
Show: When I was growing up we really liked 24. Recently, I’m really into Breaking Bad and Mad Men
Movie: James Bond movies, I’m a huge Bond fan
Food: anything my mother makes, big fan of my mother’s cooking
Off Campus location: I must admit most of my time is spent on campus. I also like Victoria park
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Sam Krishnapillai
Running for VP Internal on Team Whelan is Sam Krishnapillai, a fourth year health science student. Sam is the Health and Wellness coordinator for the USC and works under Myuri, the VP CI. She is also a counsellor and is thus exposed to both the policy and social side of things.
If elected, Sam plans on making several changes and additions to the USC. “As someone from the support services center, I definitely see a priority for a long term plan for the center. We have a strategic plan for the peer support network which would give us the direction we want to be moving towards and the priorities we want to hit and that way we turn over coordinators every year. Something else in terms of consistency is putting stakeholders around a table – being around a table in an actions committee and talking about mental health, sexual violence, LGBT issues, academic counselling, exam scheduling. If we are talking about all these issues in a circle, we are getting the right people discussing this and we are getting consistent ways to execute it; whether it’s, here’s how we’re going to target academic counseling or here’s how we’re going to have consistent messaging on mental health concerns on campus. I think that’s a really great way to move forward.”
With many years of experience in the USC, Sam has a few memorable and rewarding experiences at Western; “I created WOWestern, which was based on the Book of Awesome. There are little moments in our day that sort of pick you up and make you smile and that’s what WOWestern was all about. I didn’t see it going as far as it did and that just brought me a lot of joy. Also, I’ve had my frosh come up to me when I was their residence soph and telling me that things that I said and the tone that I set on the floor really made them feel welcome and supported on this campus and that is every soph’s dream, you really want to hear that you helped them in some way. That’s one of the most rewarding feelings.”
According to Sam, you should vote for her and her team because they are united on a vision. “I think when you look at our platform you see us tackle big issues. We’re talking about big picture solutions, big picture ideas, and I think that is what makes us unique because that is what this campus needs. This campus doesn’t need more discussions about food options, those things are important but those are things that should happen once elected, they are not things I should be elected based on. We put so much time into finding issues that affect us and peers and students and we’re finding solutions for those.” Some students may think team Whelan’s platform tackles issues that are too big but Sam tells us her team has the experience and skills to tackle all the issues; “Patrick comes with a lot of advocacy experience and Amir developed and implemented Change Camp before he was even involved in the USC and that makes Amir a strong candidate in terms of student engagement and student involvement. I’m the only candidate running that has any experience in the CI portfolio and that is half of the VP internal portfolio. You can’t teach CI issues, you can’t teach coordinator experience. That is something you just have to have and I think that’s what makes me an incredibly strong VP internal candidate because I come from that center, I know the people and I know the issues and I think that’s what makes me very different from my competitors and makes our team very different.”
HC Quiz
Celebrity crush: Prince Harry and Ryan Gosling, they’re perfect
Dream job: Someone working in health promotion helps the community and that’s what I want to be doing. I want to do more of the large scale community based efforts and also some of the clinical side of things as well
Guilty Pleasure: soap operas and really bad reality TV shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians
Pet Peeves: I hope this doesn’t like I’m trying to turn this into a political answer but I cannot stand it when people don’t respect other peoples’ way of life. If you’re not hurting anyone you should do whatever you want. It really boils my blood when I hear people saying things like “oh I don’t like it that those people are gay” or saying inappropriate things like “I just killed that exam or raped that exam.” We’re supposed to be intelligent so let’s find better words, let’s crack open that thesaurus and let’s use a different word other than gay here and there.
I am terrified of: clowns, they are creepy.
People who know me well know that: I’m super sassy. I come off as very sweet but when you come to know me I’m super sassy and super dorky. I’m way too much of a film critic, my friends hate watching movies with me. It’s really hard for me to find someone to watch a movie with unless I promise not to comment at all!
One thing you want to do before graduating: I’d like to experience more of London.
If you could have one super power, what would it be? Transporting myself from one place to another – I hate travelling but I love being places, and I’d also never be late!
