Hyago S.M.

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What are the areas I hope to work at if elected?🔹 Budget Oversight – Look over SFU's budget with responsibility, particularly because of the Provincial Review, making sure to advocate for an institution that balances out growth and student well-being.
🔹 Sustainability – Make sure board decisions have in consideration climate change, advocating for an SFU to continue with the environment and climate education as one of its priorities.
🔹 Affordability – Maintain throughout the year students' constraints in this economy as one of the main principles throughout any analysis, always asking the board "how will this affect students money and learning environment".
🔹 Community – Be sure that, for all decisions, we consider how to meaningfully consult community, constructing collaborative environments with other organizations on campus, and maintaining information accessible to the everyone.
🔹 Jobs – The university depends on the work of staff, faculty, sessionals, TAs, and student employees, yet too often labour is treated mainly as a budget pressure. The Board of Governors may not hire every individual worker, but it shapes the financial priorities, bargaining framework, and employment decisions that affect working conditions, campus services, and whether students can access meaningful jobs.Let me help build a stronger bridge between students, the SFSS, and the university.

Who Am I?

If you do not know me yet, my name is Hyago Santana Moreira, and I am currently serving as the SFSS Vice-President Equity and Sustainability. I was also recently elected as Vice-President University and Academic Affairs, where I will continue my work with a stronger focus on university-level advocacy, affordability, and systems change.I am now a third-year International Development student with a minor in Public Policy, and I have developed a growing passion for urban planning, infrastructure, and the ways institutions shape people’s access to food, housing, transit, education, and opportunity. Connected to these academic interests is the advocacy that surrounds them, and I want to continue engaging in that work to improve access to university life in Canada.I am running for the Board of Governors because I believe SFU needs student representatives who will not only speak for students, but also push for a university that is more transparent, affordable, and genuinely connected to its community. I have advocated for these values before, and I want to continue doing so at a higher level.As someone born and raised in Brazil, I have always cared deeply about community, public life, and the environment. In Canada, I found a place where I could further those values through organizing and advocacy. Over this past year, I dedicated much of my portfolio to building real food security infrastructure at SFU. Together with partners, volunteers, and student organizers, we secured over $70,000 in grants, expanded programming, and strengthened food access for students. Through this work, and through other initiatives related to bursaries, events, and student support, I came to understand even more clearly that much of the power for meaningful and lasting change lies in the hands of the university itself — especially when it comes to affordability and access for marginalized students.That is why I want to help scale this impact through stronger advocacy at the university governance level. I want to push for a stronger institutional commitment to affordability, including more bursaries, work-study reform, expanded student employment opportunities, and smarter investments in student wellbeing.During my time working closely with the university, I have also noticed two structural issues at SFU.First, many students do not really know what is happening on campus, nor how and why administrative decisions are made.Second, many important decisions are shaped by the reality that SFU cannot rely on sufficient external budgetary support from the province. As a result, the university often faces pressure to increase revenue while still trying to deliver quality education and services.These challenges make student representation on the Board of Governors especially important. We need representatives who can advocate for students while understanding the institutional pressures shaping decision-making. We need people who will push for better communication, more transparency, stronger engagement with students, and more thoughtful decisions about how resources are allocated. We also need to recognize that affordability is not separate from student engagement — it directly shapes whether students can access services, remain on campus, participate in community, and succeed academically.Our membership needs to find in the SFSS and at SFU a real place for community. That means working with the university to improve infrastructure and systems so students can spend more time on campus, access mental health support, receive help for their academic needs, and have spaces to build their careers and relationships. It also means ensuring that students are not only consulted, but meaningfully considered in institutional decision-making.I also believe that governance is not only about pushing the university, but about working with it. There is a lot of room for the SFSS to be a stronger platform for student engagement, and that is something the university needs from us. There is also much more room for collaboration between students, the administration, the Senate, and the Board of Governors. I want to serve as part of that bridge.Ultimately, if students are the primary stakeholders in academic services and campus life, then their needs must meaningfully inform how the university operates. If we can do that while continuing to invest in community support and advocacy, we can make SFU more transparent, more accessible, and more responsive to the students it serves.I would be honoured to earn your trust and your support.