Euram Candidate Interview: Alice Li

Interview by Aurore Laborie

Please introduce yourself.

My name is Alice, I’m from Vancouver, Canada. I’ve lived in Canada my entire life so I got to see diversity in a different standpoint from what it’s like at Sciences Po. Although I stayed in the same country, I was still exposed to different cultures. I’m used to dealing with people from different backgrounds. I’ve also done a lot of extracurricular activities such as public speaking in the past, and I think that these experiences would help me for this position.

What do you think the role of a student representative at Sciences Po Reims is/should be?

The representative is a sort of voice for the students so he/she compiles all the issues that they may be faced with and deals with them, but I also think that this role could expand to being an intermediary between the administration and the students because there is a lack of transparency between the two, and students need more information from above and “behind the scenes” of Sciences Po.

Why are you running to be a student representative?

To be honest, I’ve never done anything like this in the past. I feel like my past experiences were more in public speaking or the organizational side. I didn’t think I would do something like this until I came to Sciences Po and met so many people, which changed my perspective on this, and made me realize that, even though I may not have the experience that others have, my past experiences and open mindedness could still help me in this position. Also, being an international student who isn’t fluent in French, I found that the administration wasn’t really helpful and that the system was kind of messy, so I think I have a good idea on what we could change and how. I think I have the skills to do so. I’d like to be the change because I believe that there should be a change.

What makes you qualified for this position?

I have strong written and oral communication skills. Throughout high school, I was extensively involved in debate, MUN, public speaking, speech or poetry recitation, and writing competitions. I think that the skills I have obtained from being involved in these activities would definitely help in being concise in confronting the problems. I think I have critical eyes so I can identify things and come up with an approach to address the issue.

I’m coming here with a fresh mind, and I actually want to address the issues with the administration.

As a student representative what would be your mission/main goals (i.e. explain your platform)?

• Snapchat filter: I have experience in graphic designs so I thought it’d be cool to create one!
• Safewalk: I understand that the power that student representatives is limited but I’d like to try this. People tend to get drinks with friends, and walking back alone or with one friend is not very safe. I’d like to implement a system with administration, or a sort of volunteer group, where you just call a number, and have someone walk you home. The reason as to why I want to do this is to prevent the rape culture that we find in so many North American universities.
• Integration between Eurafs and Eurams (in my snapchat filters I tried to create something that would please both programs). I think that there should be more activities that integrate the two because I think that there is a sort of divide between the two.
• Prom at the end of the year

What is the one thing that as a student representative, you’d like to change or reform?

The communication between the administration and the students, there is huge lack of information and transparency. We didn’t know when midterms were until 2 weeks ago, we still don’t know when our finals are, and for international students it’s complicated to know the dates so late especially since most of us tend to leave during vacations to go see our family.

Finally, if could be any living person for a day, who would you be and why?

Bill Gates who has the  influence to change the world, and has, to an extent, done a significant job at doing so… Someone charitable, to see what type of life they lived.

Photo: Neyla Belmaachi

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