Some Thoughts

Hi there, my name is Edward and I am a candidate running for one of the Engineering seats on WUSA Students’ Council this year. Recently, I received an email from a group that asked some questions about my views on racism at UW so I thought I’d write up a short post to talk about it and address the matter. I will also preface that there are many other ongoing issues that require attention, but I will dedicate this post particularly on the issue of racism.

First and foremost, let me unambiguously, directly state upfront, Black Lives Matter, systemic racism in Canada is real, and racism impacts students at UW. This is the baseline I want to make sure is clear to everyone who reads this. I would also like to state that I am human, prone to error and uninformed on many topics, but I do adopt an open growth mindset; that individuals develop with time and experience and that changing one’s opinion in the face of new perspectives and information is an excellent thing. So if you’d like to criticize or correct me, please let me know and I’d be glad to have a conversation with you and listen.

Now onto the questions that were posed.

The first question asked how I would combat racism against and advocate for Black students, Indigenous students, and other students of colour. One immediate way would be to support the ongoing efforts of the societies, WUSA, and student groups that are already doing great work. Another would be to keep the conversation going at Council by keeping the university accountable to its promises and making sure that student voices are being heard. I think another key effort would be to mentor and support such students who are interested in getting involved at Council and giving them the tools to take the lead if they so wish. Communication and relationships with the Engineering student body are also key, making sure that students who have concerns are comfortable talking to me and can trust me to bring it to Council.

I would also like to note something on my approach to advocacy. I think successful advocacy sometimes gets misrepresented as a series of flashy wins, overturned decisions, and dismissals. While those are sometimes the results of advocacy, oftentimes advocacy is more of a slow burn, with progress measures in meaningful inches versus leaps and bounds. Sudden change is not the same thing as lasting impactful change. Building up relationships, identifying underlying causes, understanding complex systems interactions, and investigating potential side effects are key factors in successful advocacy and those take time. Short-term advocacy on urgent issues sometimes sidesteps this process, but the more critical advocacy is often the long-term efforts to prevent such issues from arising again. Advocacy sometimes won’t have any effect on current students but sets the groundwork to improve the lives of future students and for future advocacy. That’s something that tends to get lost in today’s expectations of immediate gratification and results.

Now, something I want to make extremely clear before the next question is that as a councillor, my own views and opinions should not and would not primarily drive my position on decisions made at Council. My main focus and obligation would be to represent the desires and concerns of the Engineering student body. Their input and consultation are what I would bring to Council and I would bring back answers and explanations to the student body. On issues that students have not directly brought up with me, I would take my direction from the actions of EngSoc’s Council, existing EngSoc stances, and what Engineering students have demonstrated through their actions and words. Again, I am human so sometimes my interpretations might not be quite on the dot, but I would be willing to listen if you think I have erred.

With that in mind, the second question asked if I support calls from students to remove campus police. If I am elected and that is what Engineering students ask me to support, then by all means, yes that is the position I will represent at Council. However, if there are also students within Engineering who disagree and ask me not to support that stance, then I will engage further with students to bring a more nuanced stance to Council. Nuance is admittedly in short supply these days in the world, but I think it is essential in the decision-making process.

The last question posed was if I agreed that RAISE is essential and to commit to protecting its coordinators from the white supremacist violence that is targeted at them. For those unaware, RAISE (Racial Advocacy for Inclusion, Solidarity, and Equity) is the WUSA service with the goals of supporting racially marginalized students, educating on issues to promote a campus culture that is accepting of diversity, advocating for an inclusive and equitable campus, and ensuring that all their resources are accessible to all members of the campus community. I entirely agree that such a service is indispensable on campus and whole-heartedly support these goals.

As for the second part of that question, I will do my part to protect any and all members of our campus community from harassment and attacks, but I am cognizant that even if elected councillor, there is a limit and scope to what I am able to do. These significant changes in attitudes and culture cannot come about solely from student leaders but require a grassroots approach to connect to individuals and build communities that are inclusive and supportive of one another. Disagreement in a group is healthy, but disagreement in the form of hurtful targeted statements at individuals is not okay.

These are all the questions that were asked in the email and I hope that they gave some perspective into my thoughts about these issues and my philosophy on student governance. As always, if you have questions, feel free to email me or reach out to me on the EngSoc Discord server.