MARCH 1, 2016 | VOLUME XCVII | ISSUE XXI
2 | elections |
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
Letter from the editor
I
t’s AMS elections season yet again. This is your chance to pick the people who are responsible for $14 million in student money. Last year, only 13 per cent of students voted, but turnout has been as high as 44 per cent in 2013. Student apathy is nothing new, but now’s your chance to actually take part in improving the things you always complain about.
What does the AMS do? Good question. Most people don’t know and never will — but if you ride the bus, go to Block Party or ever step foot in the new SUB, you’ve benefitted from the AMS. We’ve put together 24 pages on the AMS elections to help you cast an informed vote. In this issue, you’ll find candidate profiles breaking down where they stand on the issues that matter. We en-
courage you to read what the candidates have to say, research their platforms and attend debates. If you don’t want to bother to do that and just want to be told who to vote for, skip to our endorsements on the next page. But most importantly, vote online. It only takes a few minutes and it could be the difference between an AMS you never hear about and one that has Drake headlining Block Party.
— Will McDonald, coordinating editor U THE UBYSSEY
EDITORIAL
MARCH 1, 2016 | VOLUME XCVII| ISSUE XXI
STAFF
Coordinating Editor Will McDonald coordinating@ubyssey.ca
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Opinions + Blog Editor Jack Hauen opinions@ubyssey.ca
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Matt Langmuir, Josh Azizi, Bill Situ, Elena Volohova, Jeremy Johnson-Silvers, Julian Yu, Sruthi Tadepalli, Karen Wang, Jessie Stirling, Vicky Huang, Olamide Olaniyan, Henry Allan, Natalie Morris, Miguel Santa Maria, Sivan Spector, Sarah Nabila, Sophie Sutcliffe, Rithu Jagannath, Samuel du Bois, Lucy Fox, Samantha McCabe, Ben Cook, Avril Hwang, Ben Geisberg, Lilian Odera, Emma Hicks, Adam Waitzer, Avril Hwang, Lilian Odera, Emma Hicks, Ben Geisberg, Helen Zhou, Nadya Rahman, Boris Bosnjakovic, Aiden Qualizza, Jerry Yin, Arianna Leah Fischer, Tisha Dasgupta, Isabelle Commerford, Evelina Tolstykh, Mischa Milne, Julia Burnham, Gaby Lucas, Philippe Roberge
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e hope our elections issue provides a solid platform for learning about everything and everyone that’s on this year’s election ballot. This issue is full of everything you could want before heading into a polling station —endorsements, referendum run-downs and all your lovely candidates answering questions about why they deserve your vote! We also took a look back at some of the AMS executives of the past, so you know where the people that you vote for could potentially be headed. We also give our own opinions on how
you should vote for the many referendum questions this year — these range from a vote that will determine whether four new refugees can attend UBC and the controversial question about whether to bring back the Gallery Lounge. If you want to keep riding the bus for (comparatively) super cheap, vote in favour of keeping the UPass program! Of course, you don’t have to listen to us — there’s plenty in here to help you make an informed decision on your own. So there you have it folks, past PMs, political tension and run-down student pubs. It’s all in here, so get reading.
— Emma PArtridge & Moira Warburton News Editors
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table of contents 5. Ubyssey Candidate endorsements by The Ubyssey 7. what I learned while working at THE ams by arno rosenfeld 8. candidate profiles by emma partridge, olivia law, samantha mccabe, sruthi tadepalli, joshua azizi, moira warburton and sophie sutcliffe 19. the big referendum questions by emma partridge 20. referendum question endorsement by the ubyssey 21. more opinions by jenna omassi, ubyssey staff, benjamin Israel and anne kessler 22. ghosts of ams presidents past by samantha mccabe, joshua azizi and sophie sutcliffe — U
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
| ELECTIONS | 5
Ubyssey seal of approval Ava Nasiri (President)
Jenna Omassi (President)
Veronica Knott (BOG)
Aaron Bailey (BOG)
Alan Ehrenholz (VP ADMIN)
Nasiri’s ability to connect and bring people together is sorely needed in the AMS. The most important body she wants to collaborate with? Students.
Omassi’s power as a policy maker and influencer is unparalleled. She wants to collaborate with UBC admin, and we don’t doubt her influence or ability.
Knott is a major reason why students have an actual, non-tokenistic voice on the board this year. There are few individuals who care more about students and put more energy into representing them.
Bailey brings a strong record of engaging communities and hard advocacy work to the table. He’s pretty much the only person to actually go through on meaningful engagement with students.
Ehrenholz is more familiar with a diversity of leadership positions and is more familiar with the workings of Council — he was also the only one of the two to mention the changing nature of the role of VP Admin in the next year.
Louis Retief (VP FINANCE)
Alex Kilpatrick (VP External)
Hussam Zbeeb (VP Academic)
Jenna Omassi (Senate)
Nick Dawson (Senate)
Retief has had a good amount of experience working with the AMS and its finances, so we’re confident in his understanding of the organization. While he is the only candidate, his platform points sound promising.
Kilpatrick has a proven track record in engaging students through AMS Communications. We feel that Kilpatrick will bring a refreshing take to the portfolio.
Zbeeb appeared to genuinely want to engage with the AMS. He came across as confident and personable — a natural leader — as exemplified by his roles across campus.
Omassi is a current senator and the VP Academic and University Affairs who has has stood out for both her understanding of academic policy and her advocacy for students.
Dawson is notable for being the only candidate to talk about harassment discrimination and he intends to start a discussion on sexual assault in the Senate.
le mention Honourab
le mention Honourab
le mention Honourab
Samantha so (senate)
Kevin Doering (senate)
Daniel Lam (senate)
Lina Castro (senate)
Asad Ali (senate)
She has sat on eight AMS committees and two university committees, making her the first-time candidate with the most experience with university policy.
Doering impressed us with his performance at the debate through his focus on smaller, nuanced issues and his concrete goals.
Although he has never been a senator, Lam attended every Senate meeting as well as remaining an engaged member of AMS Council.
Castro has worked as Mental Health Commissioner for the AMS and has a thorough understanding of all current mental health policies being looked at by Senate.
Ali presented unique ideas concerning the negative effect of frequent senator turnover on the unity and and impact of the student senator caucus.
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
| ELECTIONS | 7
What I learned about the presidential candidates while working at the AMS by arno rosenfeld
W
hen I left The Ubyssey to work for the AMS last fall, I was also curious to see how the student leaders whom I had covered for years as a journalist acted behind closed doors. Student leaders are just as likely to run the crude spectrum from cynical to incompetent as any politician — unfortunate given that they oversee tens of millions of dollars in our student fees. But during my time on the job, one AMS executive stood out. While we occasionally butted heads over policy, Jenna Omassi was a force of nature. I never failed to be impressed by her intelligence and mastery of both the substance of the issues and how to turn that knowledge into action. The ability to turn total comprehension of the facts into results is the key skill our next AMS president will need. Unfortunately, our university bureaucracy is so
Omassi got far less credit than she deserved. But the late nights she spent in the AMS offices, the weekend phone calls to talk strategy and the painstaking dedication to compiling a killer presentation was done because she cared about the result. You’ll find this concern in her platform, which talks about collaborating with UBC Rec and the VP Students’ office, the AMS governance review, supporting student staff members and creating a strategic advocacy plan for students. It is the kind of platform you’d expect from someone who has been buried up to her neck in student politics for years, serving as Arts Undergraduate Society president before assuming her current role. In contrast, Ava Nasiri’s platform speaks of lofty goals, but offers highly questionable solutions. Nasiri identifies AMS finances as “in serious need of reform,” but then suggests “consulting Sauder … students and professors” and opening
[Omassi] ran her portfolio as VP Academic with frightening efficiency, understanding where to pinpoint her energy and productively put her team to work. insular and arbitrary that one false move can lead even brilliant ideas from bright-eyed students to be dragged down. Fortunately, Omassi knows how to avoid those false moves. She ran her portfolio as VP Academic with frightening efficiency, understanding where to pinpoint her energy and productively put her team to work. In the fight against tuition, Omassi recognized the political realities that I missed and identified a narrow window where students had leverage with the Board of Governors. The board was forced to reckon with Omassi’s presentation on the university’s phony math and their particularly absurd requests, leading to the first instance of UBC students turning back tuition increases when the board reduced or eliminated some of the increases.
