Executive Vice-President Candidates Rahul “DJ Glyde” Sanan and Dilpreet Singh Sidhu

Rahul “DJ Glyde” Sanan

Dilpreet Singh Sidhu

Rahul Sanan

Rahul Sanan, who often goes by his stage name DJ Glyde, has been offering to help Indian students adjust to life here. But he believes he can do a better job helping people as Student Union Vice President. “Some accepted my help, some did not. They were like “Who are you? Why do you want to help?” [but they would err] on the safer side because obviously I am a stranger for them… So that’s why I was thinking: What if I get a position in the college to help them out?”

“I’m an artist, I do not see any race, religion, nothing at all. Everyone is equal for me, and I am a good listener.”

“People are stressing… but no-one is focusing on what a student would want after an exam… After midterms there should be something for students to get back on their track. I don’t want them to be stressed out… So I’m going to throw a party at The Pit after every exam time…Why not throw a party after midterms, why not throw a party after finals?”

College is not all about studies, it’s not all about how to change University—no most of the things in here are good. The previous people who were running the Students’ Union, they did a good job… but still a lot can be changed.”

Glyde says he also wants to update the “welcome” mural in the cafeteria. “A student brang this up to me and she says, “Why is there not a welcome in my language?” … Not every language is there so I want to improve that.”

“I’m really disappointed by the way people are campaigning. They are wasting a lot of paper. That’s not really acceptable, and that’s not my thing. Another thing is, people were already campaigning before the [allowed] date. If you cannot stick to rules for elections, how can you stick to rules being in that position? … If I win, I’m going to try talk to about limiting the posters on one single wall.”

Glyde has been making good use of social media for his campaign; “I’m running ads on FaceBook because that’s something not damaging to the environment.”

One of Glyde’s main goals as Vice President will be to end groupism on campus. To that effect he has been using the hashtags: #GlydeUnitesCBU and #StopGroupism. Also, he is thinking about planning cultural exchange events.

“I want to eliminate this [groupism]. This is a big, big problem.”

“Last night I was with a South Indian girl… there were a few people from South India there and they were giving her a look, and she went to them and said hello, and they were like “You’re in big trouble.” She asked why, and then they said, “You are supporting a North Indian guy.”, and then she said “Yeah, he’s my friend, and what’s the problem with that?”

“She came up to me and she was literally shivering about it; that she was supporting me and her people from her region are going against her.”

“I’m against this thing. That’s why I’m standing up for this… I don’t want that groupism. I’m going to connect everyone through one thing—that is music.”

“You are an individual, not a community. So, whatever they do is not exactly what you have to do. You can stand out from them. That’s what makes you different.”

“You should be a CBU student, not an Indian CBU student, not a Chinese CBU student, not a Canadian CBU student—you are a CBU student.”

“You should be helping everyone, and you should be talking to everyone… for everyone they don’t really want to talk to other communities, and I’m going to make them talk to other communities. Guys, talk to each other, please!”

Dilpreet Singh Sidhu

Name: Dilpreet Singh Sidhu Hometown: Punjab, India Program: Post-Graduate Diploma in Instrumentation, Electronics and Controls Year: 1st year student Running for: Executive Vice-President

Q: What made you want to run for council?

A: Since the time I came here, I saw the university and faculty as very good – I appreciate all the work going on over here. But I experienced some loopholes; there’s something lacking in every aspect that we need to fix. And I need the opportunity and the platform to [fix it]. So that’s why I’m running for Executive Vice President.

Q: What are some of these loopholes that you’ve noticed?

A: Some of the loopholes in the education system – firstly, my position is mainly [based on] education and academics, so my first ideas will be around education and academics only. The first thing is the placement procedure. In India there were also placements, on-campus placements – the things that lack here are mainly the placements. And the other thing that is lacking is technical festivals. In India we used to have technical festivals, that give the opportunity for someone with a talent to encourage and showcase their talent; it was a kind of appreciation [for] someone having a talent, he [would get] motivated by that and encouragement to do something more in that field – once he gets some appreciation from his own university. We need to improve them [,technical festivals,] over here.

Q: What kind of things – for those of us that aren’t familiar with technical festivals – what kind of talents are you referring to?

A: The talents [associated] with the sciences, like robotics and many more things that can be included in the sciences where they can showcase their talent, in respect to academics, in respect to their course; what they have learned, different projects, projects and ideas that they can showcase [related to] their course.

Q: So tell me – why did you decide to run for Vice President rather than, perhaps, the Science and Technology representative? Because it seems like a lot of your focus is around that area.

A: I don’t have focus on a specific area, but other aspects too. My other agendas are [the] brining of all the communities together – to make the student’s life perfect, we need to break the hesitation that international students are facing. They are hesitating from being indulged in that, these things like the technical fests and all functions – no matter if they’re related to education only or if they’re related to extracurricular activities, they can get indulged in that together. And that can be decreased – that hesitation can be decreased – within the communities. So the communities can get together, and that will be good for them.

Q: What community are you from?

A: I’m from Punjab, India.

Q: One thing that seems to be developing – specifically amongst the Indian community – and which kind of ties-in to what you’re saying, is that there seems to be a growing divide between North and South Indians. Do you notice that? What do you think is the cause of that?

A: That cause is that the Indian [students] have divided themselves into communities because of the different functions. Sometimes the representatives – I won’t say [who they are] – sometimes organize functions for a specific community only. The other community doesn’t indulge in that. That’s what I need [to do], to indulge all the communities in a common function – [so] that they get to know each other, that would be a social function as well. More communities, more cultures together – that would decrease the gap within the Indian community and within all the other communities together.

Q: So you’ve already mentioned the technical fests. What other events would you like to see happen, that could bring people together?

A: Other events like extracurricular activities. Like the modelling that happened [as part] of the Diwali festival – before that nobody knew each other, but after that got to know each other, got to be with each other, they enjoyed it together. It showcased many new talents, good talents like dancing and singing. We got to know the people that had talents so we can praise them in the future. We can showcase the talent from our own university to the world.

Q: Is there anything else that you’d like people to know about you before they head to the polls?

A: Basically I have a vision to embrace a very healthy environment in the university. And this I will do by bringing all the [different] communities and cultures together. And [I will] enhance the lives of students in both social and academic ways.

Q: Lastly, there are five other people running for Executive Vice President. One of them is Samual Shaji, who is currently the Multicultural Hub Coordinator, so I’m sure a lot of his campaign is around multiculturalism too – what really sets you apart from the other candidates?

A: Well everyone is capable in different ways. I have the capability – this position requires a lot of work and a lot of experience. I have experience with multi-national companies, where I’ve managed about 500 people under me – and this experience will be helpful for me in organizing all [the students] together. And my agendas are not only for academics or multiculturalism, my agendas are for the whole aspect – the people that are facing difficulties because of accommodation, there are many people facing difficulty [finding] parking spaces with an increasing crowd, moreover the seating in the cafeteria and the library; these are small issues but they can make a big difference in the university.

[Editor’s note: Dilpreet requested that the article include a link to his website and platform, which can be accessed here]