UTMSU President Andrew Park answers 13 questions on what students can expect this year
UTMSU discusses student engagement, campaigning, and budgeting in this exclusive interview.

The University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) has kicked off the 2025 academic year with a host of exciting events and changes. Orientation is coming to an end,  a new destressor space is available for students, buses have increased hours, new bidets are being installed, the “Client Choice Method” has been enacted at the Food Centre, Bill 33 has emerged as a serious threat to students, there are new bursaries being launched, and more.

In the lead-up to the 2025-26 academic semester, The Medium interviewed UTMSU President Andrew Park, who fielded questions on behalf of his executive team.

1. How do you plan to help students advocate for what they need? Do you have a system for students to communicate their needs to you and the student union?

Andrew Park: Our main goal is to understand and engage with students, reflect their needs, their priorities, and their concerns, and advocate on their behalf. There is no better form of communication than speaking face-to-face and connecting with the student body, which is why we have our daily outreach table—a space for students to engage with us directly. We also have various surveys, encompassing several advocacy efforts and services offered by the UTMSU, which are accessible on our social media as well as the outreach table to provide students with an opportunity to provide feedback. The UTMSU office is always open, as are our email inboxes, for any drop-ins and questions, and we encourage students to always reach out.

2. What are the union’s plans for the 2025-26 academic year and the services that the union provides to students? 

Andrew Park: The UTMSU will continue to do the work it has done for years—providing essential services to meet the unmet needs of the students such as the Health & Dental Plan, U-Pass, Professional headshots, and Printing, among others; advocating on behalf of the student body through campaigns such as Fight the Fees, Transit and Housing advocacy, Extend CR/NCR, SAC policy amendments, and more; and programs such as the newly revamped Here to Help program, the Academic Mentorship Program, the Bursary program, and the Food Centre.

We have worked to continuously improve the programs, campaigns, and services offered and run by the UTMSU. For instance, we opened a new destressor space in the Student Centre where students can book study spaces, play games, relax with friends, and take a break between classes. 

Most recently, we collaborated with the working group Bidets@UofT to install bidets in the bathrooms at the Student Centre. In addition to the many other bursaries we manage here at the UTMSU, we also aim to launch a bursary to support both Queer and Trans and Gender Non-Comforming students dealing with financial hardship. We plan on implementing this bursary to bridge the notable gap that we observed in support for Queer and Trans students and their access to education.

We have a lot of ideas that we have been working on throughout the Summer session, including SAC policy amendments, World University Service Canada (WUSC) program improvements, advocating for better multi-faith spaces, Free-dinner Fridays during exam periods, preparing for the Academic Mentorship Program, and many more. We will be launching all of these campaigns in the coming months, and look forward to engaging with the student body in the coming year.

3. What was the campaign like, and why do you think you and your team were so successful?

Andrew Park: Campaigning was stressful, typical of any kind of election. What made our team so successful was our discipline and bond. We were on the floor for hours on end speaking with students, campaigning for our goals for the year, and asking what improvements they wanted to see on our Campus. It was a very eye-opening experience, gave us a lot of perspective, and helped us to envision what we wanted to achieve for our time in the UTMSU.

We truly believe that our campaign was successful because of our passion and our ideas. We put a lot of effort into researching what was feasible and what was important to students. Many of the campaign points that we ran on were the result of conversations with UTM students and past experiences with campaigns and services on campus. Our conversations with students also showed us how important our advocacy efforts are in improving students’ university experience. Now that we have reached this point, we are working tirelessly to achieve as many of our promises as possible.

4. How does the UTMSU interact with the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), including the Canadian and Ontario (CFS-O) branch?

Andrew Park: The UTMSU is Local 109 of the CFS, and one of the many student unions across Canada. The national office provides us with access through the Ethical Bulk Purchasing networks, through which we purchase merchandise for the students such as agendas, notebooks, and water bottles. 

