As the new academic year begins at Brock University, it’s time to meet the student leaders who will be representing Brock students and advocating for their interests.
The Press spoke with Anusha Pahuja, your all-new BUSU President; and Carleigh Charlton, the returning favourite Vice President of University Affairs (VPUA); to discuss their journey to student leadership, their priorities and what we can expect from them this year.
A Journey to Leadership
Sitting in BUSU’s office, Anusha, a fourth-year student with a BA now pursuing a bachelor’s in psychology, talks about her experiences doing advocacy work at Brock.
“I was part of the Residence Action Council in my second year,” said Anusha. “I was advocating for resident students there, so very nice. I was trying to get some more townhomes in trying to speak to my students.”
Anusha worked with BUSU for two years as a front desk coordinator, an advocacy coordinator and was an OUSA delegate for the spring 2024 general assembly.
Over the last year, Anusha has served as the Smart Start Assistant and Brock Ambassador, as part of the student recruitment office.
During her four years at Brock, Anusha has also had an opportunity to work with the Indian and Hindu Student Associations.
“That’s been my journey, and all of those roles have allowed me to give back to students, to learn more about students, help them in any way possible and just advocate for them.”
When asked about her hobbies, Anusha revealed she’s “the biggest dancing fan and I think the team has realized this.” Anusha also has a background in painting which she picked up from her mother who is “a very good artist.”
Carleigh, a fourth-year political science major, has had a major hand in most of Brock’s student governance since their first year. Carleigh previously served on the BUSU Board of Directors (Vice-Chair), the Clubs Policy Committee and the University Senate Academic Review Special Committee.
Carleigh was also a BUSU delegate at the previous 4 OUSA General Assemblies, a Gender and Sexual Violence Peer2Peer Support team member in the Brock HRE office and participates in Brock Model UN.
“Hobbies are my hobby,” Carleigh said. “There’s a lot of knitting and painting that happens and then not. But in general, I really like to do puzzles, and I have a few puzzles around the office.”
Carleigh also talked about watching Dungeons & Dragons streams such as Dimension 20 which takes up much of their free time and spending the remaining time with their pets.
“I have a very giant golden retriever and a very little cat. I spend a lot of time just taking this giant dog to the park, which is nice because it gets me out of the house,” said Carleigh.
Carleigh shared their motivation for returning as VPUA, expressing the importance of supporting students both academically and socially.
“It’s where the two intersect in terms of: OK, we need to have a student voice talking about these policies and things, but then also we can help support students with those events where you get to meet a couple people, and not feel lonely and that really helps me on the other end of academics,” said Carleigh.
A Vision for Change
Both Anusha and Carleigh stated that they are focussed on making meaningful changes during their terms.
Anusha emphasized the importance of setting clear priorities as a team and in collaboration with other student groups at Brock.
Carleigh nodded in agreement, elaborating on the core values that guide their work with BUSU: transparency and communication. Carleigh highlights the importance of keeping students informed and involved in BUSU’s decision-making process.
“I think that’s a hard part. A lot of times for students, there are decisions being made for you, but not necessarily with you. And those decisions affect students a ton,” said Carleigh.
Many of their friends weren’t aware of some of the resources BUSU offers, while Carleigh was only privy because of their connection to BUSU. Maintaining those resources — such as the U-Pass, Health and Dental benefits, tax clinics, legal clinics, financial support, etc. — and raising awareness for what BUSU offers is a major part of Carleigh’s plan for this year.
Projects which Anusha stated she wishes to continue and expand on include BUSU’s efforts to support students facing food insecurity. The Free Grab & Go breakfasts have been a key feature around Union Station which complements BUSU’s Food First program. These initiatives address the growing issue of food insecurity, which has significantly increased among post-secondary students in Canada since the pandemic.
Carleigh highlighted the ongoing efforts toward completing the New Student Centre that BUSU has been working on. In the last referendum, 79.9 per cent of participating students voted in favour of the new building, allowing progress to continue steadily with completion expected by Fall 2027.
