Donna Al Sououb is a fourth-year architectural structural engineering student running as the presidential candidate for the Confidence slate in the 2018 Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) byelection.
Originally from Syria, Al Sououb moved to Ottawa with her family four years ago. Since then, she said she has celebrated her culture by teaching Arabic to children and acting as an executive in Carleton’s Lebanese Cultural Club and the newly-founded Syrian Youth Council, which helps refugees integrate into Canada.
Al Sououb previously ran as the vice-president (student life) on the Change slate in the 2017 CUSA election.
“When I wanted to run for CUSA president, everyone stopped in my way and everyone thought it was a male-dominated position and a man should always be on it, so I’ve decided to defy all odds and run to be the next CUSA president,” she said.
Al Sououb said the name of her slate references the results of the 2018 CUSA election, where three positions fell to ‘no confidence,’ resulting in the byelection.
“We thought that the perfect name for what our team wants to do is ‘confidence,’ since we are specifically trying to restore the confidence that people lost in CUSA and in the electoral process,” she said.
Al Sououb’s platform includes introducing an internal sexual violence policy that holds CUSA executives and staff accountable.
She also said she wants to look into changing the undergraduate health plan to provide more coverage for mental health while costing less. According to her, the University of Ottawa’s Green Shield Canada plan provides three times as much mental health coverage but costs less than CUSA’s plan.
Al Sououb also said she wants to improve equity on campus by introducing two extra seats on CUSA council: one for an international student and one for an Indigenous student.
“This way, we can make sure that everyone’s voice is heard, and not just depending on the faculty,” Al Sououb explained.
She added that the three Confidence candidates have promised to cut their salaries by $1,500 each should they be elected, in order to reinvest $4,500 into clubs and societies.
Al Sououb said other platform points include fighting tuition fees by creating an Ottawa student movement to lobby the government, and pushing Carleton’s Board of Governors to provide more students with seats on the board.
“We feel like no one has really taken action towards anything, so what we would like to do is stand up and fight for students with them, in order to lower tuition fees,” she said.
