The McGill Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) elections for the 2026-2027 Executive Committee opened its voting period on Feb. 19 at 9:00 a.m. On Feb. 17, the AUS hosted a debate for candidates, allowing McGill students to pose questions to those running. Chief Elections Officer Cyprien Figuière began the event with a land acknowledgement, followed by Chief Elections Officer Lauren Irving who explained the debate rules.
Presidential candidate Keith Baybayon delivered his opening statement first, where he emphasized his priority of encouraging student democracy.
“[From] the low governance participation to now, where we have over 20 candidates standing before me [….] I’m not starting from scratch because so much work has been done the past few years, and I’m here to continue building upon it,” Baybayon said. “Ensuring that the internal structures we have are strong enough to withstand any crises, strategizing our advocacy to ensure that the policies reach the right decision-making people and leadership administration [….] You deserve an AUS that works for you.”
Rishi Kalaga, the next presidential candidate, highlighted his mission to increase job security of AUS members and to improve the social life of McGill students.
“You can have your research projects funded and opportunities that are on and off campus that are supported by the AUS,” Kalaga said. “We’re going to partner with the Arts Internship Office and strengthen that relationship that we already have.”
Bogdan Sava, the third presidential candidate, reiterated his commitment to serving different departments in the Faculty of Arts by revisiting the allocation of student funds. Sava emphasized the importance of coordination between the AUS and the different faculties—promising monthly roundtables that would allow discussion and collective decision-making. Incumbent AUS President Aishwarya Rajan then posed questions regarding the balance of student fees, administration, and presidential duties to the three candidates.
Kalaga mentioned that he would lower the fees of drinks at the student bar, Bar des Arts (BdA)—which was then questioned by AUS Vice-President (VP) Finance Ben Weissman.
“We get a contract from Sleeman that is the lowest that we could possibly get. How would you balance bringing the prices down without diluting the deficit?” Weissman asked.
Kalaga responded by saying the AUS may subsidize drink prices by redirecting the Arts Undergraduate Improvement Fund.
“I don’t think it necessarily would lead us into a deficit,” Kagala said. “The turnover year to year that sometimes happens in these funds isn’t really necessary, because people’s priorities have been clear.”
Sava ended the presidential candidacy round by thanking the participants for their attendance.
“I want to end by thanking you all, and as Keith mentioned, congratulating you for taking this moment here to give life to student democracy,” Sava said.
The VP Internal round came next, where the two candidates—Jane-Andrea Kwa Mbette and Gillian Vetters—debated the need to increase accessibility to faculty voices and collaboration with academic departments.
Nicholas Coffin and Lucy Crowther, the two candidates running for VP Academic, then discussed the need for more student voices in the McGill administration’s decision-making. Crowther specifically mentioned her commitment to more student initiatives, such as expanding social media outreach and creating study groups with teaching assistants to increase academic transparency.
Ines Wolff, David Luzzatto, and Pearce-Tai Thomasson were the sole candidates running for VP Social, VP Finance, and VP Communications, respectively. Wolff explained that she would like to include more sober events during Frosh, as well as BdA drinks for people with celiac disease. Luzzatto emphasized that his priority, if elected, will be giving students more access to the money that they pay to McGill and the AUS.
“We keep paying money every year, and it’s not going back to students directly, or at least not enough,” Luzzatto said. “Looking at how large expenses, for example, auditing or other insurance lawyers [and] making sure that this is still the best option on the market […] is the best use of student money, because at the end of the day, that’s our job, to ensure that the money that the students trust and get to AUS is used in the best possible way.”
Janya Rajpal and Leonard Cox, the two candidates running for VP External, both discussed the student life after graduation from McGill. Rajpal explained AUS’s duty to help students explore paths beyond undergraduate studies, while Cox highlighted the need for transparency of career and graduation fairs.
The candidates running to be senators and representatives for the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) had their debates next. There are six senator candidates: Rajan Duncan, Mateo Juan, Alexia Juillard, Ellen Kim, Frances Li, and Cindy Zhang. Four candidates are running for Arts representative: Achille Croquelois, Rhys Jones, Charley Letham, and Matias Rodriguez.
The campaigning period opened simultaneously with the voting period on Feb. 19, during which candidates could create social media accounts and present their platforms.
Duncan’s campaign includes revising the Policy on Assessment of Student Learning (PASL) and improving access to lecture recordings. Juan’s emphasizes transparency and accountability, while Kim’s aims to represent minority voices in the McGill Senate. Li promised to implement a textbook subsidy program and a free breakfast program in an effort to tackle food insecurity.
Among the four candidates running to be SSMU Arts representatives, Croquelois assured greater accountability through more accessible office hours with student governors, while Jones will prioritize funding for clubs and services.
The voting period will end on Feb. 26 at 5:00 p.m., and election results will be announced at 6:00 p.m. the same day. Students may cast their vote through a link sent to student emails from Elections AUS.