Carleigh will also be sitting on the Niagara Transit Commission’s Public Advisory Committee to support the commission in providing an affordable, accessible, reliable, safe and convenient transit system for everyone in the region.
Facing Challenges Head-On
Brock University is currently facing a financial deficit of $37 million and that comes with a host of challenges for the student union to deal with.
Active involvement in conversations with Brock’s Trustees and fostering discussions in the Senate is essential, Carleigh noted, to ensure that students’ voices are heard, and student needs are met.
“I think those conversations budget-wise are going to be a challenge,” said Carleigh.
The executives acknowledged the major challenges affecting students at Brock and across Canada, including affordability issues related to food insecurity, housing scarcity and unfair rental practices. Carleigh highlights BUSU initiatives such as the legal clinic and the pop-up market, which offers “pay what you can” options for students.
Mental health was also discussed to be a major concern with students and BUSU is working to make as many resources accessible to students as possible by working with Brock directly.
Running a student union isn’t without its challenges. Anusha is candid about the pressure that comes with leading such a large and diverse student body.
“You want to make sure you’re listening to all voices, not just the loudest ones,” Anusha said.
Anusha and Carleigh both expressed the need to work as a team and anticipate challenges they’ll face throughout the year before they happen.
Despite this year’s challenges, Anusha noted that strong communication within the executive team and direct connection to the student body are the keys to building a successful and effective student union.
“Everybody’s working in a different portfolio. We want to see each other in the loop because that’s how we are going to succeed as a team. And I think just with students, we want to find more ways to connect with them.”
What’s Different
When asked about what will be done differently from last year, Anusha stated her commitment to keeping the team together, working together and finding ways to create a proactive environment so all individuals can shine.
Carleigh expressed their desire to form a better work-life balance so their priorities can be met without the significant burnout that occurs near the end of the school year.
The executives were also asked about ways they plan to avoid any controversies this year which have unfortunately become the status quo in years prior.
“What has happened in the past has happened. We definitely don’t want to repeat anything, and nothing’s going to happen. But we’re going to try everything possible to avoid any of those situations coming up again — and again, transparency and communication are key,” said Anusha.
Carleigh brought up that BUSU recently transitioned from electing executives to a hiring process last year. They suggested that James — the first BUSU president hired and subsequently fired — was an anomaly, not a pattern.
“I also think it’s important to know, obviously the situation that happened last year is the first year of the hiring process, and so it was a very specific situation. But these are hard roles that require very specific values and skills and, in any job, literally anywhere, lots of people don’t make it,” said Carleigh.
When asked whether there are any plans to increase the number of staff to what similarly-sized universities have to prevent worker burnout and unpaid overtime, the executives shared their perspective.
“There are definitely conversations in terms of making sure that all the staff have a reasonable workload, so you don’t have people burn out and then [people] aren’t able to complete [their work] but I’m also just always impressed with the amount of things we get done… Just because the other schools need more people to do it, we don’t need to triple in size if we are succeeding,” said Carleigh.
Anusha recognizes the risk of burnout and other mental stressors that come with these roles — the most important student jobs on campus, leaders of the second largest non-for-profit in Niagara — and she emphasizes the importance of a step-by-step process to deal with these problems through communication and empathy instead of letting them linger.
Final Thoughts
Both executives expressed their hope for progress and good governance this year. “I just want to let [the students] know that we’re here to help with your concerns. We’re not just sitting in our offices and taking salaries from your student dollars and not doing anything. We are doing a lot of work, and we will continue to do so as transparently as possible,” said Anusha.
Carleigh expressed how she’s looking forward to answering your emails, questions and concerns.
“At the end of the day, we’re students, we’re here for the goal to succeed academically, to do our bit, to do our studies. We want to have students focused on that, and also give them an experience that will help them as they graduate from Brock, and also let them know that BUSU and Brock are always going to be there with them. I think we just want to keep continuing to reiterate that,” said Anusha.
Mark Chrabalowski, Vice President of External Affairs; and Shinaya Peiris, Vice President of Student Services; were unavailable during this interview.