Meet this week’s Profile, Archit Bansal! You might recognize him on campus, as he’s well involved at school. Perhaps, you have even seen some in some of your classes. I recently had the opportunity to speak to him about his thoughts on the recent SFSS elections and some other fun stuff. Take a look!
HC SFU: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
AB: I am a third-year undergraduate student at the Beedie School of Business. I love music, especially rock, and I love getting to know new people. Just putting it out there, I am an International Student!
HC SFU: What prompted you to decide to run for a position in the SFSS (Simon Fraser Student Society)?
AB: That’s a great question! Students are scared to approach the SFSS because of all the structural problems we have as an organization. What structural problems you ask? How we document our daily workings, grant requests, and our advocacy efforts.
These problems affect the accountability of the organization and create discontentment in the hearts of the average student. Recognizing these problems leads me to believe that the SFSS has great room for improvement, and, having worked on both sides of the coin, I can sense the level of resentment and disinterest increasing over the years. Students will only care about the SFSS if the SFSS cares about what they want. To create a feeling of belongingness within the students for the SFSS was the main reason I decided to run.
HC SFU: That’s true. I felt like people started to give up halfway. I went around asking my peers if they voted in the elections, but not a lot of them voted, which was disappointing to hear.
AB: Voter apathy is a big problem we face and I believe our functioning is the reason for it.
HC SFU: That’s so true. In that case, do you think that there are other ways to get more students to care or get more involved with student elections?
AB: My favourite topic!
HC SFU: Mine too! It reminds me of the time you got me to vote for Senate when I was pretty firm on abstaining. Haha!
AB: Well, the voter turnout this year was the same as last year approximately: 12.5%. Only the referendum questions had approximately 19.9% voter turnout. So what do we do? The only way we can change this is through a grassroots movement for creating awareness about the SFSS. Most students don’t even know that the SFSS is collecting money from them every term, irrespective of whether or not they participate in student activities. Students need to be told what the SFSS is, and this needs to be done before the elections and not by the candidates during campaigning.
It starts from orientation, staff support during elections, accessible documentation, and ways of getting involved throughout the school year. How do we initiate these changes? There are two ways to go about it: either we sit and wait for an angel like the Board to come along and focus on this or we unite all student leaders across the campuses to create awareness among their subgroups.
I am happy I could get you to vote. Personally, me running created at least some awareness of the student body and that’s a good start.
HC SFU: Okay, those were some hard questions! Thank you for answering. To lighten the mood, I’m going to ask you some lighthearted questions. So, what is your favourite thing about SFU?
AB: It’s been the wide range of people I have been blessed to interact with. Very diverse, not only ethnically, but more so ideologically. I am so glad that I started volunteering from my very first day at SFU. I have gotten a few everlasting friendships and more knowledge of the world and of myself than I could have ever dreamed of as a freshie.
HC SFU: Wow! Very first day? I don’t even know what I was doing during my first day. That’s quite ambitious of you.
AB: Oh, like first semester! I am very ambitious.
HC SFU: Last one. So, you just won the lottery. Congrats! What is the first thing you’ll do?
AB: I would buy a red Ferrari with full black leather interior and a house in Italy. I would put $25 million in a savings account, $5 million in mutual funds and the stock market, and another $10 million in real estate in Berry Hills or Malibu. Then, I would still have around $5-8 million, which I would give to my family.
HC SFU: Okay, you’re definitely a business student. I would have just gone on a shopping spree and bought some stocks. But thank you so much for your time!
AB: You’re welcome! Thank you for having me talk!