a microbrewery in the Nest as ways to “help the budget thrive and survive.” Nasiri advocates “turning up the volume on the student voice,” vaguely asserting that “when we have the ability to create movements, the university cannot say no.” She wants to expand Block Party, yet does not address the university’s near-cancellation of this year’s Block Party, despite months of lobbying by current AMS President Aaron Bailey. Nasiri has not put forward a serious platform to address student mental health, AMS governance, academic issues or tuition and housing affordability. Omassi has. She has also explained how her prior experience — from getting the cost of textbooks at the UBC Bookstore slashed, to writing the AMS
policy on sexual assault — will lead into an Omassi presidency. Omassi has not been a flawless leader. While she takes student consultation seriously, once her position becomes set, Omassi becomes very hard to sway. While her position is usually the right one, inevitably there are cases when she tunes out dissenting voices offering compelling ideas of their own. Personally, I love Omassi’s self-assuredness. But an AMS president — a role far more ceremonial than it should be — sometimes needs to play peacemaker and prioritize community over efficiency. I would also like to see Omassi do more to increase the student society’s transparency. While I can attest that it was easier to do some of my AMS work behind closed doors, our elected leaders should be held to higher standards. But the wonderful thing about electing our fellow students as leaders is that we are all still evolving, something I have no doubt Omassi will continue to do if elected.
Moreover, my concerns about Omassi pale in comparison to the issues with Nasiri’s record. Nasiri touts her role overseeing the construction of the Student Nest. But the building came in well over-budget and Nasiri repeatedly pushed back the opening date. While delays are common in big projects, Nasiri admitted to The Ubyssey that she announced opening dates she knew were unlikely to be met. That is not convincing leadership. Her platform calls for “a complete overhaul of … bookings within the Nest,” an issue that she could have dealt with this year as the sole AMS executive overseeing bookings within the Nest. Meanwhile Chris Scott, a candidate for Nasiri’s current position who worked under her as vice-chair of the Student Administrative Commission, recently penned a damning condemnation of her leadership. “I am running to fix a system,” he wrote in The Talon. “Over my term
as SAC vice-chair, I’ve spent countless hours attempting to patch over the inefficiencies ... and the general administration of the VP Admin portfolio.” Shouldn’t Nasiri have been doing that during the two years she ran the portfolio? I loved getting to know Nasiri during my time at the AMS and she has always exhibited overwhelming love and care for the university and students. Omassi, on the other hand, initially scared the hell out of me. I was intimidated by the rigour with which she went about her work. But this is by no means a popularity contest. In addition to overseeing the largest student society in Canada, the next AMS president will deal with a UBC board in utter turmoil and the selection of a new university president. In this context, Omassi’s fierce leadership and proven track record is the only safe bet. U Arno Rosenfeld is a former AMS employee and former Features editor at The Ubyssey.
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PROFILES
10 | candidate profiles |
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
These interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.
candidate profiles
President Unable to attend university because of financial reasons, he worked and toured with various bands and drove taxis. After finding retiring not challenging enough, he applied to UBC. While studying at UBC, he has been learning skills that may still see him working in the movie industry such as directing, acting, scriptwriting and cinematography.
“Aloha Dave” David Brown
David “Aloha Dave” Brown graduated high school in the early ’60s.
1. Basically I have a four-point platform. Number one is why I’m running, that the divestment of the oil shares that I seriously voted on over two years ago and nothing’s been done. I’m so upset at that I’ve decided to run for president. Having studied up West Wing and everything to get my presidential credentials happening, I’ve expanded my platform to include free tuition. The United Sugar Brewer is looking to “sweeten up life on campus” — not by turning UBC into a party school, but by placing a greater emphasis on the social culture on campus. He’s in his third year and decided that if he can’t beat them, then he should run for AMS president.
Sugar Brewer
1. My primary goal is all about social culture on campus. What sets me apart from the other candidates is that their experience at the AMS being found singing “anything you can do, I can do better.” Eventually he sung it so much that someone suggested he run for AMS president. He enjoys coffee, long walks on the beach, cat gifs and A-bae jokes. We realize that his questions may read like a mad lib, but what we can we say? He speaks his mind.
Hassan Packir
Hassan Packir worked in Aaron Bailey’s office last year and could often
1. As they say, one small step for man is one larger step for a smaller man. For me as an averagely [sic] sized individual, this would be a medium step in hopefully the right direction. My platform says we want for synergy for the AMS [and] fewer paradigms, but still more
States of America is having a presidential election right now, and should Donald Trump lose and it looks like Bernie Sanders might be the next president of the United States. Part of his platform is free tuition. So I was a little ambivalent, I was a little yes-no-I wasn’t sure about free tuition, but if he’s going to go for free tuition, I’ll be forced to go for free tuition. One of my third platform things … is when I am president I would like all 41 departments at our council table to come up with a report. Just a quick report about where their department will be as far as 10 years, 20 years and 50 years. My other platform is to set up UBC TV. Similar to CiTR radio, only a television station that broadcasts our council meetings, numero uno, to encourage student participation.
2. Mostly the slowness of, “Let’s have a meeting about having a meeting.” I’d like to get this initiated right off the bat once I’m president, all four of those platforms. Not have more meetings and talktalk-talk about it — the year will go by really quickly. I’d like to have it set up as soon as possible without a lot of talk-talk-talk.
means that they are [looking] longer, where mine is very much focused on what I can do in a year for the students. Ultimately, the year I’ve been a student I haven’t really noticed what the president does ... I just wanted to do something for the students right away. What do the present students want? Give it to them right away.
the school to mediate that with what the students want. Trying to find middle ground [between] what the school wants, but also what the students want.
2. There’s a lot of pressure from the school with tuition increases and stuff. There’s a lot of pressure from integration [and] yet fewer buzzwords. I think I am the person to accomplish it, really looking to bring back perspective. It kind of reminds me of a Netflix video I watched, I can’t remember the name of it. 2. I haven’t seen another website that points to a third-party website and so really showing that I can connect with other parties. The ability to connect other people and bring them together, I think that’s exactly what my website does. It brings together YouTube, music and different images and gifs of cats.
3. Well I didn’t follow most of the meetings myself for something that I agreed with. But there’s been nothing done about the 100 million shares of oil, which is what I totally disagree with. The same with Tanner Bokor, the previous president, this is two presidents come and gone. The article in The Vancouver Sun last week said it was $110 million and now
3. Aaron Bailey got people out to games, which was incredible and something our school is lacking. He did through beer and that worked out really well. Getting kegs to people, tailgates — it was huge. It was amazing. 3. Interesting question for sure and thank you for asking me. And I think that that’s my response. 4. I think that the most important person you need to collaborate with, of course, are the people. I think if you want to see change happen, you have to exist in that world to become with it, as a student who better qualified to be the president than an actual student. Not to say that other candidates are not students, I’m definitely not saying that. But at the same time, I’m not saying that they definitely are students.
it’s only worth $85 million — the headline that UBC goes the way of dinosaurs. 4. Well, I was thinking of filing for a divorce with the Board of Dinosaurs. Irreconcilable differences. Seventy-seven per cent of us voted to get rid of us over two years ago. I keep reading more articles about fiduciary duty. I’ve had it! I’m filing for a divorce. 5. The weakest part would be my financial obligations. I can only do so much with the shortness of the campaign [and] put up a video of Aloha Dave for president at Yahoo. com, which shows a few things on my campaign. But because it’s only a 12-day campaign, I can’t really flesh out all of the details. 4. The way I see the position is as collaborating with 50,000 students, not one. There is 50,000 people in a school where we come together and all share, but it’s hard to get everyone together behind something. 5. Definitely my inexperience with the AMS, the system and how it works. I don’t have the inside knowledge that the other candidates have. 5. I think the lack of a platform altogether is fairly weak, but at the same time a strength. I think people are scared of the fact that I don’t have a real platform, but the only thing we have to fear is our fear of fearing things. Right? And so I think there is a beauty in the fact that my campaign platform has nothing to go on and no legs to stand on, but at the same time that allows you to be dynamic and be malleable. So if someone says, “Can we have this in our platform?” the answer is, “Of course, yes. We can have this in our platform. There’s nothing in there yet.’” So I welcome all ideas and new ideas, especially any idea that isn’t not an idea.
