COMPSA’s two presidential candidates debated before a crowd of their computer-savvy peers.
Hugh Tuckwell, CompSci ’26, and Rehr Vafadar, CompSci ’27, are in the running for the Society’s top governing position for the 2025-26 academic year. The debate took place on Feb. 7 and lasted roughly an hour and a half at CASLab with approximately 40 students in attendance.
The positions of Vice-President (Student Affairs) and Vice-President (Operations) are still seeking candidates. In an e-mail sent to The Journal on Feb. 3, the Computing Students’ Association’s (COMPSA) Internal Affairs Director, Kieron Luke, stated post reading week, the Society will be hosting a separate vice-presidential election given the current lack of candidates. In the case no candidates choose to run again, the current executive team will nominate students for the roles.
READ MORE: Candidate profiles: Two COMPSA Presidential candidates race for the reigns
Lasting over an hour and a half, Tuckwell and Vafadar were each given two minutes to answer 26 questions asked by COMPSA students and the current executive team. Both candidates spoke about professional development opportunities, increasing community, and orientation.
“I met some of my best friends at Queen’s through the computing community here,” Tuckwell told the crowd. “I love the sense of community and belonging COMPSA offers and the welcoming [environment and community] that it has offered me since I was a first year [student].”
Vafadar spoke about his experience interacting with other computing students, emphasizing he’s never had a negative interaction with them.
“When I first came [to Queen’s], I didn’t come with [a] big friend group,” Vafadar said. “I just came with myself and some hope and what I found was a lot of lovely, amazing people.”
To increase COMPSA’s presence on campus, both candidates emphasized the importance of raising awareness of what the Society has to offer through existing avenues.
Tuckwell’s interested in expanding the computing culture on campus through Fall Orientation, where he believes most students develop their understanding of COMPSA. He’s seeking to decrease the cost of events like the computing formals organized by COMPSA to make events more accessible for students through lower ticket prices.
Vafadar hopes to expand funding for students’ ion projects. He plans on visiting classrooms to promote COMPSA events and keep students informed about the Society’s initiatives, including hackathons like QHacks which is the University’s only annual hackathon that brings students together to code collaboratively.
To enhance the Society’s social development, Vafadar is seeking increased event funding to highlight the diverse cultures within the faculty, fostering inclusion and engagement.
“I’ll create more cultural events so we can all embrace our different cultures and backgrounds,” Vafadar said. “Internally, I believe it’s very important as we move forward, we’re focusing on inclusion, involvement, and pushing past difficulties or problems.”
Meanwhile, Tuckwell aims to unite students through orientation, ensuring they understand COMPSA isn’t just a hub for professional development, but also for community and culture.”
“I think it’s incredibly important […] to make efforts to expand [the COMPSA community] especially as new students continue coming year by year,” Tuckwell said. “Introducing them to COMPSA via orientation, in-person talking [to] making sure students [see COMPSA as a] hub for student life and student culture.”
The specific date for the Vice-Presidential election hasn’t yet been set, but it will take place after reading week, while voting for the presidential position is set to take place Feb. 8 through 9 via Simply Voting for all COMPSA students.
Tags
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be ed, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to [email protected].