Kettles speaks first and foremost about student advocacy guiding his potential role on the senate. He domineers conversation, is charismatic and well spoken. It is not hard to see he could indeed be a strong voice for the students to the other senators–senators Kettles feels are more student friendly than their Board of Governors counterparts.
Running primarily on a platform of using the relationship of the Senate with the Board of Governors–the two boards have seven common members–Kettles is using the Senate as a lobbying tool to help advance the student perspective politically. In particular, Kettles wants to push the accessibility issue asfar as a Senate position will allow.
Kettles admits the Senate exists primarily as a means for the university to interact with the community, but he claims this strengthens his lobbying, allowing him to sway important community members as well as BoG members.
With a year of faculty representation under his belt (Kettles is currently representing the Haskayne School of Business in SAA), it would seem Kettles also knows how to navigate his way around the SU and promises to do an exceptional job doing just that. Specifically, Kettles wants to attend SAA and SLC more, citing a lack of attendance as one of the failures of the current Senate reps.
Seeing the Senate as more of a lobbying potential, given their position immediately between the Board of Governors and the greater communities, Kettles has a unique and inspired perspective on what an undergraduate Senate rep might be able to do. He also leaves with an air that if anyone were able to achieve these admittedly lofty goals, he would be the one to do it.
How will your position on the Senate benefit students?
“I’m committed to being a good senator, which means good attendance. It means being a strong advocate. The senators really are there to provide a student perspective, and being a student who served on SAA and SLC last year, I have really tried to be a good advocate for students.”
What student issues need to be represented in the senate?
“The general mantra about accessibility. I think that the Senate can be used as an effective lobbying group, because there are a number of cross-memberships with the Senate and the Board of Governors.”
Why should students care about the SU Senate representative position?
“I think students should care, because it is a role with a lot of potential. One way to make students care in a direct way is by nominating excellent professors for the order of the University of Calgary.”