Every year, six McGill students invest vast amounts of time and energy into the events and operations of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU). For this special ‘Behind the Scenes’ issue, the Tribune brings you the personalities behind the portfolios.

With elections for the 2013-2014 SSMU executive team just around the corner, the Tribune set out to learn more about the lives of the current SSMU team. 

As a full-time job, an exec position often requires these students to spend upwards of 12 hours in their office everyday, often seven days a week. For SSMU President Josh Redel, who has had a part-time job throughout his undergraduate degree, the almost $30,000 salary that comes with the job is only a small “relief” from the relentless demands of being an exec.

“I can put … all of my time [into SSMU], [and] the salary goes towards my rent, paying off student debt, [and] tuition,” he said. “My budget’s pretty tight.”

Although they receive a salary, execs are also students, albeit in a less intensive manner than many others who study at McGill. Vice-President Internal Michael Szpejda, who hopes to graduate next December, is only enrolled in one full-year, one-credit course.

“Initially in first semester I was in a few more classes, [but] there was no way I could do 400-level neuroscience classes and [SSMU] at the same time,” he said. “People think it’s like any of the faculty [executive positions] where you can totally still do school, but it really is a full-time job.”

Like Szpejda, most execs only take one course per semester. Some, however, have already graduated. Vice-President Clubs and Services Allison Cooper said she followed the course of action taken by many previous execs by choosing to stay on at McGill for another year after graduation as a ‘special student.’

“For example, to graduate from anthropology at McGill, you don’t need to have taken statistics as part of your graduation requirement, but then if you realize you need statistics to go to grad school … you have a year after you graduate that you can still be enrolled as a ‘special student’ and take courses for grad school,” she said. “It’s cool because the classes I’m taking don’t affect my [degree], so I’m not so stressed out in that sense.”

While Cooper is the only exec this year to be enrolled as a ‘special student,’ many execs also said that they feel odd heading to class, and feel disconnected from the world of McGill students.

“Sometimes I worry that I’ve lost sight of what an average student’s perception is of the university,” Redel said. “I have the opportunity to sit [on] the Board of Governors, to sit at Senate, [and] to meet with the Principal … so [I] have the opportunity to have explained, face-to-face, what’s going on, when most people hear it through an email that they probably don’t even read.”

Executives are frequently reminded of students’ apathy or outright disdain towards SSMU. According to Redel, much of the criticism stems from students’ uncertainty of what the role of the organization should be.

“Students get upset when SSMU takes political stances [because they ask] ‘Does SSMU have a mandate to do that project?” he said. “Let’s look at that objectively: What GA motion passed 4Floors being an event every year? None. It’s an initiative we think is good. You’ve elected us as your student representatives, and we think [an event like this] is something that represents students, or the best interests of students.”

Although they spend far less time in classrooms now, many SSMU execs feel that their experience in the office has affected the way they view themselves as students.

“If I can speak up to somebody in Senate, publically, in front of other students, in front of all the admin, then why can’t I tell my profs how I feel?” Vice-President University Affairs Haley Dinel said. “These kinds of positions empower you to take charge more of your degree [and] of your life.”

Vice-President External Robin Reid-Fraser said her position has also changed the way she thinks about other members of the McGill community.

“The staff people that we talk to, [I’ve] realized that most of them are very approachable, very committed, and a lot of them really do want to know what students think and really do appreciate the feedback that students have to give them,” she said. “Staff members don’t necessarily get enough credit for the work that they do and how open they are to dealing with students.”

Redel, however, said his advanced knowledge of the way the university works sometimes causes him to “fear” for McGill and the future of higher education.

“It costs $500 to install a plug at McGill, and one of the things students want more and more [of] are outlets in a classroom; but we don’t have enough money to [buy] even a single $50 chair,” he said. “How are we going to continue to grow and innovate in a time when we face austerity?”

Redel said he also finds members of the Board of Governors—McGill’s highest governing body, where he sits as one of two student representatives—to be “intimidating.”

“They do truly care about McGill, but the way in which they care about it might not align with how we think of a university … investments, portfolio, partnerships, alliances­—when they bring that to the university level, does that align with academia?” he said. “That’s where we see a lot of disagreements with Board of Governors. They really struggle to understand students sometimes, just because they’re so distant from [them].”

Speaking with members of the senior administration is also a key component of Dinel’s portfolio. She advised candidates for her position to focus on their communication skills and make sure they are knowledgeable about how the university functions.

“You need to make connections with people across the university, [and] you need to really understand the issues right off the bat,” she said. “The admin know there’s [going to be a] transition, but they’re not going to educate you. They’re not going to presume you know everything, but you have to come as well-versed as the person before you in your first meeting.”

When they’re not in meetings with the administration and other student bodies, the members of the exec team share much of their lives together in the SSMU Building.

“It’s kind of like when you have roommates—we all have to live together, but we’re all friends,” Dinel said. “If you’re not friends, you’re going to have problems.”

“We don’t want to let each other down,” she continued. “If we’re frustrated, we can at least say it or express it in a friendly way.”

Cooper agreed that the most important part of being on the SSMU exec is working as part of a team.

“You have to make decisions on an absurd diversity of things and learn each other’s portfolios,” she said. “You come into it and [say] you’re going to do clubs all the time, but you’re also a counsellor. No matter what your portfolio is … foremost, you’re on the exec team.”