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
| candidate profiles | 11
questions 1. Describe your platform and what makes it different from the other candidates. 2. What are the challenges facing this position in the upcoming year? 3. What is one thing done by your predesseor that you agreed with, and one that you disagreed with? 4. Who is the most important body or person that you need to collaborate with in this role and how will you foster a relationship with them? 5. What do you think the weakest part of your platform or campaign is?
members as well as the transition into the new SUB — she’s now turning her sights to empowering the student body at UBC.
Ava Nasir i Ava Nasiri, fifth-year political science major, is a self-described people person. Having served the last two years as AMS VP Administration — overseeing thousands of club
1. The thing about my platform is the one overarching goal that ties not just my platform, but I think will tie the AMS in its entirety together — and therefore the student body — is the focus on communication and consultation. The idea of a fall reading break is something that we’ve had considered for a very long time. I feel that by putting the full weight of the AMS behind seeing that through more quickly will be a huge benefit to all students in terms of not just their GPA, but their mental health and their wellness. And lastly, expanding Block Party is something that our team has worked really hard on this year and I’m excited to see how that maps out. I think what sets my platform apart from
president of the Arts Undergraduate Society and AMS VP Academic and University Affairs, she is now running for AMS president.
Jenna Omassi
Jenna Omassi is a fifth-year international relations student originally from Montréal. She has worked her way through the levels of student government and social life since arriving at UBC in second year. Having held positions such as
1. My platform focuses on three things: community, well-being and governance. In bringing together community, I want to ensure there is a strong support by the AMS for athletics as a whole — not just a few sports. University executive have committed to making well-being a foundation of their strategic plan when the new university president comes in. And the last is supporting the hundreds of AMS staff and thousands of clubs members, so providing them with actual self care packs and ensuring there are policies in place to ensure that they are well. The third and most important … is governance. We are going into a year where there is going to have to be implementation of an entire
other candidates is that it takes into account things that students identify with and things that students spend time thinking about and focuses really on engaging them and involving them more. 2. Within the next four weeks, we will have the governance review complete. In terms of the internal AMS community, that’s going to be an area that the AMS president needs to focus on because what comes with structural changes is discomfort. Secondly, having a new UBC president come in is important for the [AMS] president to take into account the years of students before and the years of students to come and establishing that expectation … in terms of what we stand for. Thirdly, the AMS budget will be in a deficit, which means working closely with our business operations team and the VP Finance to make sure
review of the society and the president will have to play a huge part in that, spearheading the implementation. The first thing that differentiates me is the vast amount of experience I have on this campus. I’ve been involved in the AMS for two years in very, very different ways. This year, as VP Academic and University Affairs, I’ve been both involved in advocacy with the university. 2. The next governance review won’t be done for a while, so the changes this year will impact years and years and years of students — the way they engage with the AMS, even the positions we have in the AMS. The second, everyone knows, is the businesses. If the 420 referendum doesn’t pass, we are going to be in a $400,000 deficit, which means that there are going to have to be difficult decisions made.
that they are supported and that we are engaging the student body. 3. Aaron has done a phenomenal job of bringing attention to varsity sports. I would love to carry that on by bringing back the Blue and Gold Society. I think everyone has a different leadership style and in my essence, almost in my being, one thing that I identify really closely with is being a people person and being the one that brings people together and creates that community. One thing I might do differently is spend more time looking at ways that we can make the AMS more cohesive. 4. The most important body is the student body. And in order for me as president to be able to collaborate with them, the next most important level becomes our council because those are the students that represent every single
3. [I] agreed [with] the way the president was involved in advocacy this year. As president, and this was noticed in the debates, you work with all of the executives. The president stepped in to do a lot of the campaign and engagement planning of a lot of those campaigns while the VP Academic and University Affairs, myself, worked on everything in the background. I think athletics is one of those things [I disagree with]. We had a lot of challenges working with Athletics this year. I completely understand the reason the focus of the AMS was with football, but the AMS has the capacity to support at least one game per team, including women’s teams. 4. The most important person I collaborate with is someone I work closely with already who is Louise Cowin, the VP Students, and she’s just been reappointed. Louise is the best advocate for students on
student on campus through their faculty and through their academic studies and pursuits. I see the role of president as working directly and collaborating with the student body through these levels and through these teams. 5. Because I’m outgoing and social, I’d like to think I’m pretty nice. It might be assumed that I wouldn’t know how to be firm and direct and exact when needed as president and I think that it’s important to have a president that can do both things at once— that can be tactful and strategic and hard-hitting and hold things accountable when necessary. I think because I am a people person, it might seem that I don’t have the necessary discipline, when rather I think it’s very important for discipline or praise in public and criticize in private. [But] I have a serious side.
this campus besides the AMS and works to support the AMS with everything we do and works to support students more generally. 5. I have worked really closely with those groups and making sure they have the groundwork. As AUS president, I worked really closely with VP Student Life, but ultimately I’ve never been seen as a student life person — I’ve been seen much more of advocacy, internal administration person. I don’t think I can’t do it. I know that I can. I used to and so I think it’s not actually as important as people might think for the president to be a student life focused person. That’s why we have an events department, a communications department and a VP Administration. I think that ... will be, and has been, perceived to be my weakest link — that I’m not a student life person.
No Response submitted. Thomas Thompson III (Kylo Ren)
12 | candidate profiles |
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
candidate profiles
VP Ex ternal
1. Describe your platform and what sets it apart from your opposition. 2. What drew you to this specific position? 3. What are the challenges facing this position in the upcoming year? 4. What was one thing your predecessor did that you agreed with and one thing that you disagreed with? 5. Who is the most important body or person that you need to collaborate with in this role and how will you foster a relationship with them? 6. What is the weakest part of your campaign or platform? worked as both the clubs administrator as well as the External Advocacy Commission vice-chair for the AMS, and currently she works as the associate vice-president, external affairs. She describes her passion for the projects that the VP External office works on, which is motivating her to run for the position.
Kathleen Simpson
Kathleen Simpson is a fourth-year psychology student from Toronto, Ontario. In her time at UBC, she has
Alexander Kilpatr ick Alex Kilpatrick is a fourthyear political science student
1. My platform is really centred around working more with student groups who work on campus. I think that because of the slow-moving nature of the VP External office, I’ve noticed that in previous years it hasn’t been as transparent as I would really like it to be. I’m really hoping to work with [student groups] a lot more and to build those relationships
up for future years as well, but I’m also hoping to really get into more policy work, specifically three major issues that I would like to address. 2. I’ve worked in the external office for a long time and I really love the projects that we work on. They’re things that I think are really important and I only wish that they got a lot more visibility on campus — and that’s exactly why I’m running. I want students to know about the work that we do and become more involved and engaged. [Student advocacy] is something I would really like to move towards in the future. 3. Because of the placement of the provincial elections — which will
from Cape Town, South Africa. Working under Abby Blinch in the communications office of the AMS, he has experience morphing the university’s social media platforms into a tool that can be relevant and useful for engaging UBC students. He aims to continue similar initiatives if he were elected, emphasizing plans of tangible, immediate effects for students.
ing that and making it the backbone of lobbying to other offices.
1. People advocate for themselves, and then when you couple that with traditional lobbying like the great work Jenna Omassi did there, it’s a lot more effective … I want to take that model of first engaging with students and then tak-
3. First of all, the provincial election of 2017 is going to be both a huge challenge and a huge opportunity. It’ll be really important opening those lines of communication and then be very clear about what students want. Another thing that’s
2. I think it’s where the most benefit can come from. It’s the one position where that strategy hasn’t been incorporated at all. The VP External office has previously been quite isolated, quite traditional in their model of lobbying. It’s not the most effective. I think there are real gains to be made there for students.
be basically on the transition for the next year — I think it’ll be really important for whoever is elected now to really work hard and get ready for those provincial elections and also be prepared for the chance that there is a possibility always that elections will be called early. I think that get-out-the-vote campaigns are really essential to general strategy for advocacy.
of spending on campaigns and outreach to students.
4. I thought that the work that the office has done and that I played in a part in for the federal elections was really fantastic. So I would definitely agree with that and I’m hoping to continue that in future years, building the voting culture at the university. In terms of differences … I am much more in favour
6. I think that with all platforms, the greatest problem is really simplifying points that will fit into the platform. Unfortunately, that leaves out other things that obviously, as VP External, I would work on and would care about, but there’s not necessarily room in a platform that students are going to go through.
going to be challenging is that students aren’t used to engaging in external advocacy for themselves because this model hasn’t been adopted yet. So getting them on board with that is going to take a little bit of effort.
