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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Welcome.3 About Me.4 Accessibilty.5 New Initiatives.6 Relationship with the Board and Administration7 Closing.8

WELCOME Thank you for checking out my platform for the position of Undergraduate Student Trustee. In my platform you will nd a number of initiatives brought up and a lot of stress on the importance of communication at all levels. Before we get started I wanted to take the time to give a brief summary of what the Board of Trustees does. The Board is one of three governing bodies that has a primary focus on the nances of the University. Most importantly for students, the Board approves tuition increases, residence fees, the construction of new buildings, and student assistance. The Board also deals with contract negotiations, hiring of administration, and nancial allocations to specic faculties. The Board meets four times a year. These meetings are in September/October, December, March, and May. Each meeting is two days long and consists of various committee meetings and general meetings, some of which are open to the public. At its largest, the Board consisted of 44 members. Currently, they are downsizing the Board to 25 members through attrition. This means that each board member makes up approximately 4% of the voting power. There are three students who sit on the Board: Undergraduate Student Trustee, Graduate Student Trustee, and the Rector. For more information about the Board of Trustees or any of the other governing bodies (Senate, University Council) go to www.queensu.ca/secretariat.html.

ABOUT ME My name is Nathan Utioh and I am one of your choices for the Undergraduate Trustee position for 2013-2015. I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, but I grew up in a city of 13,000 about 45 minutes west called Portage la Prairie. I am currently in my second year at Queens, studying Life Sciences. I made the choice to come to Queens based on its reputation and from stories I had heard from an Alumnus. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, I had never heard of Bleeding TriColour or even a Gael, athletically or for Orientation. I especially had no idea that students were so involved in student life, from Student-run Orientation and Non-Academic Discipline to all the Societies and Clubs that are run by students and held accountable by their peers. Shortly after moving in, I was fortunate enough to be elected as an Arts and Science Representative to the AMS where I was rst introduced to student governance at the university level. I was also able to intern last years AMS President Morgan Campbell. With these opportunities I was able to learn more about how inuential students can be within the University and how they can ght for change that will positively affect student life on and around campus. With these opportunities I was able to see rst hand the implications budgeting has on students and participate in the discussions surrounding them; last year this was primarily seen following the suspension of the Fine Arts Program. I now sit on the Finance and Audit Committee for the Main Campus Residence Council and the Committee on External Alignment for the AMS. In my relatively short time at Queens I have developed both a passion for its students and a curiosity for the path that lies ahead. I would like to bring more accessibility to the position of Undergraduate Trustee and to the higher governing bodies of the University, while also maintaining the role as a staunch advocate for the undergraduate students of Queens University. I hope you take the time to read through my platform and consider what I have laid out. I look forward to hearing your questions, comments, or concerns, as you make your decision about who will be best suited to be Undergraduate Student Trustee for 2013-2015.

Nathan Utioh

ACCESSIBILITY Students are getting the opportunity to elect a student who will serve as a trustee and will work directly with the administration and fellow members of the Board. I believe that it is important for students to not only choose the candidate they believe will be a strong voice for students, but to choose the candidate they believe will listen to and engage their fellow students. This begins with working with the executive of all the different faculties, regularly meeting with them and learning the concerns of each individual faculty and how, as trustee, I can help them. I will also become available to the Assemblies of each faculty to make it easier for students to talk to their trustee. While faculty executives will be important people to develop relationships with, I believe that it is the responsibility of our student leaders to work with all students to set a path for the future. I want to accomplish this by both making it easier for students to access information and by bringing questions to the students. This starts with establishing a maximum 24-hour reply guarantee to all forms of communication and having consistent ofce hours in the student trustees ofce in the JDUC. Another way I plan to do this is to enhance the student trustees online prole. Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook will be heavily used to relay information to students and to offer a platform for students to ask questions and voice their opinions. Having said this, I do not want to want to create a new website that students will have to search for in order to garner information. Instead, I want to take resources that already exist such as the AMS and faculty websites and add information regarding the Board so that the information is there for students rather than forcing students to hunt for information.

