Gaayathri Sukantha Murugan

My name is Gaayathri Sukantha Murugan, and I am running for the position of Executive Director of Communications at GSU. I completed my undergraduate degree at MUN Grenfell Campus and my first Master’s degree at MUN St. John’s, and I am currently pursuing a Master of Gender Studies degree. 

I have been working incredibly hard for the past 10 months to bridge the communication gap between MUN graduate students across the province and GSU. Though I may have made some missteps, I am committed to addressing student feedback regarding communications. I am willing to go above and beyond to serve the graduate student body to ensure GSU can continue as a viable organization, and continue to advocate for graduate students on campus, provincial and national levels. Due to limited finances, I have been assisting with Health and Dental related issues since I assumed office, and upon resignation of our ED Campus Life, I also assumed some of the responsibilities of that role.

 I have been committed to transparency and accountability since the beginning of my term. If re-elected, I will continue to advocate for the execution of the forensic audit to conduct an external investigation of the current financial situation. Additionally, I will increase the frequency of communication between students and GSU via email, social media, and in person meetings. As I am already familiar with the website interface, continuing to update the website would be easy. I will also organize Student Town Halls to listen to the interests, concerns, problems, and suggestions from the graduate student body. I am also trained in media relations; I have been on VOCM and CBC this past year to advocate on behalf of the GSU on different issues. I have several years of experience with social justice movements and advocacy for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, to which I belong. 

I have several years of experience with student advocacy and chairing meetings during my undergraduate degree, first as Councillor-at-Large on the Grenfell Campus Student Union, and then after graduation as the Chairperson of Canadian Federation of Students NL (2022-23). I bring over 8 years of experience managing and creating content for personal and professional social media accounts across different platforms. As the current executive has been working extensively to propose solutions for the financial issues that GSU is facing, my familiarity with the current situation at GSU enables me to communicate that information to students effectively. The existing relationships that I have built with different organizations such as Greenshield and CFS, as well as the MUN administration to solve our current issues, enables me to continue building back that trust in GSU as an organization.