We interact with the CFS-O on a much more frequent basis. We hosted the annual CFS-O Skills Symposium on our campus, and at the Ontario Annual General Meeting earlier this month, the executive team met student leaders from across the province and participated in discussions that will shape the future of the student movement. We are currently working closely with the CFS-O office for our Hands Off Our Education! campaign, which was launched to fight against Bill-33. Representatives from CFS-O have provided our team with campaign training and materials, and come to UTM to conduct outreach on a regular basis.

5. What was the process for getting weekend hours for the 110 University Express?

Andrew Park: The process involved extensive conversations between the UTMSU, MiWay, and the City of Mississauga. For years, students have voiced concerns about the absence of weekend service for the 110 University Express. The UTMSU’s recent survey strongly highlighted this demand, and over the past six months, we have been actively lobbying and advocating to ensure weekend service is added. Our VP External, Rajas Dhamija, plans to strengthen the data this year and continue the lobbying efforts to make transit more accessible to students.

6. When do you make the budget, and how is it decided?

Andrew Park: At UTMSU, the budgeting process begins once the new executive team is elected and ratified by the Board of Directors, when the VP Internal presents a preliminary budget based on the previous year’s operating budget to estimate each line item.

Rui (Owen) Zhang, our VP Internal will present the operating budget at our Annual General Meeting in November. The Annual General Meeting is open to all students, with each student holding one vote and up to 10 proxies. This ensures transparency and that students are aware of the financial processes of the Union.

Any large expenses for the Union, such as repairs to the Student Centre, major events such as Orientation and the Montreal Reading Week Trip, both of which are organized by our VP Campus Life, Lois Ogunnubi, and new services are also presented and passed through the Board of Directors.

7. Can anyone go to a board meeting? Are board meetings where the budget is decided?

Andrew Park: Yes, anyone is welcome to attend board meetings as a guest. They take place in the UTMSU’s Green Room on the first floor, typically on the last Friday of each month. Once again, the budget is presented three times – the preliminary budget to the incoming Board of Directors in the beginning of the year, the operating budget at the Annual General Meeting in November, and the final, revised budget to the outgoing Board of Directors.

8. Do you have a vision for what a partnership with the Mississauga city council and a partnership with the Toronto Youth Cabinet would bring to UTM students?

Andrew Park: The Toronto Youth Cabinet (TYC) is an advocacy group representing more than 623,000 youth in Toronto. Many of their campaigns align with ours, including transit, housing, employment, and education. Although they have been on hiatus, we plan to meet with TYC representatives later this month. While the UTMSU has not previously worked with the TYC, discussing our respective goals will enable collaboration and strengthen our collective advocacy to municipal bodies on behalf of students. 

The City of Mississauga and the councillors we work with aim to make Mississauga better for all its residents, which includes the students of UTM. We have had many fruitful conversations with Council members and Mayor Parrish, where we emphasized the key concerns of our student body, such as housing, transit, co-op opportunities, and culture and diversity. Last year, our VP External presented an extensive study on the transit needs of UTM students—the result of a year’s worth of research and data collection—to the Transit Advisory Committee. We aim to build on the work done in the previous academic year and advocate for more improvements.

Our work with the City has led to productive conversations with representatives from MiWay, Metrolinx, and UTM administration about solutions to the congestion and accessibility issues faced by commuter students, possible bus shelter improvements, and opportunities for growth. Our vision is to collaborate with the City to better the transit experience and alleviate the effects of the housing crisis on UTM students. In that vein, a partnership with the City means enhanced collaboration and better sharing of resources and data.

9. How will you create affordable food options for students?

Andrew Park: Food prices, options, and accessibility on campus have been a consistent concern that has been brought forward to us by students, with many emphasizing that they have had to prioritize paying for their education over paying for their daily meals or groceries. Many forgo purchasing their meals on campus to pay for their textbooks, tuition, and other educational expenses.

As a solution to this, the UTMSU has maintained our Food Centre—a space in the Student Centre where we stock dry groceries, food supplies, and other essential items like hygiene supplies. Both Miatah McCallum, our VP Equity, and our Food Centre Coordinator oversee the operations of the Food Centre. On a monthly basis, deliveries from Mississauga Food Bank are made to our Food Centre. All students are able to access this space, free of charge.

