Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Tariq Lalmahomed, I’m 20 years old and in my fourth semester. I am from The Hague, and I’m a pre-med student here at UCR. I live in Bachtensteene. Currently I am active in the Red Cross Studentdesk and I am chair of the Graduation Week Team!
What position are you running for?
I am running for Chair of the Housing Affairs Council a.k.a the HAC!
Why did you choose to run for HAC? What does the HAC mean to you?
That’s a very relevant question. Last year I went for RASA, and I was so passionate about it. Before I came to UCR I learned what RASA was, and I really wanted to contribute and make a change, just like everyone who is running for a position basically. Last year’s election really had a lot of impact on me personally, and I think I learned a lot from it. So this year, I felt something stirring in me when election season approached again. And I had to think for myself; ‘Do I really want to run again? Is this really for me?’ But still the feeling remained that I wanted to work to make UCR an even better place! So I started talking to people in the boards, and I found out that there were a few positions left for me to think about, as I could not go for RASA daily board or Elliott daily board anymore because my courses don’t allow for me to have a seventh semester. When I thought about HAC, I learned that there is so much more that they stand for than I had assumed. I think that they form the crucial link between us students, UCR, and Villex: the places where we live our lives in the three years that we spend here. This really appealed to me as a board for which we need a strong and capable representation in order to make things work and improve our UCR life. There are a lot of issues that need to be managed, complaints that need to be handled, and relations that need to be maintained in a professional manner. And I think that this is where I fit.
Why should people vote for you in this position specifically?
I think the position of chair fits me well for a few reasons. Firstly, and this might be a minor thing but I still think that it helps, is that through my work at the UCR reception I have learned quite a lot about how UCR functions internally. I think that this can be useful! Furthermore, I have been active in committees and boards in my past years at UCR, I know the people and I really love working together and communicating with them. However, for HAC Chair I also know that this means that you sometimes have to say things that people don’t want to hear, you have to be consistent and strict in order to make meaningful decisions with your board on how to approach your tasks. With my experience and my long-term vision for the HAC, I think I can do that. This long-term vision means that I am also very excited to figure out how the HAC should profile itself as an organization. Many people think its just managing the buildings, or talking to Villex, but I wonder if there is a way in which we can bring this together in a stronger way. I have so many ideas, I’m just so excited!
If the HAC would suddenly receive an extra budget of a million euros, what would you do with it?
Oh yeah, nice!! I think I would definitely invest all of it in structural improvements of the buildings. Extreme Campus Makeover! Like, not too extreme, but I definitely think that Villex is neglecting Bagijnhof and that they really need and deserve improvements. I think I would pull an Oprah Winfrey and be like ‘You have a kitchen rack! You have a fridge! You have a new bathroom!’. Furthermore, I would keep on investing in green on campus and sustainability, I think the current board is really doing great work on that already and I would continue and improve this.
Gerjanne Hoek, Class of 2018, is a linguistics, politics, and history major from Bunschoten-Spakenburg, the Netherlands.