If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why? Anne Boleyn. I’ve always had a weird fascination with her because she changed the monarchy so much. And Princess Diana, I have a wild love and obsession with Princess Diana. I think she was a phenomenal human being and I was obsessed with her when I was a child. She went through so much in her life but still did so much good and that’s what I think everyone should strive for is to overcome the things that we go through to be better and do better in the world
Favorites:
Show: Gilmore Girls, The Newsroom, Girls, Friends
Movie: Silence of the Lambs, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and It’s a Wonderful Life
Band/Singer: Britney spears and Drake
Food: sushi
Off Campus location: There’s a tiny bookstore near Richmond and Piccadilly, it’s really small but it’s got a homey kind of feel to it
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Amir Eftekharpour
Running for VP External on Team Whelan is Amir Eftekharpour, a fourth year Political Science student. Amir started off in the USC as a spoh in Med-Syd and got involved in various charities such as Terry Fox and the Canadian Cancer Society. He is also a commissioner is the University Affairs portfolio and sits on the board of various political science journals. Tired of not being heard, Amir started Change Camp; “change camp is an open forum where students, staff and university administrators come together and they propose the ideas to talk about and they discuses them and record them in a report given to the USC. It is best to allow students, when we engage with them, to discuss things on their own terms. I’m really passionate about student engagement, I think students should be the driving the change at Western and they should be the ones making the decisions and not having decisions made for them. So when we engage with the provincial government on tuition, when we’re engaging with the municipal government on a better bus service and fairer policing, we’ve done it through student engagement.”
If elected, Amir plans on many changes to the USC directed by students. However, the issues he is most passionate about is ending Project Learn. “Project Learn sounds like a fun academic program but it is not, it’s a police program. Project learn gives police the ability to patrol only student neighbourhoods and give students tickets or even arrest them without noise complaints against them and without even violations sometimes. I have had a few of my friends get a ticket for a potential to create noise. It is a zero tolerance program that only targets students and it is not fair. Students are residents of this city. The best way to foster a good community is by engaging with our neighbours so I want to bring in a Good Neighbour campaign. It is easier as a student to be more responsible when the person next door isn’t just a neighbour, they are John with two kids. That is something I’m really passionate about, it is going to be difficult to do but I think it is important the USC talks about it so that the students feel like the USC is actually standing up for them.”
With so many experiences under his belt, picking his most memorable moment was difficult; “we hear a lot about the best student experience and I think the most incredible thing for me was when I was a member of the charity team last year and at the end of orientation week we got to go up on stage, myself and two of my teammates, and talk about why we were involved in a charity program. I got to talk to 6000 students about why I was so passionate about ending cancer, about funding cancer research and funding cystic fibrosis treatment and research. It was mind blowing to actually talk and have 6000 people listen! At the end we all stood up, we all put up our ‘W’s and chanted western, I know it sounds corny but standing in front of 6000 people knowing that they all are so passionate and that they really care, it was a moment where we all came together. At western we have a huge community and sometimes it feels like we can’t come together but in that moment we all came together chanting Western and it was, to this day, one of the most surreal things I have ever experienced.”
The reason you should vote for Team Whelan? “It is a matter f vision. Students can see that we have put the work in and that we know what we are doing. Instead of talking about ten different ways to change the wave, we are talking about things like fairer tuition deadlines, about better exam schedules and about a better e-mail system. We are all about student engagement and having students make decisions instead of having them made for them. We are going to continue with our Change Camp, we have an online idea program that hundreds of people are using right now to discuss ideas and we have an app where you can discuss ideas. We are the only slate talking about student engagement instead of making decisions for the students.”
HC Quiz:
Celebrity crush: Emma Watson and Tom Hanks because Tom Hanks is a bad ass, he’s just the coolest person in the world
Dream job: I want to write for The Onion, they have the funniest headlines! I would drop everything to go work at The Onion.
Guilty Pleasure: Hot dogs, specifically Toronto hot dogs. Nothing else compares!
Pet Peeves: When people talk in the library
I am terrified of: Spiders and heights
People who know me well know that: I love to goof around and I’m the first person to laugh at my own jokes, I’m usually the only person to laugh at my jokes! But when it comes to something that I’m serious about then it’s all engines go.
One thing you want to do before graduating: Get to the top of the UC tower. I heard you can do it if you say you’re going to propose to someone. I guess I’m going to have to find someone to propose to, to go to the top of the UC tower
If you could have one super power, what would it be? The ability to eat as much junk food as I can without gaining weight because I have the worst diet in the world
If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why? My grandpa, he died before I was born so I never got to meet him but I’ve heard really cool things about him.
Favorites:
Show: 30 Rock
Movie: Forest Gump
Band/Singer: Radiohead
Food: Hot dogs
Off Campus location: Ceeps