Dario Garousian is a second-year political science and applied science major. He currently sits on the AUS council and is the vice-president administration for the Political Science Undergraduate Association. If he is elected, Garousian plans to focus on student engagement and build on the work done by past student senators.
Describe your platform and what sets it apart from your opposition in a few sentences.
My platform is a lot about engagement and reaching out to students, as well as advocating for what they want on Senate. A lot of new student senators try to achieve new innovative ideas, but we’re approaching the end of a three-year term and it’s important to realize that we have to continue all the good work that the past student senators have done and have a smooth transition. What sets me apart from other candidates is that I will be continuing on the work of past senators, building on them, and also focusing on engagement as well, making sure students are informed of what’s going on.
How have you been involved with the AMS before, and how will this help you?
I’m currently the AMS Academic Affairs commissioner, so I work under Jenna Omassi, VP academic. I’ve also worked as the vice chair of the University and External Relations Committee, and I’ve also proxied for Council many times.
What are the challenges facing this position in the upcoming year?
We’re facing the end of a three-year cycle and we can’t really accomplish as much as we want because a lot of the faculty can be renewed and there can be a lot of new senators. It’s about finishing up projects in the current cycle and possibly starting the conversation on new projects.
Who is the most important body or person you need to collaborate with in this position, and how will you foster a relationship with them?
As a senator I’d want to work more closely with the VP Academic on the projects they’re working on on the student side of the things. I think that it would be important to take that student Senate caucus and bring them to student engagement where they’d be involved with projects like #TextbookBrokeBC or consulting students on what they want to advocate for on UBC Senate.
What three committees would you like to sit on as a senator, and why?
The Ad hoc Mental Health committee I would love to work with because I am a huge mental health advocate and I’ve actually used access and diversity before and I’ve seen the state of mental health on campus and it’s improving, thanks to work from the work of our current senators and I want to build upon that. But I also want to sit on the library committee …There’s an interesting part of library committee and that is the 24-hour study space.
Interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.