Editor’s note: In an earlier version of this article, John Haddad was referred to as “Hanna Haddad.” The article has since been updated to reflect his preferred name.
John Haddad is a fourth-year forensic psychology student running for president as an independent candidate in this year’s CUSA elections.
Haddad said his campus involvement includes serving as CUSA councillor for the faculty of science for two consecutive years, volunteering for the campus science society, and being involved with the Syrian and Lebanese culture clubs.
“Being a councillor really helped me showcase my leadership and find different ways to solve different problems,” he said. “It has taught me how to work with a team of talented individuals to achieve the goals that we put forward for students, and also taught me how to use different resources on campus to help students in the science faculty and have better experiences at Carleton.”
Haddad said he decided to run independently to get out of his comfort zone and be able to better help students.
If elected, Haddad said he will work towards improving space for clubs and societies to get together.
“We have many clubs and societies that do amazing things for us on campus but they always struggle to get space, especially with the new addition of The Wing onto the fourth floor of the Atrium that really limits the space for clubs to book,” Haddad said.
Another campaign point for Haddad is working on organizing multi-faith events, to foster connectedness between different religious and cultural groups at Carleton.
“Being part of so many diverse circles has made me realize that not everyone wants a big party,” he said. “I want to do more with our businesses to continue to uphold these events which was some- thing CUSA failed to do this year.”
“We can incorporate religion trivia night—just to get people from different religions, beliefs and backgrounds to get involved on campus. We are very diverse on campus, and I would like to see that more,” Haddad added.
He also said he will work on improving bathroom hygiene at Carleton, such as advocating for cleaner faucets and hand dryers in campus bathrooms.
“It’s horrible that students have to put up with this year after year,” he said. “It’s really good for us to have hygienic bathrooms, so I think it’s a really good point for future students.”
“If elected, my door will always be open for suggestions and if there’s anything that really needs to be worked on, I’m more than happy to listen to students if they want to drop by and talk,” Haddad said. “It’s not a problem.”
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Photo from files