5. Some of the ones that are neglected are Translink. It has only been lobbied on one issue, which is building the Broadway subway, which I 100 per cent agreed with. I think we’ve had a pretty openly hostile relationship with the UNA (University Neighbourhoods Association) for a long time. They own property here … there are a lot of gains to be made there.
4. [Bill C41] threatened the existence of a lot of student unions across Canada. Jude [Crasta] was on the phone with an MP within hours and it got changed eventually. That’s a really good example of lobbying. Something I disagree with is stuff like going to Paris … [and] Boston for the Ivy conference. I mean, those are all valuable learning experiences, but they’re expensive and not really relevant.
5. I think that, if anything, working with other student associations is incredibly important just because no matter what the projects that we’re working on and no matter which levels of government we’re advocating to, they’ll always be our partners in those things.
6. I don’t have a huge amount of experience in the VP External office. I can’t name three committees that they sit on and I don’t have any experience in council. I’ve been to council, I’ve been covering council for a long time. But a lot of things they talk about, it’s Greek to me.
candidate profiles
s ir a f f A y it s r e iv n U & ic m e d VP aca
1. Describe your platform and what makes it different from your competitors’. 2. How have you been involved with the AMS before, and how will this help you? 3. What are the issues you’re trying to tackle and why do you think they haven’t been addressed already? 4. What was one thing your predecessor did that you agreed with and one think you disagreed with? 5. What is the most important body or person that you need to collaborate with in this role and how will you foster a relationship with them? whose platform focuses on fixing what’s broken at UBC. He is running to with the aim of restoring affordable education for everyone and bringing accountability and transparency to the university that he feels is focused solely on prestige over students.
Andrew Liang Andrew Liang is a third-year international relations major
1. My platform really is about affordability and mind mainly because I just read the news every single day. A BMO study showed that 36 per cent of all post-secondary students in BC had experienced stress over their financial situation. You combine that with unaffordable housing — both in rent and finding an actual place to live — we’re leaving university with mountains and mountains of debt. If we tackle the core issues,
which is the Board of Governors, we can pave the path for more affordability and to actually implement the things they have because they are important things that need to be done. 2.My experience with the AMS is only this year when I was involved in Champion the Vote, which was fantastic. It’s not a lot of hands-on activity in the AMS, but I’d also point out that when you elect people, it’s not because they’ve been in the AMS or congress forever, it’s the other experiences that they bring. 3. I don’t know why they’ve not been addressed. I really don’t. These were common sense issues.
I don’t think my platform is particularly radical — I’m not asking for free tuition, I’m not asking for free rent, I’m not asking for the communist revolution. All I’m asking for is some transparency and accountability. 4. I think what Jenna [Omassi] did on the area of mental health is fantastic. We need a lot of help in this area and Jenna Omassi did a fantastic job. We got that $2.5 million from the university to invest in mental health — it’ll take several years, but she has a concrete plan to improve mental health in this university. I couldn’t support that more and I will gladly continue this process. I’ve been fairly happy with how things are run. I un-
derstand it can be difficult to work with the university sometimes so they may have gotten small concessions, but most of my beef is with the university and the Board of Governors. 5. My platform involves working with a lot of people, but I guess the person who I’d have to work with the most is the VP External and I’d be thrilled to work with either candidate. Louise Cowin, I’ve also talked to her and the experiences I’ve had with her have been overwhelmingly great. She’s a straight talker and is already a serious ally and already has a working relationship with the AMS. It’s the Board of Governors where I think there’s going to be the most problems.
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
Hussam Zbeeb
Hussam Zbeeb is a fourth-year global resource systems major and
Samantha So
Samantha So is a fourth-year biology major, who has sat
has spent the past year as the Land and Food Systems Undergraduate Society VP Academic, in which position he led the international tuition increase consultation process. He has a background in RezLife, The Calendar and Peer Programs.
ships with various university bodies in order for students to get a seat at the table for decisions that they otherwise wouldn’t be a part of. The third is undergraduate research — there’s currently no centralized platform.
1. My platform focuses on three main components. The first being flexible learning — a big umbrella term for a number of academic initiatives, but includes things like open educational resources, midcourse feedbacks, that sort of thing. My second thing is advocacy and consultation, so building relation-
2. I am currently an AMS counsellor and was a proxy last summer for about four months, so [I] have a fairly good understanding about how the AMS Council works and how the governing body works. Also, I’m the VP Academic for my undergraduate society.
on eight AMS committees pertaining to academics and learning, and is chair of the Education Committee. Her platform focuses on engagement, access and Aboriginal issues. Having spent her first year as a commuter student, So has gone from being disengaged with campus activities to a member of a sorority, a JumpStart leader and house president at Ponderosa Commons Residence.
office will be in terms of advocating for them because the VP [Academic and University Affairs] is the only representative on university committees as a student representative and I feel that I do represent an average student. I also really want to continue building relationships with the university to make sure students are supported with things they do at the school.
1. The biggest point is student engagement. I really want to be able to keep students both engaged with the AMS and university issues. I feel as though the more informed students are, the more informed the
2. I sat in on a student life and communications committee, and through that I co-chaired the President’s Dinner, even though I wasn’t a member-at-large yet. The AMS sometimes seems like it has this really hard bubble to break into, but after that I ran for the sci-
3. On the academic side of things, the efforts that have already been put in by this portfolio have been honoured — for example, open education and open textbooks. This past year, there’s been the campaign focused on raising awareness and talking to students and instructors about adopting these initiatives. However, greater steps need to be taken towards the implementation. 4. The consultation regarding the tuition increases — the AMS executive did a very commendable job about it, making sure students were being heard when it came to ence AMS representative and joined seven committees. 3. There are no committee minutes online, you only get reports in a few general meetings. The ad-hoc committees are not really mentioned in any list-type form and students don’t know how the academic issues are being handled. I don’t think other execs have handled this. It’s an issue with transparency so that students know what’s happening [and] they can tell me what they want. It shouldn’t be hard for students to get involved and get engaged with. 4. I really like this year that they’ve done a lot of student engagement on campus and that there’s
| candidate profiles | 13 a lot of these discussions and about consulting students in a very accessible manner. I don’t think the exam database is an incredibly successful initiative. Instructors are reluctant to take it up. But because there’s been so much investment in terms of time and money, maybe looking at using it somewhere else. 5. I’m going to say the university administration. As the VP Academic and University Affairs, your job is to act as the go-between with students and the university. Building a solid foundational relationship with them would be critical. been a lot of turnout. But I don’t think that those have been very accessible — students have class or they’re commuters who don’t want to stay on campus for extra hours. Students care, but they don’t care that much. I’d really like to implement innovative online consultation processes. 5. I have two directions — it’s the student engagement, which ties into advocacy for students. I guess the most important body would be students. But alongside that, I guess it’s also really important that I stay on good terms, up to date with and engaged with the university administration because they’re the ones that I try to advocate to to make decisions that I’ve heard that students want.
candidate profiles
VP administ r ation
1. Describe your platform and what makes it different from your opposition. 2. What drew you to this specific position? 3. What are the challenges facing this position in the next year? 4. What are the issues you’re trying to tackle and why do you think they haven’t been addressed already? 5. Who or what is the most important body or person that you need to collaborate with in this role and how will you foster a relationship with them? 6. What’s the weakest part of your campaign or platform? Ehrenholz, Scott has only been at UBC for a year. Scott transferred into his political science major here, but got involved right off the bat. Scott has occupied the position of vice-chair of the Student Administrative Committee (SAC). He has also learned about campus from being a driver at Safewalk and about the inner-workings of the VP Admin portfolio from being the system administrator for the club management software called OrgSync.
