Hana Kadri resigns as vice-president academic for provincial politics run

Chris Adams, March 17 2015 —

Effective Friday, March 13, Hana Kadri is no longer the Students’ Union vice-president academic.

Kadri resigned her post to pursue the provincial Progressive Conservative nomination in Calgary-Varsity, the riding that contains the University of Calgary. She said that since the SU is a non-partisan organization, it would be inappropriate for her to run for the PCs while affiliated with the SU.

“I thought it was in the best interest of both myself and the union to step aside,” Kadri said.

Kadri announced her intention to run for Varsity’s PC nomination on Feb. 23 over social media. She believes her election would help bridge the gap between students and government.

Kadri said she wants to make sure that students don’t question her dedication to the office she resigned last Friday. She hopes students don’t confuse her running for PC nomination with a lack of effort in the SU.

“Obviously [vice-president academic] is a very important portfolio. Academics are the core of any university. I want to make sure that students feel comfortable with who’s in this role and the work they’re putting into it,” Kadri said.

SU bylaws stipulate that when an executive resigns, they must be replaced with another member of Students’ Legislative Council. SU president Jarett Henry recommended that incoming vice-president academic Stephan Guscott replace Kadri at SLC on Tuesday, March 17.

SLC approved Guscott unanimously and he’ll assume the position over a month earlier than expected. Newly elected members of SLC fill their roles after terms end on May 1.

“I’m excited because I get to jump into things a month early. Typically we start in May and then things can slow down a little bit. I’m pretty excited to have a chance to improve the student experience a month longer than my term would usually be,” Guscott said.

Kadri’s portfolio will be divided between Guscott and Henry until May. Although Kadri said she intended to resign earlier, she wanted to wait until after the SU election to ensure an elected representative would fill her position.

Both 2015–16 SU election candidates for vice-president academic currently sit as elected representatives on SLC. Guscott currently sits as kinesiology representative.

“We’ll be meeting with internal staff and with Stephan and then with Hana, who will still be around even though she won’t be in the position officially, to see what each of our schedules are like and to see what responsibilities we can each take on,” Henry said.

Henry said Kadri’s role could have also been divided up between the current executive.

Kadri said one other vice-president academic has resigned in the past, but that they did so much earlier in their term because they got into medical school.

“In this case it’s a little bit different. If I didn’t think that the partisan route that I’m taking, if I thought that it wasn’t going to interfere with my work at the SU, I wouldn’t be resigning,” Kadri said.

She’s running against University of Calgary mentor-in-residence in the faculty of law Susan Billington and Donna Gee, who has worked as a lawyer and nurse. Billington has also sat on the U of C senate and alumni association.

“It’s been an honour to serve as vice-president academic. It’s going to be a year that I never forget. I really hope that students feel satisfied with the work that I’ve put into this,” Kadri said.