USC Presidential Candidate Claire McArthur

The USC Elections are right around the corner (February 14^th and 15^th) 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. 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 Claire McArthur, a fifth year political science and history student from Brantford; “I decided to run for USC President because I wanted a student to represent the students and not a politician.” In regards to her platform – and her slogan of “You deserve more”- Claire states “I think students have a difficult life at times and sometimes that gets overshadowed. By implementing some of these changes we can make student life a little easier.” In order to achieve those goals Claire plans on changing the culture at Western; “I think there’s a huge disconnect between the Greek system and the jocks and the nerds and the “cool” kids. I think Western will never reach its full potential unless we bring that together and reach our potential as a whole and not as separate groups.”

Western pride and love is evident in all of the candidates’ campaigns and personal beliefs, and Claire is no different. What she loves most about Western is the student body; “I love that at times, not as often as I would like to say, we students come together. With charity for this year we’ve raised over $200,000 which is phenomenal. This culture that we’ve created through O-Week and programs like sophing and the Greek community is phenomenal, but like I said, it’s separated and we can’t have that, I want to be the person that brings us all together.” The sense of community at Western and unparalleled pride exhibited by students is what makes Western the greatest student experience in Canada. As part of Claire’s time at western, her most memorable experience revolves around the same sense of pride and community we are famous for; “this one time in Ceeps I was watching the boy’s basketball final on TV.  In my second year they went to Ottawa in the semi-finals and ended up losing. But at that moment, we were chanting in Ceeps “Western” and I looked around for a little bit and it made me feel like I was a part of something.” Western pride was palpable that night as students didn’t care that their cheers weren’t being heard by the team, Claire says “we were doing it because we had pride in our school and we had pride in our boys that were playing. That goes back to one of my platform points of creating a better match between the Mustang athletics and USC, because as I looked around that night I didn’t see any USC counsellors or the USC President; I saw students and that’s why I’m running because I want to be the face for the students.”

With so much drive and passion for Western, what inspires this presidential candidate? “My brother, he inspires me because at such a young age he knows who he is. I’m a writer, I get my inspiration from anything, the students inspire me, the faculty that stays up late and puts together lesson plans everyday;  the students that get to the library at 8:30 in the morning to do their work and still manage to see their girls by the end of the night.” According to Claire, “we live in a culture where everything can inspire us, pictures and photographs that will change how you view things for that moment.” Claire calls herself a dreamer and even has her own saying that she holds true to her life; “Realists never live, dreamers never die.”

The inspiration extends to the student body at Western, with whom she credits her most memorable experience at Western; “I love hearing about students that are starting their own ventures. I’m meeting students that are wonderful people who are in charge of their dreams who are “seizing fate by the throat” – that’s Mozart – and that’s what’s rewarding.”
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The four years of undergrad fly by and Claire has some advice for students on making the most of their experience; “Take advantage of everything. I think I take advantage of Western in a very unorthodox way as compared to my competitors in the sense that I didn’t join USC because I was sick of not having a say.” Claire went on and took advantage of other job opportunities such as the intramural program; staying fit and healthy but also meeting new people. “I love this school more than anything, except maybe bacon. That I think would be my advice to students, to come in and love it and be passionate about Western because if you’re passionate about it and you love it, then you’re going to make the most of it in any way that you want to.”

HC Quiz

Dream date
I’m a big fan of memories and not of tangible. A sporting event and great conversation would be the best date, especially someone who can make me laugh. Definitely make a memory, do something that’s unorthodox so I can look back and think I did this really cool thing once.
Celebrity crush
Cam Gigandet or James Franco because he’s so smart, pineapple express makes me laugh the entire time. And cam because in never back down he has this bad boy swag to him that I just crave at times
Dream job
Work for the LA Lakers, or the Chicago Bulls. Being in a sport culture is where I really want to go in my life. That’s not my dream job that will be my job!
One thing you want to do before you graduate
I did it, I wanted to go skating in Victoria Park and I did it and it was so worth it. I suggest all students go and try it.
Guilty pleasure
There are so many! Toddlers and Tiaras, as much as I come off as this sport fiend – I’m a guy’s girl to the core and I would much rather watch TSN than anything – but if you put those little girls on stage and the moms, they’re so funny. And I always want to win ultimate grand supreme, that’s my other dream job!
Pet peeves
I don’t care if you are tall, short, skinny, fat, gay, rectangular, straight, circular, brown, orange, black, green…please have common sense. I don’t have any patience for people who don’t understand the world or don’t make an effort to understand the world and people that are ignorant about issues that are so much bigger than a campaign. Learn about the world, it’s bigger than you.
Favourite off campus location
Jim Bobs, I love to dance, it’s my cardio and I love seeing my friends. Because I don’t drink, I don’t get hangover so I still go to class and still get my work done. I love seeing everyone; it’s a community where everyone does come together, as corny as that is.
Something about you people don’t know
I have a liver disease; I got diagnosed when I was 11 so I don’t drink. It’s something that has made me realize how short life is. I was 3 months away from dying when I was 11 and when you get that news at such a young age, it didn’t affect me at the time but now looking back on me and looking back on my past, it definitely subconsciously affected me. I do everything because it makes me happy, I do everything because I want to, I help my friends out when I can because they’re the ones that are going to be there beside me to the last day. People see me at the bar and they automatically assume ‘oh that girl is hammered’ – no I’m sorry I’m just having fun and I had a diet coke (I love diet coke).
If you were stranded on a deserted island, what would you need?
I would need Ty Pennington, only him ten years ago because he was super hot back in the day and he could build me a boat to get off the island. But if he’s not available, I would also take Michael Phelps because I could just simply sit on his back and he could swim me off the island.
If you could have one super power, what would it be?
I want to be able to teleport. Right now I have a friend who’s in England and I would love to blink my eyes twice and be in England, spend the day with her, blink twice and be back here and do my studies.
If yoyo’s created a froyo after you, what would be in it and what would it be called?
It would be called ‘Piggy’s for life’ and it would be a bacon flavoured yogurt because bacon is my favourite food group – it is a food group! However if that wasn’t as successful then I would want it to be called Kobe, after Kobe Bryant, and it would be a lemon/grape flavoured one, the two colours of the LA Lakers!
If you could invite anyone to dinner, living or dead, who would you ask?
Martin Luther King, I think he really did have the courage to stand up to something that he knew he would go to jail for, and he knew he was going against all societal norms at the time, and he knew in his heart he was right. That’s my serious answer and that’s who I’d invite but if I could see anyone in concert, it would be Biggie Smalls. That would be my fun answer but my serious answer is Martin Luther King, he’s a phenomenal inspiration to everyone.