Alison Root is the Link UVic candidate for director of student affairs. She is one of two candidates running for this position. Voting for this election opens March 5, 2014
What area do you study at UVic?
I’m in linguistics and social justice studies.
Why did you choose to run for this position?
I’m really passionate about having an engaged campus and I have a lot of ideas for how to get more student input into the UVSS.
What makes you a good candidate for this position?
As I said, I have a lot of ideas, specifically related to the portfolio of student affairs and so I think that there are a lot of changes that I can bring about.
What experience do you have with campus clubs?
I’ve been on the executive [boards] of two clubs at UVic and I was the chair of a course union.
What do you want to accomplish if you win the position?
There are a lot of things that I’d like to accomplish in terms of getting more student input. I think that we need to open up spaces to make the processes more democratic. I think advocating for students is really important in terms of academic advocacy and I think that there are a lot of ways to promote engagement by partnering with the director of events to have events that appeal to more students and are cheaper or free.
How would you handle conflicts between students and a club?
I think it’s important to mediate. I think there are some really great advocacy groups on campus that can be used for their wealth of expertise around specific issues. So it’s really important to overcome issues like that.
What would you do differently from this year’s board?
I think having sort of more commitments to respond to the feedback that we get from students and to commit to response times for emails is really important.
What are your main goals if elected?
To follow through on my platform points and to make sure that the UVSS is really acting to represent the students.
What’s your favourite hobby?
I really love photography, which relates to my interest in travelling.