NEW INITIATIVES In the past the student trustee has done basically the same thing: gone to Board meetings, sat on various committees, and attended AMS and faculty Assemblies. It is my plan, if elected, to establish new responsibilities for the student trustee and create opportunities for students to get involved with their University. As student trustee I would like to coordinate town hall meetings where students would be able to come and ask questions or raise concerns they have regarding any issue facing students and the University. These forums would be a one stop shop of student representatives including: Student Trustee, Rector, Student Senators, and AMS Executive. While this gives students an opportunity to raise concerns, it will also allow the student representatives an opportunity to address issues that may be forthcoming. As well as having town halls I plan to meet with various clubs throughout the year so that I can reach out to a variety of students and provide them with an opportunity to hear bout anything new going on at the administrative level and ask questions and learn about the different governing bodies that affect their time at Queens. Furthermore, in order to reach out to rst year students I plan to establish a rst year internship with the Student Trustee. Currently, the AMS offers this opportunity to rst years to introduce them to the different positions and services that are available to students. As a former intern myself, I recognize how valuable that experience was and I wish to enable more rst years to get this experience. The Trustee internship would allow the interns to not only learn about the different governing bodies and administrative levels, but also allow them to undertake projects regarding specic issues that could then be brought to the Admin, Board, or AMS Executive. My last new initiative will be one of the rst that I will attempt to implement over my tenure as Student Trustee. In order to connect our student body with the people that make up one of highest governing bodies of Queens, I will work with the University Secretariat to make the Board more accessible to students. Some projects we may work on include: making the website of the University Secretariat www.queensu.ca/ secretariat/index.html more accessible and informative, and creating a meet and greet for Board members with students. The meet and greet would create an opportunity for interested students to meet with Trustees and talk about issues, past Queens experiences, or anything else. Giving all students the opportunity to meet with Trustees and the Administration I believe would allow for both sides to gain a better understanding of where the other is coming from.

RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BOARD AND ADMINISTRATION The Student Trustee, or for that matter any Trustee, does not have a signicant amount of power within the Board, comprising only ~4% of the vote. Rather, the Student Trustee must work to create inuence with other Trustees so that the Board as a whole can use its power to make changes and come to decisions that will be best for the University and its students. In order for the Student Trustee to create any level of inuence, strong relationships must be built with other Trustees, Administration, and University Secretariat. My philosophy for developing non-student Board relationships is primarily based on doing ones homework. This means, before even talking to other Trustees or Administrators, I must research the issues in depth, read up on the other Trustees, and talk to other student leaders about issues. This would allow for me to have a working understanding of what is going on and therefore be able to ask the right questions when talking to other Trustees. As I have talked about already, I want to include as many students as possible when going over possible changes, receiving as much feedback as possible; whether you are in your rst year or your last, in Computing or Engineering, I want to know your opinions. Garnering such a vast array of student opinions creates validation when approaching the administration or Board. Instead of going to members saying, I believe I would be able to say, Having heard back from 100 or 1000 students I have come to the conclusion that It is one thing to pass over the opinion of one person, but another to ignore a collective voice.

CLOSING Thank you for taking the time to read my platform. You as a student have a fantastic opportunity to decide who your student leaders will be. With elections for Student Undergraduate Trustee, AMS Executive and most Faculty Executives all occurring at the same time it is almost overwhelming. However, I urge you to take the time to consider all your options for all positions - you have obviously taken at least the rst step by checking out what I have to offer. What I have not tried to do through my platform is focus on the various issues that we are facing and may face in the future. While I am aware, and I am sure you are too, of the difculties we are going to face in the future both as students and a University, I felt it was more important to focus on how I will approach those difculties as the Undergraduate Trustee. Moreover, I want to make sure that all students will have the opportunity to be included in the discussion of the issues. While voting is in and of itself a great way to get involved, we should not use it as the only way in which we get involved. We owe Queens, we owe our peers, we owe ourselves more. Only through our collective strength can we move forward. Therefore, we must come together and decide what matters to us as students. Together we can approach any issue and say, in our pursuit of excellence we need to take care of X to be successful. Should I be fortunate enough to be elected this January 29-30, I pledge to do whatever I can to include you in our pursuit of a better Queens. I will work with and for students when approaching issues that arise over my term. Please, if you have any questions or comments, contact me and I would love to get in touch with you.

Nathan Utioh Queens University Life Sciences B.Sc (Hons.) 15 1nau@queensu.ca www.facebook.com/vote4nathan www.twitter.com/vote4nathan www.voteutioh.com No matter how much youve done, or how successful youve been, theres always more to do, always more to learn, and always more to achieve. -Barack Obama