Chris Scot t
Chris Scott is a third-year student like his opponent. But unlike Alan
Alan Ehrenholz Alan Ehrenholz is a third-year engineering student. Ehrenholz
1. I think what really sets me apart … is that I want to focus on community engagement rather than events planning because we already have has been a very active member of his faculty and in student leadership in general. A self-described “people person,” Ehrenholz is currently the president of the Engineering Undergraduate Society as well as chair AMS Executive Oversight Committee. Ehrenholz has been involved in other engineering initiatives — such as an instructor for Geering Up UBC Engineering and Science for Kids — but you might recognize him from belting out christmas carols during the engineers’ annual carolling. 1. My platform is very much based on how we engage students. The AMS engages clubs and students in
an entire staff dedicated to events — we really don’t need to add the VP Admin onto that staff as well. The VP Admin should be focused on building communities through things like lunchtime programming and precinct programming in the offices. 2. The reason I wanted to get involved with the AMS is because what I’ve noticed about Canadian schools versus American schools is that … students who want to see a change basically have power to make that change. I think one of the most important aspects of university is the social learning aspect of it and that’s through leadership. general on two levels. One through our AMS clubs and two through AMS events … that work should be done by a vice-president in their portfolio. 2. I’m interested in the dynamic and changing office. I don’t think that I would be a very good administrator … but this changing role of engagement, that’s what I really enjoy. 3. Students in general don’t know what the AMS is, they don’t know what the AMS does, why the AMS does the things they do … my goal is obviously to engage with 50,000 students and be able to help them answer that question and contrib-
3. In my experience, the VP Admin portfolio is somewhat understaffed and so I think that’s probably one of the biggest challenges. Specifically working on SAC, there’s just not enough people to handle all of the clubs and then also make all of the changes that need to be made. I really am going to advocate for adding an assistant clubs administrator. 4. I think that a huge portion of the VP Admin’s efforts have been focused on building the new SUB. It’s kind of a big task to ask of someone who’s 21, 22 years old to lead this project. For previous VP Admins, I haven’t seen any come from the “under-ranks” of the VP Adminisute to what the answer to that question is.
tration, so it might just be lack of experience knowing exactly how things work on the lower level and on the upper level. 5. I think the most important body is SAC. The VP Administration’s responsibilities and duties are based in SAC. According to our governing documents, everything basically comes out of SAC. I think it’s just really important to have an open relationship with everyone sitting on SAC. 6. I don’t have any kind of name recognition — that’s the thing I’m most worried about because I’m a transfer student.
4. I think it’s a challenge just because of our size and I think the VP Admin portfolio — as dynamic as it is — has to set a strategic vision of engagement for multiple years. It can’t change every year.
through clubs … we have the opportunity to do more tangible or visible change for students and then with council. Currently, I’m the chair of the Student Life and Communications Committee. I don’t think it has a well defined enough goal … I think it has to be re-envisioned with council’s help.
5. I think the VP Finance. If you look at the four VPs within the AMS, the VP External [and] the VP Academic are very outward facing. They deal with the university, the government and external groups. The VP Admin and the VP Finance are very internal and through the finance commission through SAC,
6. I’m going to go with the art gallery and engaging with that specific part of the portfolio. I’m an engineering student. I think in very different ways than arts and science students do and this was something that was brought up at EUS council … “How are you going to engage with these students?”
14 | candidate profiles |
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
candidate profiles
VP Finance
1. Describe your platform and what makes it different from your competitors’. 2. How have you been involved with the AMS before and how will this help you? 3. What are the challenges facing this position in the upcoming year? 4. What was something your predecessor did that you agreed with and one thing that you disagreed with? 5. What is the most important body or person that you need to collaborate with in this role and how will you foster a relationship with them? wack who, for the past 10 months, has worked as the associate VP Finance under the wing of current VP Finance Mateusz Miadlidowski.
Lo uis Re tief Louis Retief is a third-year finance student from Chilli-
1. I want to implement more workshops and training programs for financial literacy and leadership training, and also overall organization for your club. Secondly, one of the projects I’ve been working on this year is FIN (Financial-Tech Initiatives) technologies. [They] will really empower students to
get their finances under control with their clubs. 2. I’ve been in the VP Finance portfolio for a year. Right now, what I really bring to the table is I can hit the ground running — I don’t have to do any learning [or] any research for the summer months. 3. There’s a couple big challenges, first being the current reimbursement process for clubs and constituencies. This process
hasn’t changed for years — it’s still paper-based in the 21st century, that’s absolutely ridiculous. The second challenge is obviously AMS businesses [and] the current deficit we stand at. 4. Matt was really good at working with the managing staff — he got along with everyone really well in the office. I’d say he did a good job at working with businesses and he had a really good overview of how the AMS worked because he’s been in the position for two years.
What he hasn’t done really well … he didn’t work very closely with clubs and constituencies 5. I’m going to have to work very closely with two of the executives, mainly being the president and also the VP Administration. The VP Administration works very closely with the VP Finance on how clubs and constituencies are run. If I want to implement my changes, I really have to be able to work closely with the VP Administration.
candidate profiles
Board of Governors
1. Describe your platform and what makes it different from your competitors’. 2. What drew you to this specific position? 3. What are the challenges facing this position in the upcoming year? 4. Who is the most important body or person that you will have to collaborate with, and how will you foster that relationship? 5. What do you think the weakest part of your campaign or platform is?
Veroni ca Knot t Veronica Knott is a fifth-year mining engineering student. She’s served as the Engineering Under-
Reda El Maazi Reda El Maazi is a second-year arts student. He has been in-
graduate Society president and last year was one of the student representatives on the Board of Governors.
ly doesn’t benefit students, apart from the research opportunities. The third is rebuilding communication.
1. My first and foremost platform point is to fight for increased transparency in board practices. I think that’s something that all societies need to continue to review and look at. My next priority is increasing teaching and student support. There’s often a big focus on research and increased research funding, but that real-
2. I thought a lot this year about whether or not I was going to run again. I thought maybe it was time to pass on the torch — I really reflected on my role — but I looked at it and I said, “This is something I want to do, because I can do better, and I want to do better.” The thing about board is that it’s such a steep learning curve ... and
volved in UBC E-project competitions, winning $500 and a month-long internship in downtown Vancouver. He is running on a platform of affordability, sustainability, integrity and student empowerment.
of tuition. I believe there are other ways to fund and raise money. One key point is empowering student voices and I will be the first one to hold office hours weekly for students.
1. There is sustainability, affordability, there’s empowering student voices and there’s integration. One of the most important aspects that I want to focus [on] during next year will be affordability. This is why I will vote a systematic “no” for any increase served as Science Undergraduate Society president. He’s aiming to bring the engagement and lobbying skills he honed as AMS president to the BoG.
Aaron Bailey Aaron Bailey is a fifth-year integrated science major. He’s
1. I’ll be seeking nomination to [the governance] committee on board to provide support directly to the incoming UBC president and in continuation of my role on the presidential search committee. [I’ll] continue to lobby and keep the board in check in terms of expenditure for the new strategic investment fund that’s adjudicated by the provost’s office. I
2. Many students are complaining about the affordability of the university [and] the fact that their voice is not heard. I really wanted to … make a difference on the UBC campus. 3. The main challenge would be to empower students and make sure want to make sure that that commitment to the student experience is upheld. [I’ll] continue to work with the AMS and other relevant student groups … working towards complete board divestment of all our investment holdings in fossil fuels. 2. I have relationships with members of the Board of Governors currently, which I can leverage to my advantage to lobby for student issues ... without sacrificing my integrity. I’ve proven with my track record that I’m able to both balance working relationships with the ad-
I won’t have to go through that learning curve again. That means that not only can I support whatever student joins me on the board this year, but it means I can also really continue on my platform points that are often more than just one year. 3. It’s about repairing stakeholder relations — I think that’s going to be really. I think a lot is about dividing the work between student reps last year to ensure that we’re really covering all of our bases. that their voice is listened to. To my knowledge, there are 22 [sic] votes within the BoG. I know that one vote is not enough, but I will make sure that I will influence … the others to reach the decisions that will ease the lifestyle of the UBC students. The UBC student body is the most important component within the UBC community. 4. The other person voted as the student representative for the BoG. I believe that we can make a force, that unification makes trust and that the person who will be ministration and push hard when necessary. 3. The same ones facing student representatives every single year. It’s ensuring that in that very powerful group of people, you are loud enough and smart enough about your lobbying to make progress on issues that students actually care about. It’s going to be really pushing for more accountability and transparency, and the ability to engage the student population in what the Board of Governors does. 4. The most important people ...
