VP Internal
Omar El-sharawy
Omar El- Sharawy’s term as VP Internal only started in January, meaning that he had much less time than his colleagues to adjust to the job. El- Sharawy has focused most of his attention on the events part of his portfolio, fulfilling his elections promise by working to increase the inclusivity of the events SSMU organizes. His biggest and most challenging event was Faculty Olympics, and he relied heavily on the support of his committee to organize it.
El- Sharawy has opted to decentralize the organization of Frosh, scaling back SSMU’S role in Frosh to one of harm-reduction and general support for the individual faculties. For that purpose, El- Sharawy has helped create three new positions: a harm reduction and logistics coordinator, a community engagement and outreach coordinator, and a Frosh administrator. Letting faculty associations have more leeway in the planning and organizing of their own Frosh is a novel approach, and could be welcome, considering the troubles encountered this year, such as the logistical nightmare that was the Beach Day. Hopefully, ElSharawy’s successor Daniel Lawrie will be able to uphold this harm-reduction approach that El- Sharawy and his staff have attempted to create.
As a member of SSMU Council, El- Sharawy told The Daily he has attempted to “step in when there’s a need for me to step in.” When he ran last Fall, The Daily expressed reservations about El- Sharawy’s stance on SSMU’S position as a political actor. Unfortunately, our reservations were well-founded as El- Sharawy has maintained his apoliticism, going as far as saying that students want “SSMU to be more fun, and less political” while discussing a motion regarding solidarity with Black Lives Matter Toronto (BLMTO) at the March 28 Council meeting. While his stated aim was to avoid alienating the broader student body and to represent the interests of each of his constituents, the mindset that has characterized his term – that “fun” and “politics” must preclude each other – is indicative of a broader misunderstanding of the student society’s role.