By Remo Kortbeek
Tariq Lalmahomed is a 19-year-old second semester pre-med student from The Hague. He is running for the position of RASA secretary.
Why are you running?
Before I came to UCR I wanted to know everything about it. There was one thing I could not understand. How can a community of only 600 students be so much fun? It intrigued me. When I came here I learned that this vibrant social life all flows out of RASA. This inspired me to run for the RASA board. Initially I wanted to run for chair next year. However, do I have what it takes to be chair? The position of secretary suits me much better, as I was PartyCo secretary last semester, and secretary of the Graduation Week team this semester.
Why are you running for this position specifically?
I went over all positions, and doubted between CAO and secretary. I think the link between the RASA board and the societies is very important. However I wanted to do more, something less specific. A big part of being secretary is that you have to support the chair. Next to that there is communication. It’s cliché by now, but it’s very important.
How would you encourage students to participate in events and improve commitment to societies?
I think you can promote events not only in Elliott, but for example go by classes that are related, print flyers, etc. Of course there’s also the problem of the Facebook page. It is flooded and people no longer pay attention. I liked the idea that Matthijs had. He proposed to bundle similar societies in their own Facebook-group so students can divert their attention more specifically.
Do you have any other improvements you’d like to implement?
I want to send out the newsletter earlier. Now they’re late at night, and people only read it on Monday because it’s sent out too late. That’s a pity and might influence attendance for events early on in the week.
Next to that, as UCSRN delegate I see the interesting role of RASA in the Inter-UC community. We could improve the bond between RASA and other UC student associations, and try to work together more in an informal way, through visits or brainstorm sessions.
What would be a fun new event you would love to introduce in Introweek?
Currently, Introweek is very Family-based. However, what I saw is that the division between families is so clear, that it does not contribute to a ‘class-of 20XX’ feeling. Therefore I think that some events like the Sports day could be reorganized so they’re no longer about winning for your family, but more trying to create a real “Class of 2018”-feeling.
Remo Kortbeek, Class of 2016, is an Art History and Linguistics major from Tilburg, the Netherlands