4. By far, I think the most important is the AMS. The one thing I learned is that I can’t waste so much time trying to duplicate what the AMS already does, and what they do is they reach out to their students. 5. Money is behind a lot of [achieving my goals], and so I think that’s probably going to be the weakest part — finding the money to make those goals a reality. It’s going to be a gradual advocacy of when the opportunity arises. with me. 5. I don’t think I have a particular weakness. I think I’m great. I think I will be the best student representative for next year along with the person who will be next to me as well. One thing I don’t have compared to Aaron and Veronica is the fact I’m not a fifth-year student. I don’t plan to graduate in seven or eight years like Veronica. I have not met as many people as them. I’m proud to be the outsider. I intend on representing the UBC students. I intend to be their voice. are the other student representatives, full stop. We need to be on the same page with all the things that we do. There are specific Board of Governors members who may have a little more influence than other people. 5. I’m working from within the system. I’m not going to have ideas coming from people who don’t understand how the board works. [But] it’s only a year’s time with a very slow-moving body. I think having an insider’s perspective is going to trump any radical notions 100 per cent of the time.
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
| CANDIDATE PROFILES | 15
candidate profiles
Senate
1. Describe your platform and what makes it different from your competitors’. 2. Which orgnizations have you been involved with, and how will these help you if you are elected into Senate? 3. What are the challenges facing the position in the upcoming year? 4. Who is the most important body or person you need to collaborate with in this position, and how will you foster a relationship with them? 5. What three committees would you like to sit on as a senator, and why? and AMS VP Academic and University Affairs, she is running for a second term as a student senator.
Jenna Omassi Jenna Omassi is a fifth-year international relations student originally from Montréal. She has worked her way through the levels of student government and social life since arriving at UBC in second year. Having held positions such as president of the Arts Undergraduate Society
1. My platform is categorized in two areas. The first is mental health and well-being, working with the academic policy committee, the curriculum committee and the teaching and learning committee … to prompt a university scheduling review to happen. I will be working in the last year of the triennium to actually embed pieces and considerations of mental health and well-being into other areas of Senate and to ensure that Senate endorses it and ensures the continuity of mental health and well-being as being a core priority. The second is looking at the Senate-Board of Governors relationship, specifically in regards to tuition. The issue is that the Board of Governors doesn’t Fair Vote Vancouver, of which she is a board member and the Vancouver Quadra Riding Association. Baugh wants to promote the adoption of waitlist options for all courses and continue the push for a fall reading break.
Zahara Baugh Zahara Baugh is a third-year political science major. Baugh is involved with
1. The three main initiatives that I would like to put forward or continue the work of past senators [on are] continuing the push for a fall reading break … changing the eligibility requirements for dean’s list [from 27 to 24 credits per winter session because] those people still deserve recognition for their academic excellence, [and] having some of the information from that, if elected, she could focus on improving representation and engagement of all students in addition to mental health and student resource initiatives.
Lily Takeuchi
Lily Takeuchi is a third-year medical lab science student. Being from a small program, Takeuchi hopes
1. My platform mainly consists of focus on mental health, academic policy and improved student resources for student-led initiatives to do with research and educational training. One of the things that sets me apart is that I did transfer from science into a very small program of 22 students. That change has shown me how under-represented some departments can be. What I really want to focus on is translating everything that hapstudent. Coming from a small program and involvement in a variety of clubs and societies on campus, Nasra is confident in his ability to be a good advocate who will represent all students.
Khaled Nasr a
Khaled Nasra is a second-year Bachelor of International Economics
1. The main part of my platform … [is] continuing the current plan for mental health and well-being, but I also really want to focus on the concept of advanced education. We also have issues with diversity and education. There’s a lot of talks on whether we should have an equi-
actually have any knowledge about curriculum, so for them to truly understand the value of a program is problematic. 2. I’m currently the AMS VP Academic and University Affairs, a current student senator and chair of the ad hoc Senate committee on student mental health. I’m one of two returning senators in this race. I have a very robust understanding of the Senate, not just because I’m a student senator, but because my job as VP Academic and University Affairs is to get Senate. [My job] is to do the background work that Senate needs to actually put things forward and to advocate to governing bodies on students’ behalf. In terms of my understanding of Senate, I probably have a better understanding than any other senators in the race. the teaching evaluations be available to students. 2. I think the previous experience that I have both on and off campus ... is that I’m really hard working and I always put a lot of effort into the things that I do and that’s been proven through the organizations that I’ve been involved in. I’ve worked on some political campaigns … and those are things that you need to be on all the time and you need to put a lot into them ... and also just being able to work with other people because I have worked in a couple organizations. There’s always differing points of view and there’s alpens in Senate to something that students can understand and get involved in. 2. I haven’t been directly involved with the AMS, but as a constituency of the AMS I have been involved with the Science Undergraduate Society. This year, I served as their vice-president of administration, and that really involved three main aspects. One was codes and policy, the second was billing management for the Abdul Ladha Science student centre space, and interacting with clubs. A lot of those experiences, especially to do with code and policy, really translate into the Senate role. ty course, or something like that. I don’t necessarily think so, just because of the concept that we have GRSJ courses right now. So really, I want to focus on diversity, but at the same time not have any cutoffs on the current identity of UBC campus. 2. I don’t necessarily have any experience with the AMS, and I don’t think that should be a huge problem with Senate, just because Senate is a body that is part of UBC and is going to be serving
3. I think the main challenge is this is the third year of the triennium. That means that senators have been working for two years and in the third year they go, “Oh no, we have a year left and we need to do this.” This is one of these years when things are going to get done. There’s a ton of things to do and not so much time. I think the main challenge is going to be actually getting things done. 4. If we’re talking about mental health and well-being, the most important person to be connecting with is Dr. Paul Harrison in the Faculty oaf Science. He has been instrumental in ensuring that student senators had the tools to bring forward the framework on student mental health and well-being, and is the chair of the academic policy committee. Continuing to work ways different ways people want to do things or different ideas for what they want to do. Because I’ve worked with a variety of people, I think that I have a pretty good ability and understanding on compromising and on working things out through discussion. 3. I think probably the biggest challenge would be getting the ideas that I have actually put through in my one year term because one year is not a ton of time on any sort of legislative body. 4. I think probably collaborating with the VP Academic and University 3. Since this is the triennial year and the turnover is happening, I think that’s going to pose some major challenges. I know a lot of projects are wrapping up, and there’s a really big push to finish off those projects. 4. Obviously, the AMS is someone we want to liaise with regularly, because they have the direct connections to all the constituencies and they have all the different departments. They’re a huge body that we want to liaise with and ensure that we can get the messages out that we need. I think making the information from discussions in senate more translatable to stuUBC students. I do have a lot of experience with those. 3. I think a huge part of it is being able to recognize which things are more important. So, oftentimes you have to make the distinction on really important matters that will affect students for maybe 10 years down their way. 4. AMS and Senate both work for the best benefit of the student. Not necessarily in the same area, AMS focuses more on the community idea of campus, and Senate focuses
hand-in-hand with Dr. Paul Harrison is the most important thing that we student senators will do. 5. I would like to continue on as chair of the ad hoc committee on student mental health and well-being. I’d like to sit on the academic policy committee — a lot of the changes in terms of university scheduling will be coming to the committee and I think having a background in all the research that we’ve done at the AMS surrounding everything from a fall reading break to withdrawal period, would be really important. I’d like to stay on the library committee. This committee discusses a lot of really important issues that students and faculty members don’t always think about and is a forum for the discussion surrounding open educational resources. Affairs of the AMS because a lot of what’s in their portfolio is similar to the Senate’s mandate and then just also within the Senate. 5. The Academic Policy Committee because that relates directly to the dean’s list platform point that I have. I would also be interested in the awards committee … I would like to explore more bursary options for students who are struggling financially at the university. I’m also interested in the mental health and well-being ad hoc committee, especially because of their general mandate of greater well-being. dents would be excellent to see, and the AMS will play a big role in that. 5. I’d like to sit on the Academic policy committee because my experiences have been in code and policy and I really have to contribute, but also learn more about how the policies are implemented at a senate level. The second one I’d like to sit on is the mental health ad-hoc committee because I’d like to continue the great work that they’ve been doing over the year. The last one, I’d say the research committee, because I’d like to learn more about how we can improve student-led research initiatives at UBC. more on academics. I think having both at the same time would be a good idea and I do want to work with whoever becomes the next AMS president. 5. I really want to sit on the education committee, the ad hoc committee for mental health, and the third one I wouldn’t really be sure as of now, because there are a lot of do interest me. The two main ones, I want to focus on education and I want to focus on the current ad-hoc for mental health because of what they signify.
16 | Candidate Profiles |
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
Mental Health and Well-being Commissioner, roles that include seeking out mental health initiatives across campus and working to start her own initiatives. Through this position, Castro has collaborated with several Senate committees over the years.