We have recently renovated the space according to the Client Choice Method, which gives students more agency when choosing items and reduces the stigma of using such resources. We will also be restarting Free Breakfast Wednesdays—one of our most popular services—in the Fall.

Some of our additional work includes connecting with external food vendors to provide cheaper options for students, getting discounts for restaurants in the UTM area, and introducing free dinners during exam periods. Addressing food insecurity is one of our core campaigns and we aim to continue advocating for healthy and affordable food for students.

10. What inspired you to want to increase athletic opportunities?

Andrew Park: I’ve been an athlete my entire life, starting with football (soccer) as a child, wrestling in high school, and now various disciplines of martial arts. Sports builds community, discipline, and lessons that cannot be taught inside the classroom. Physical health is essential to a students’ well-being, and as such, all students should be encouraged to and have the opportunity to participate in athletics, one way or another. Currently, we are in conversations with the RAWC to explore the possibility of introducing a bursary program to assist student athletes with financial need.

11. Are there any accomplishments by past student union administrations that have inspired your team?

Andrew Park: The UTMSU, along with other student unions across Canada, has achieved many accomplishments that form the foundation of our campaigns and advocacy efforts each year. For example, our CR/NCR campaign, led by our VP University Affairs, Manaal Fatima, builds on past successes. These include the UTMSU’s campaign to extend the final course drop deadline to the last day of classes and the Arts and Science Students’ Union’s successful push to extend it even further during the pandemic.

Our transit advocacy and housing initiatives also stem from years of consistent effort and past successes. Likewise, our initiatives to raise awareness of and address food insecurity—such as continuing Free Breakfast Wednesdays, providing free dinners during exam periods, and expanding the capacity of our Food Centre—are inspired by the significant number of students who rely on and benefit from these services.

12. Why should students be passionate about advocating against Bill 33?

Andrew Park: Bill 33 is an attack on the entire education sector. Specifically for post-secondary students, it will undermine the pathway programs and other application programs that are available to equity-deserving students to access education. 

The bill increases unnecessary government oversight of democratically instated student initiatives and services, such as the University’s levy groups, academic societies, UPass, our Health and Dental insurance, and many more. It is also another attempt at the Student Choice Initiative—a policy introduced by the Ford government in 2019 and struck down by the Divisional Court the same year—which claimed that ancillary fees, rather than tuition, made education expensive.

Education has been chronically underfunded for decades in the province, with international students bearing the cost of education for far too long. The government needs to invest more money into education and not reduce the core essential services that students need to make education accessible to all. It is extremely crucial to fight against this bill, given that students across Ontario are experiencing food insecurity, underfunded mental health resources, and increased housing costs. Bill 33 is a threat to these very services, which student unions have provided by filling gaps which the government fails to address. Bill 33 threatens the services that student unions have worked tirelessly to establish.

13. Why does UTM need a student union, and what is a student union capable of?

Andrew Park: At the core of any Union is the principle of strength in numbers, and historically, the role of student unions has been to build community and advocate for student rights. The UTMSU hosts events, provides services, and runs campaigns to meet the needs of students. The UTMSU hosts events on campus to provide opportunities for students to engage with each other and make friends as they enter a new and unfamiliar environment. Student unions provide funding to clubs and societies, and encourage students to build a strong sense of community through their talents, interests, and cultures.

The student union is a reflection of the change in the student body. Over the years, the UTMSU has identified the gaps in the services provided to students, and we have established several key services that students depend on for a barrier-free education that is accessible to all.

Historically, student unions have been at the forefront of social justice campaigns. From advocating against the South African apartheid to calling for universities and governments to divest from the genocide in Palestine, students have collectively fought for change. The UTMSU actively engages in campaigns that champion student rights on campus and beyond. The students united will never be defeated.

We invite our members to present a united front to bring forth change and shape the future we want to see, for the students, by the students.