SSMU End of Year Reviews

This year has been rough on the Students’ Society of Mcgill University (SSMU) executives. Understaffed, underfunded, overworked, the SSMU executives nevertheless strove to fulfill their duties – though in dealing with day-to-day tasks, larger visions have languished. Mercifully, some of the troubles from the Fall semester have been resolved in Winter, with the election of a General Manager and VP Internal, and the hiring of a Daycare Director. With that in mind, the executives have been able to do their job, instead of perpetually picking up the slack.

SSMU’S predicament, however, points to a broader trend in student politics. In SSMU, a student culture of caffeine-fuelled late nights collides with the rigor of a daytime office workplace. Facing unrealistically high expectations for a thankless task, most executives have commented that their mental and physical health have been negatively affected. President Kareem Ibrahim told The Daily, “I don’t have the emotional energy to do [this job] again.”

Perhaps this is why the number of candidates for executive positions was so low this year. Being a SSMU executive is perceived to be very harmful – not to mention the toxic environment that always seems to emerge during elections. This is a problem that SSMU and the undergraduate student body at large need to address. Our student union is our foremost instrument in lobbying for student interests. If it is increasingly inaccessible, this is to the detriment of all of us. A long-term investment in a healthier environment for student politicians is in all of Mcgill students’ best interests.

- Compiled by Ellen Cools, Saima Desai, and Cem Ertekin