On Jan. 25, Residence Society (ResSoc) candidate Team FAM answered student-submitted questions at an open forum. Topics covered ranged from inclusivity for students living in residence to increasing student engagement at ResSoc events. 

Accessibility and inclusivity for students living in residence was one of the biggest issues discussed by the candidates. To combat this issue, Presidential candidate Andrea Colasanti proposed increased training for ResSoc members in order to advocate for the needs of students living in residence.

“We want to improve training for House Presidents and executive members, and also through the newsletter coming out this year, students will have the opportunity to voice any concerns that they have — moving forward we can advocate for all those needs,” she said. 

Vice-President of Residential Affairs candidate Jane Mao also discussed how the team could address the barriers international students face in residence. 

“One thing I want to include in [House President] training is where QUIC comes in and explains [barriers] and goes into more detail and stuff that we possibly don’t know,” Mao said. “Being aware of those issues is a great way to start solving them.” 

In addition, Vice-President of Judicial Affairs candidate Kyesha Fong also discussed this issue. She proposed the possibility of having Four Directions Aboriginal Student Centre conduct a presentation on inclusivity during House President training.

Team FAM also touched on the challenges ResSoc is currently facing, including a lack of student engagement.

“House Presidents are struggling to have relatively high attendance at their events. So we’re hoping that through greater marketing, and specifically, through our channels like our website or Facebook page, that hopefully we can improve attendance second semester [of this year],” Colasanti said. 

The candidates are also concerned with the visibility of ResSoc and plan to make the society more accessible to students. Mao spoke of implementing an open-door policy that would make the ResSoc offices more inviting for students. 

“I would love to implement more office hours so that House Presidents and first-years will be able to come in, talk a bit more and get their ideas fleshed out a bit more,” Mao said. “Additionally, if staff need a bit more support for their event or some ideas, dropping off ideas would be really nice.”