Lina Cast ro
Lina Castro is a third-year behavioural neuroscience student. Currently, Castro serves as the
Dario Garo usian
Dani el Lam
Daniel Lam is a second-year atmospheric science major who has served as an AMS student repre-
these recommendations that had been brought forward. I plan to look at which ones were not completed, review the process and assign them to the appropriate Senate committees.
1. My [platform] basically consists of five points. The first is making a common syllabi policy, which would regulate policies across all faculties. The second point is improving the academic calendar. I will be initiating changes in a fall reading break and later withdrawal deadlines. The third point is that I want to revamp the mental health ad hoc committee on Senate. I want to look at the framework and see that the big issue is accountability or whether it’s
that the framework wasn’t drafted in the best way to suit Senate, making sure it suits the purpose that it serves. The fourth point is enhanced learning records. This concept started with the idea of co-curricular transcripts and was then adapted to learning enhanced records. The next step is to consult different stakeholders across campus, figure out what this is going to look like and how this is going to happen. My last piece is the task force that was struck after the 2015 Sauder rape chants [and] came up with a bunch of recommendations to the president of the UBC. UBC responded with a list of recommendations that they had decided to take on and these recommendations affected different groups across campus including Senate. Senate has not completed
3. Being the last year in the triennium means that there’s a lot of projects people are expecting to get finalized. I think it’ll
5. I will be sitting on the mental health committee, the flexible learning committee and the academic policy committee.
Dario Garousian is a second-year political science and applied science major. He currently sits on the AUS council and is the vice-president administration for the Political Science Undergraduate Association. If he is elected, Garousian plans to focus on student engagement and build on the work done by past student senators.
three-year term and it’s important to realize that we have to continue all the good work that the past student senators have done and have a smooth transition. What sets me apart from other candidates is that I will be continuing on the work of past senators, building on them, and also focusing on engagement as well, making sure students are informed of what’s going on.
many times.
student engagement where they’d be involved with projects like #TextbookBrokeBC or consulting students on what they want to advocate for on UBC Senate.
My platform is a lot about engagement and reaching out to students, as well as advocating for what they want on Senate. A lot of new student senators try to achieve new innovative ideas, but we’re approaching the end of a
2. I’m currently the AMS Academic Affairs commissioner, so I work under Jenna Omassi, VP Academic. I’ve also worked as the vice chair of the university and External Relations Committee, and I’ve also proxied for Council
4. As a senator I’d want to work more closely with the VP Academic on the projects they’re working on on the student side of the things. I think that it would be important to take that student Senate caucus and bring them to
sentative for the Science Undergraduate Society. Lam believes that his focus on student engagement sets him apart from other Senate candidates.
ence Undergraduate Society. Midway through that term, I picked up a position as an earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences representative on the Science Undergraduate Society council. Both of these experiences are very beneficial to Senate because both involve me speaking on large bodies — AMS council is the largest governing body [for students] and Senate is the largest governing academic body of the university. Both of these have committees and the one that I’m specifically in right now is the Education Committee on the AMS and we deal with a lot of things like lobbying with Access and Diversity, for example. In some ways, we also liaise with the Senate.
the current projects. When transition comes in for the next year for the incoming faculty and alumni representatives, we can, in some ways, start off with a fresh plate. Senate’s been working on a couple projects right now … and so I see time as the biggest issue in this position for the upcoming year, knowing that we only have one more year left to try to complete some good projects before the next group of people come in.
It’s split into four pillars — teaching and learning technologies, mental health initiatives, advocating for academic policy and student engagement. I think the big thing that separates my platform from all the other candidate’s platforms is the student engagement part because, for a lot of candidates, they want to talk about what they want to bring to the Senate. But for me, a lot of my platform is also looking at how we can improve student Senate caucus so that we can better hear student’s voices. 2. Last year I was an AMS councillor — I was representing the Scinow its student head. He would like to focus on unity within the student caucus and decrease the impact of the frequent turnover of elected representatives.
Asad Ali Asad Ali is a fourth-year Sauder student. For the past two years, he has worked for AMS events and is
1. It’s very difficult to come up with something new. It seems more beneficial to actually achieve those goals that senate decided on three years ago. My platform, again, is working with what the Senate has done three years before — this includes a lot of things actually. The first one is mental health and well-being, which is very big on campus. Everyone is dying for the fall reading break and I think it’s a great opportunity that senators should approach. Students really need that break. Senate is already pushing towards it, they just need more process and more time. Lastly, I think we need
3. We’re entering the end of a triennial and so we want to try to get as much done as possible with more unity in the student caucus. A new student comes into Senate every year and it’s very bad because some people don’t understand what Senate actually does. Having a team beforehand helping them out, having workshops, having a group dynamic, being a productive team — that’s one of the main things I would focus on. 2. I work with AMS events. I’m their events coordinator so I practically see the trends going around students and I manage a team of 40 people. What I want to do is prepare the student caucus to be more engaged, more prepared, more energetic, more involved in campus itself — turn it into a dynamic, united team that’s more united than it is now. It is all about team building skills, maybe having a workshop when they come into
2. I’ve been working under the VP Academic’s office as the mental health commissioner over the last two years, so I’ve gotten to work with two different VP Academics. Through this position, I’ve done a lot in terms of research and advocacy. The bulk of my work collaborated with a Senate committee, usually a renovation to a policy or a new innovative policy.
3. We’re facing the end of a threeyear cycle and we can’t really accomplish as much as we want because a lot of the faculty can be renewed and there can be a lot of new senators. It’s about finishing up projects in the current cycle and possibly starting the conversation on new projects.
4. [The] Mental Health Network, definitely, because mental health is without a doubt one of the biggest issues on this campus right now and they do a lot of advocacy work. They’re sort of a network of groups on campus that have a similar goal of trying to improve mental health ... and I think that, going forward, a partnership between those guys would be very position [as well as] getting and drawing from the experiences of past senators. 3. This is the last year for the triennium and people will want to get stuff done. It’s going to be very stressful. I think that would be the main problem. I know that there is experience, but it always takes time. That one year really limits you and just getting the stuff done would be very key. 4. I plan to sit on the committee for flexible learning, the ad hoc committee on mental health, and curriculum ... because managing stress, fall reading break [is] important for students. I think that I want to be there to help complete the work before the term is crossed. I think co-curricular transcripts [learning enhance-
be a challenge in deciding which projects do need to be completed and which ones maybe need to be scrapped because, as the last year, we’re going to need to focus our efforts and finish whatever we decide to finish. 4. I would say the Dean of Science Paul Harrison because he has chaired the mental health ad hoc committee before and he currently chairs the academic policy Senate committee and these are both committees that I plan to be very involved with. My platform is based a lot around this academic calendar review.
5. The ad hoc Mental Health Committee I would love to work with because I am a huge mental health advocate and I’ve actually used access and diversity before and I’ve seen the state of mental health on campus and it’s improving, thanks to work from the work of our current senators and I want to build upon that. But I also want to sit on the library committee. There’s an interesting part of library committee and that is the 24-hour study space. beneficial. 5. For me the first one is teaching and learning technology. I really want to see what their work is like in trying to implement the technologies that I have talked about. Second is academic policy committee because I think it ties in line very well with issues that are going on such as the fall reading break and trying to get that rolling. Third one is the senator adhoc committee on mental health. I think it would be a very good thing to sit on considering that it’s one of the topics students engage with the most on campus. If there’s anything that senate does that students engage with the most, it’s mental health. And so I think it would be a really good opportunity to be able to be there, be able to engage students on such a topic that is still sadly stigmatized. ment records] are very important and I want to push it. Curriculum is just very interesting to me — going through what is going to be approved and what won’t be. 5. I think building key relationships with other senators is very important. Deans, faculty members [and] standing professors are very important. PR is very important. One thing I’d like to do is talk. For me, I’ll get to know someone first and then we will talk about work. Eventually it comes in, that’s how I would foster a relationship. Meet with the key influential people and give them my views, give them the student caucus’s views. Build a friendship. It’s very important because we need their vote — they need to know how important the student body is.
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
year, he worked with the AMS as a clubs administrator, a role in which he oversees all 400 clubs in the AMS. Although he is running against many other candidates for Senate, Doering hopes to make himself stand out with an emphasis on finishing the enhanced learning record project, which will recognize extracurricular activities of students as experiential learning.
