The Presidential Debate: SMUSA Elections 2021
Photo by Shelagh Murphy on Unsplash
On March 2nd, 2021, I had the pleasure of attending the Presidential Debate for the 2021 SMUSA election, which was held virtually on Zoom. As with the Board of Director’s forum which occurred the night before on March 1st, 2021, there were about 30 people in attendance, indicating a robust interest in the SMUSA election within the SMU community. The debate was scheduled to take place from 6 pm to 8 pm AST but ended just after 7 pm. The event began with opening remarks from the Chief Returning Officer (CFO) of SMUSA, Yasmine Love, who welcomed all those in attendance and introduced the guest speaker for the evening, Tara Miller.
Tara Miller kicked off her speech by speaking to a few of her credentials, such as her career as a lawyer with MDW Law, her position as a board member and chair of Special Olympics Nova Scotia, and her past role as the president of the Progressive Conservative (PC) party of Nova Scotia. In speaking to her credentials, Ms. Miller gave a detailed account of her journey in Nova Scotia politics, beginning when she joined the campaign team of John Hamm, the 25th premier of Nova Scotia. By talking about her own experiences enacting change through provincial politics, Ms. Miller emphasized to listeners the importance of using your political voice, as it only takes one person to make a difference, even if you are not an elected official. However, Ms. Miller also made it clear that to enact political change, you can not be passive, you have to show up to the conversation and forge relationships that will allow you to reach your political goals.
Following Ms. Miller’s speech, debate moderator Paula Minnikin called on presidential candidate Franklyn Southwell to speak about himself. Franklyn is the only candidate running for the position of SMUSA President and CEO in the 2021 election, and as such, the remainder of the event became geared toward discussing his presidential platform. Franklyn opened by discussing a few aspects of his personal life, such as the fact that he is from Antigua, he is a huge sports fan, and he has always had a passion for leadership and politics. Franklyn also went on to mention how his main goal as the President of SMUSA would be to bridge the gap between students and the SMU administration.
Photo by Franklyn Southwell
The event then took on a more structured format as the debate, albeit one-sided, moved into the question period, with Ms. Minnikin asking Franklyn a series of six prescripted questions. These questions predominantly focused on identifying the biggest challenges currently facing students, ways to increase student engagement at SMU, and Franklyn’s own reasons for running in the election. One of the main takeaways from Franklyn’s responses to the prescripted questions was that his platform rests on increasing representation and communication within SMUSA and the SMU community. In answering the question “Why did you run for SMUSA President, and how will you benefit SMUSA,” Franklyn noted how the slogan for his campaign is “the voice of the people,” because he claims he wants to be accountable for the issues facing students. Franklyn fleshed out this aspect of accountability for student issues within his platform by promising to improve upon the current state of SMUSA in a few key ways, including making SMUSA and its policies inherently diverse and feminist, creating a more functional system of feedback between students and SMUSA, and offering honorariums to regular students looking to join SMUSA committees.
Once Franklyn had answered the six prescripted questions, Ms. Minnikin shifted the debate to address the questions which the audience had submitted beforehand to the CFO. Many of these questions reiterated the themes which had arisen in the prescripted questions, such as student engagement, student issues and bridging the gap between the university administration and SMUSA. Yet, the questions posed by audience members also brought into question other important areas of focus in the current university climate, such as sustainability, residence life, and the effects of COVID-19. The effect COVID-19 has had on students was an issue that Franklyn addressed in great detail in answering the audience's questions, especially with regard to how the pandemic has disproportionately affected international students. Franklyn made clear, in this regard, that if he is made SMUSA President, he will do all he can to tackle concerns about rising tuition for international students and implement a long-term plan that allows international students to be more financially stable and have a better quality of life when at SMU.
Arguably the most contentious aspect of the debate came out of the question period dictated by the audience. One audience member brought to light the fact that Franklyn had not served out his full term as a member on the SMUSA Board of Directors (BOD) in his first year at SMU, and as such, the audience member wanted to know how we can be sure that Franklyn would be committed to the role as SMUSA President. Franklyn admitted that he made mistakes during his tenure with the BOD, citing an over-optimistic attitude and a failure to do his due diligence in the role as reasons for such mistakes. Nevertheless, Franklyn made clear that he stepped away from his position with the BOD on his own terms, and he is fully prepared to serve out the entire term as SMUSA President with complete integrity and commitment.
The debate came to a close with a few words from the Deputy Returning Officer (DRO) of SMUSA, Danielle Steele, who reminded the audience that any questions about the SMUSA elections of Franklyn himself could be directed to herself or the CRO by emailing elections.smusa@smu.ca.
The voting period starts on March 8th-9th. It will be a cluster yes/no vote for all five Board of Director candidates at once. A 51% collective 'yes' vote will be required. The presidential candidate will also be elected through a yes/no vote where Franklyn will need to acquire a 2/3 majority vote in their favour.
If you are looking for more general information about the upcoming SMUSA election, be sure to visit https://www.smusa.ca/get-involved/elections/. For more information about special guest speaker Tara Miller, visit https://www.mdwlaw.ca/lawyers/tara-miller/. You can also keep an eye on the SMU Journal website for updates and news about the election.