Mariam Furré is a second-year global and international studies student with a specialization in globalization and environment, running as an independent vice-president (internal) candidate in the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) 2020 elections.
Previous experiences
Furré is on the board of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) Carleton, and is involved with the Somali Education Fund, Roots and Shoots Carleton and the Muslim Student’s Association.
Through OPIRG, she has protested Doug Ford’s implementation of the Student Choice Initiative, and said her discussions with other club members made her grow and understand the “different positionalities people have.”
Reasons for running
“I’m very vocal about my wants and needs and the wants and needs of my classmates, and I feel like I’ve been talking to no one,” said Furré, who is the only second-year student running.
“I just want to make a difference as fast as possible,” she added.
Slate or independent?
“I’m actually anti-slate completely,” said Furré, adding that they are unfair to independent candidates.
“As a marginalized person and a poor person that can’t afford $600 to be campaigning, I feel like I need to create that window of opportunity so more people who look like me can be able to run and not feel scared or feel like their voice will never be heard,” she said.
“This year is a very interesting year because most people are running independently and this is a sign that a lot of people don’t trust the slate system.”
Campaign goals
If elected, Furré plans to ban slates completely, as well as advocate for true transparency through CUSA.
This includes transparency when it comes to hiring practices, she said, adding that a lot of students don’t know how to get jobs with CUSA and there is “a lot of nepotism going on.”
“We’re missing an opportunity for a lot of people who are very qualified who don’t have the opportunity to even apply for these jobs.”
Furré is also advocating for more transparency in funding, adding that CUSA’s financial report “has a lot of holes in it” when it comes to miscellaneous spending or meeting budgets that need to be clarified.
Furré said she would like to increase wages in student jobs and implement mandatory anti-oppression training for everyone who works under CUSA.
“If I was called a racial slur or was battling Islamophobia on campus as we all are, there’s nowhere where I or a queer person could go and be like, ‘okay, this happened to me, what can I do?’” she said.
Furré would also like to implement life skills training, which could include lessons on how to pay taxes as well as first aid training.
Final thoughts
Furré said she hasn’t heard many of the candidates advocate for the amplification of all marginalized voices, such as “the queer, the trans, the Black, [and] the Indigenous people of colour.”
“They’re not thinking about the disabled and especially the mature students who have been neglected at Carleton forever,” she said, adding that some mature students are paying for CUSA but “don’t know what they do for them.”
Furré said she hopes students know they don’t have to vote for an entire slate and are able to vote for individual candidates.
“Don’t vote for me because you like me or because you’re my friend,” she said. “Vote for me because I’m speaking for you, and I’m speaking for us, and I’m screaming for us.”
Featured image by Tim Austen.
