NEWS
May 24, 2022
FINAL FAREWELL
INFORMATIONAL WARFARE
With propaganda on both sides, Mylovanov calls this “informational warfare.”
P H OTO: Kriti Monga / The Peak
Liosis stepped down during his term, leaving Gildersleve as acting president.
Gabe Liosis and Corbett Gildersleve reflect on their year as SFSS president Liosis and Gildersleve have helped establish beneficial change within SFSS moving forward
Liosis resigned during his presidency due to mental health challenges. “I don’t regret for one second stepping down,” he explained. “After I stepped down I had an opportunity to rest and to engage in self care, and put up personal boundaries,” said Liosis. Gildersleve fulfilled the role of acting president until the end of the term. During their time on the SFSS executive team, they took action to change the form of advocacy and decision making on behalf of the student body. Before the change made in May 2021, the primary governing body was the Board of Directors consisting of 16 people and Council operated separately from the Board. Liosis shared with The Peak it was important to shift the dynamic of decision-making between Council and the executive Board members. He noted this was done in order to create more participation in the SFSS’ decision-making.
explained the executives had to change their plans in order to maintain safety of the working members in the SUB. Gildersleve’s first experience with the SFSS was as vicepresident of finance. His initial drive to participate in the SFSS came from believing the executive members of the SFSS could benefit from increased administration and financial training to better apply themselves to the SFSS. Gildersleve worked “with SFU to finally get a system in place for SFSS executives to have the option of declaring their time as a co-op for up to three terms.” He explained this meant “they would no longer have to take full-time classes [which] would definitely help international students.
When it came to the governance changes over the year I was president, it gave people the opportunity to be involved with their student society
He explained that by changing the systems of governance, power shifted from 16 people in the Board of Directors to the Council consisting of 60 people representing all programs at SFU.
GABE LI OS I S FO R M E R S FS S P R ES ID E N T
The by-law changes were made so “Council, in a legal sense, was our Board of Directors and is now responsible for making decisions on behalf of the SFSS’ 26,000 members,” said Liosis.
“It would help students that were in honours programs or special scenarios like scholarships. They would go on co-op and not have to try to be a full time executive and full-time student,” said Gildersleve.
“When it came to the governance changes over the year I was president, it gave people the opportunity to be involved with their student society,” Liosis explained. “Because not only was there increased representation on the Board of Directors — which is now Council — but each of those Councils represents a student union.”
Similarly, Gildersleve said he realized whilst serving as vicepresident of finance that the pay for these members was under the minimum wage — the amount of compensation had not increased for 13 years. He knew changing the stipend would likely motivate students to take the chance of becoming a member of SFSS Board and inspired them to be responsible in how they tackled issues pertaining to the student body.
When asked about the important initiatives that inspired Liosis to run for presidency, he elaborated on the task of officially opening the Student Union Building (SUB). Liosis explained the logistics of providing access to the SUB for the student body was challenging due to new COVID-19 variants delta and omicron. “It completely shifted our advocacy capacity because once again we were trying to call on SFU to implement a bunch of safety measures that were not coming from the province, such as vaccine mandates for all community members, students, faculty, and staff. We were calling for access to high quality masks, social distancing in lecture halls, hybrid learning,” Liosis
PHOTO: Karollyne Hubuert / Unsplash
Tymofiy Mylovanov discusses the war in Ukraine
The Zelensky administration advisor focuses on how to approach information about the war
O L I VI A VI S S ER / / STA FF WR I TER
On May 10, the SFU Economics Research Seminar series hosted Tymofiy Mylovanov for the seminar titled, Military and Economic Aspects of the War in Ukraine. Mylovanov is president of the Kyiv School of Economics, associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh, and advisor to the Zelensky administration.
NE RCYA KALI N O // STAF F W RI TE R
The SFSS has elected their new executive Board, revealing the new SFSS president, Helen Sofia Pahou. The Peak interviewed former SFSS president Gabe Liosis and former acting president and vice-president internal & organisational development Corbett Gildersleve to discuss the end of their terms.
3
Gildersleve felt there is still much more work ahead, especially now that the system within SFSS has shifted. He noted he would be returning after his break to continue mentoring members of the SFSS in order to progress the foundational work of the restructured by-laws. He mentioned one of the achievements was the new collective agreement with the CUPE union which increased student employees’ wage to a living wage. However, it is still important for these new policies to be set for the future members. “There are still a lot of little things that I think need fundamental improvement,” Gildersleve said.
Much of the conversation revolved around information and its validity. Mylovanov described the current situation in Ukraine as a “wars of symbols” that are “won by communication as much as kinetic warfare.” He shared that from personal experience, “there are aspects [of war] you cannot study. “It’s really difficult to explain what the war is unless you wake up and there is a missile next to you,” he said. Mylovanov pointed to three forms of evidence to contextualize information that he trusts: “Eyewitness accounts, video evidence, and media coverage.” On the other hand, he suggested data is something to be aware of. “I don’t trust data, and it’s really strange for me as an academic that I don’t trust data,” Mylovanov said. When asked how to discern truthful information while living abroad, he said data can be okay to use — when combined with the appropriate context. According to Mylovanov, the important factor is connections to the source of information. “So, the key is to find a friend or someone who is in Ukraine, or has been in Ukraine, or knows someone from Ukraine” who can help add context to your understanding of events. Mylovanov added, “I cannot trust anything I know in war, and the only thing I can trust is what I have experienced personally or what someone who has experience told me.” In terms of propaganda, he described the situation as informational warfare. “It’s important to be clear on the questions you want to know answers to. If you really discipline yourself about the questions you want to get the answers to, then the propaganda approach is not very effective.” He suggested asking specific questions helps tackle propaganda because their answers are harder to skew. For example, the questions, “Who started the war?” and “Are there atrocities in Bucha?” are easier to answer than “Can Russia win?” Mylovanov concluded his seminar by speaking to Russia’s dwindling international support. “Russia in the longer run has lost a lot of agency, unfortunately for the Russian people, and Ukraine has gained a lot of agency but the price is huge. But I guess this is the price if you want to be an independent nation from a vast imperialistic neighbor.” This seminar was originally planned for May 3, but Mylovanov was forced to reschedule due to an airstrike warning in Kyiv. A recording of the seminar can be viewed on the SFU economics’ event page for further information.
