SSMU hosted a municipal election debate, an effort to educate our membership on their mayoral candidates and to encourage informed and responsible voting. But the debate never happened, because a campaign to disrupt the event silenced the questioning. They chose not to direct their grievances towards political leaders with the potential to make real progress, but targeted the moderator, Interim Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning), a women not responsible for the investment decisions, curriculum choices, or the outcomes of student disciplinary proceedings of the University.
Perhaps the disruptors were attempting to spark conversation by “teaching” administration a sort of lesson, using Angela as their instrument. And there is a conversation I have been meaning to have for a while, so i’ll entertain it.
Here’s their lesson: when speaking before political leaders with genuine influence to make the change you want to see, the Palestinian solidarity movement was reduced to uninformed and entirely performative. When you were given the opportunity to submit questions, you didn’t, and when you were given the opportunity to inquire about candidate’s position on Palestine, you didn’t. You demonstrated that allies are uninterested in real change.
Protest that is disruption and meant to prevent discussion is only useful when the topic of concern is excluded from that conversation. What you have done is ensure a candidate’s position on Palestine is not part of the conversation, because there is none, only the sound of your own voice.
You reveal that the true interest of the “ally” is attention, and not for Palestinians.
Sure, protests are often disruptive because they have to be, but this event gave you an opportunity to engage constructively. You were given a seat at the table. Your refusal to engage in constructive dialogue in favour of voicing your grievance against the moderator is not protest.
Incase it wasn’t clear, there was zero meaningful change that resulted from that performance. We did not learn anything new about the candidates, but they left with an impression about the nature of activism at McGill. That it is disorganized, unfocused, and void of any purposeful outcome.
I share my brutally honest comments because these actions reaffirms administrators attitude that disruptive protests are merely unproductive, and I want to push ourselves to think more intentionally about our action. Otherwise, the outcomes of our efforts remain stagnant. As for the Palestinian cause, until we engage more purposefully, we enable ridicule over reform.
Category: Susan Aloudat (2025-2026)
-
The Lost Plot of Disruption as Protest
-
The parts of working at SSMU that won’t make it to the CV
Someone I know lives across the SSMU Peel building, and my office window faces her appartment. I was working one evening and I get a chat: “Pls tell me u aren’t still in office and ur light is just on by accident”. It was 9:02 pm and I was, in fact, still in the office.
But I was exactly where I wanted to be, doing genuinely fulfilling work that I am grateful to do everyday.
I love working for SSMU, even though sometimes– no matter how hard I try and how many hours I dedicate– some SSMU students don’t like it back.
In a meeting I was in today, the person dropped the absolute bar “being the undergraduate society of a university like McGill, you’re going to have bright minds competing”. And what a privilege it is to engage with community so deeply & be learning around the clock, inside and outside the classroom.
Too bad it dosen’t count as a line in my CV 🤭
Susan Aloudat
-
Where Is Everyone?
Hello SSMU, team UA needs you! Part of my mission as SSMU’s VP University Affairs is to hear from students about your experiences to better insert them into decisions we make. I overestimated how compelled students would be to book office hours or email in their concerns. But please do book a time to chat, or email me about your experiences. Or if you spot me on campus stop me and say hi! I can’t be everywhere at once, but all 25,000 of us basically are. My open door policy stands, and even if I can’t solve your problem immediately it will certainly be valuable insight eventually in my work. I hope to see more of your names and meet the faces behind them.
Relevant starting points to the UA portfolio:
• McGill senate and committees
• Religion and spirituality
• Library improvement
• Menstrual health
• Open Education
• Student rights
• Black Affairs
• Indigenous solidarity
• Gender equity
• WellnessSusan Aloudat
-
The Inevitability of Student Governance
Hello SSMU,
I want to express that your concerns are heard. Some really important points were brought up that will certainly shape the way I operate as an executive and as a board member in the future. The truth is, a student can only commit to the demands of being on SSMU if they are genuinely and wholeheartedly committed to strengthening student life within the society. And I can confidently say this is the case for everyone at SSMU today, whether staff, board member, or executive. But another truth is that it is all our first time making this decision, and it will always be the case that student representatives learn on the job. So you are right, there were different ways we could have gone about this decision, but what wasn’t a mistake is prioritizing fiscal responsibility and wanting the best out of our services’ capacity.
While I had always approached my role in student governance with the intention to listen and learn, I want to emphasize my promise that I will continue my effort to investigate decisions I am responsible to make. Anyone on the UA team can tell you my door is always open, so please let me know what you would like to see for the future for me to make more informed decisions while I am here.
Susan Aloudat