Daniel Lawrie, VP Internal

During his term as VP Internal, Lawrie oversaw a number of exceptionally successful events on campus. 4Floors attendance doubled in comparison to last year, and Faculty Olympics also garnered significant interest from students. This being said, 2016’s frosh week, though relatively well-organized, and well-received by attendees, drew criticism from the Milton-parc community for being significantly more disruptive than in previous years. Moreover, Lawrie seems to have focused heavily on event planning, to the detriment of other areas of his portfolio. Notably, he should have done more to support and work with First Year Council, which plays a key role in the experience of first-year students. Then again, communication is another key part of the VP Internal portfolio, and to his credit, Lawrie has markedly increased readership of the SSMU listerv, and has worked on a website redesign which should be operational by September. Lawrie also oversaw the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement with the administration, which applies the Mcgill Code of Conduct to all SSMU events. This is certainly an important step forward in protecting students – in particular, from gendered and sexual violence. In his interactions with other SSMU staff and representatives, however, Lawrie has shown himself to be woefully inadequate in dealing with disclosures of gendered violence, and in prioritizing the safety of both survivors and those most at risk of such violence. Broadly speaking, while Lawrie has had some notable successes with campus events, his performance as a member of the executive has been lacking. He should have been significantly more present in SSMU’S democratic process, taken a more active role on Council and in supporting the team throughout recent crises, and simply shown greater commitment to the pro-survivor and politically progressive values which SSMU nominally holds dear.