Kevin Do er ing
Kevin Doering is a fourth-year honours economics student originally from Washington, DC. This past
1. What’s going to set me apart … is my experience personally dealing with students from my work in Arts Academic Advising and my intention to focus this year on finishing other projects that have been ongoing for the last three years as it’s the end of the triennium and really try to initiate projects for the next triennium. Not many students have been talking about the enhanced learning records* perspective to Senate and focus on transparency and mental health.
Kaidi e Wi lliams
Kaidie Williams is a third-year international relations student minoring in economics. She has experience as a residence advisor and in the UBC Model United Nations. Williams hopes to bring a fresh
1. I would define my platform as transparency, in light of recent events in the Board of Governors and everything that has been happening in UBC. I think that there has really been a disconnect between the AMS and the student body. My platform, first and foremost, is to bridge that gap, and to create more engagement between those two bodies. My second platform would be mental health. I think that mental health needs to be a part of every ... academic policy that we have at UBC. I think that’s what sets my platform apart, and I think that for me, it’s just not setting my platform apart but me, as an individual, and the skills that I bring to the table, also contributes cus on student mental health by pushing for the implementation of a fall reading break and introducing an option for students to declare academic hardship for midterms.
Vi ctor ia Lansdo wn Victoria Lansdown is a third-year interdisciplinary studies and Master of Management student. If she is elected, Lansdown plans to fo-
1. My platform is really focused on student health, development and well-being. Those are my three main categories that I’m focused on. Mental health is a big one. I want to introduce a fall reading break and really advocate for that. A lot of universities in Canada have it in response to student depression and lower levels of student health and well-being, but I think we should have it as a prevention method for students to ensure that we have a strong mental health among our student body and just making sure everybody and well-being at UBC but plans to take an academic policy approach. He also hopes to engage grad students in a discussion on sexual harassment discrimination.
Ni ck Dawson
Nick Dawson is a PhD student in experimental medicine. He currently sits on Senate and is seeking re-election. Like many other student senate hopefuls, Dawson hopes to improve mental health
1. We’re looking at mental health, but I’m taking a more academic policy approach to that, looking at how we can ... [work] within the academic policy committee to affect change in mental health. One of the main platform pieces that sets me apart from the others is my piece on harassment discrimination. I hope to start a discussion with regards to sexual assault and that’s particularly effective in the graduate student community recently. The third piece on my platform is regarding the Senate and the BoG government relationship, particularly as it relates to tuition.
that have been taking place on the ad hoc committee for flexible learning and there’s been a lot of progress that has been made ... so I’d like to finish that if possible. 2. I have worked in the AMS as a clubs administrator and that’s part of the reason I have such a strong interest in the enhanced learning records. My job is to oversee all 400 clubs in the AMS and it really gives me a chance to see all the hard work that students put into their extracurricular activities and see how they learn and develop from those. I think that’s one of the things that should really be recognized. 3. The Senate operates on a three-year cycle with its faculty, so this upcoming year will be the final year in the triennium. I think it’s very importto my platform. You have to have someone who’s flexible, someone who knows how to get voices and bring those voices across. 2. To be honest, I have not been involved with the AMS. I think that’s also what sets me apart as well. Coming from a background, where I’ve just been involved as a residence advisor, UBC in exchange, as well as clubs on campus, I think that I bring a different perspective to the role. I think that I bring enough fresh perspective because I’m not very familiar with everything that the AMS does, because I’ve been not as involved with everyone. 3. Trying to have feasible policies. Even just campaigning, it’s really nice to dream, and I think, “I’d like stays positive throughout the year. I also want to introduce the option for students to declare hardship for midterms. 2. I haven’t been directly involved with the AMS before, but I’ve been involved in so many different areas of campus. I think the two areas that I’ve really shined as a leader on campus is Residence Life because I’ve been in residence life for three years now and I’ve grown into the supervisor position. I have a lot of experience working on different teams, working with students and hearing student feedback about academic problems, social problems [and] well-being problems. I also work in the equity inclusion offices here and will probably keep that job next year. So exploring that and how the senate can be more involved in tuition discussions, and in the past, blind eyes have been turned to that. 2. I’ve always been involved in student leadership and this was just the next thing in my journey. Last year, when I ran in the GSS by-election, I just really felt like I could contribute a good, strong student voice to Senate and I think I’ve done that. I have a very diverse view of UBC having been an undergraduate student, been a graduate student, I’ve lived on campus and on residence, I’ve lived off campus, I’ve done the commute that’s 90 minutes plus. So I know the struggles of a diverse group of students around campus and off campus.
ant that Senate finishes off as many of those projects as possible. I think the challenge will be to complete the progress made by so many student senators before and the members of the Vancouver Senate. 4. Obviously, it’s important that students and the caucus have cohesion in everything they do. More than that though, I think that given there are 17 student senators and approximately 70 caucus members, it’s important that students who are working on these projects really connect with faculty and get an understanding of why these projects are important and why these goals are important. At the end of the day, nothing will go through Senate without the faculty’s support. I think that’s where students will need to connect and provide that student perspective to faculty and effectively this to happen,” but actually seeing it through would be an issue. It’s also the end of a triennium. Things are going to turn around once again. Also considering that there are previous student senators, they might not necessarily be returning with fresh new ideas, so we also have to re-consider going along with those ideas, as well as what is and is not feasible. I’m standing up and opposing policies that I think are not feasible. I think not having that AMS background will also prove a problem for me, but it’s a challenge that I’m more than willing to accept. 4. The most important bodies will definitely be the faculty members, most importantly the deans. In order to create a united front for the student body, we definitely need 3. There are a lot of people running this year, which is great because I feel like in past years we haven’t had as great of a turnout for the election – especially in the Senate area. But I’m really happy that people are interested in the role because it’s such a huge role in the student body. I think that’s going to be a challenge setting myself apart, but my platform really shows my passion. 4. I think the VP Administration is a great person for me to connect with — especially on Senate — because there is so much overlap between academic policies, administrative policies, curriculum development and all those sorts of aspects of the Senate. If I am elected, those would be the committees I would be focused on and I think I 3. For one, Senate has yet to address the equity and diversity report that was put out. A couple things that are already on my platform — Senate and BoG relationship as it pertains to tuition — that’s a main point. There’s going to be a new president, so someone’s going to have to deal with that and quickly and hopefully, the president will be in there ready to go for when Senate resumes in September. We are in the final year of the triennium, so this is the time to push initiatives that have already been started and really focus on getting those through because when senate turns over again, we might lose a lot of the momentum that we had. 4. The Senate student caucus is instrumental in coordinating efforts because we all collective-
| Candidate Profiles | 17 engaging with them. 5. I would love to sit on the appeals committee or the appeals of academic standing committee. As I said, I work in advising and I see lots of students come through the academic concessions and academic appeals and I’d love to see that through on a higher level with more intricate policy involved. And as I mentioned before, the ad hoc committee for flexible learning, to work on enhanced learning records that are being developed and finalized. And I’d also like to sit on the curriculum committee if possible and see how programs and degrees are framed and the requirements in them. I think that’s a very good step in ensuring the quality of education that students receive to thoroughly review the courses and their requirements that they have in their degrees. to have tight links among us. It’s important to work together. Everyone has something to bring to the table, and I think that’s very important — working together with each other as a student caucus, with representatives from the faculty who bring a faculty specific perspective. 5. I want the mental health committee because I feel like I can really contribute. I don’t want to be in a committee where I’m not going to be an asset. I am also interested in the student awards committee, because I want to make sure students with mental health issues are given fair treatment in terms of accessibility. Since mental health also comes under the idea of accessible education I would be an asset to this committee. would need to build a really strong relationship with that person. 5. I’m really interested in the academic discipline committee, and basically all the committees surrounding academics, because I do want to go into curriculum development. So anything that has to do with academic policies, or exam schedules and want constitutes exam hardship and what allows students the ability to get out of an exam — I think there are other extenuating circumstances that should be addressed that aren’t currently, such as again, health and well-being should count as something that brings up academic hardship and people should be able to extend their exam times for that reason. In summary, anything that has to do with academic policies. ly have very similar goals. In my experience, liaising with them has been great. Liaising with the AMS academic’s office and the resources that they have to do policy research has been great. The Senate’s secretariat is also a useful research resource for us. Being able to collaborate and talk to all those people really helps us do our job, , and I think whoever is in this position definitely needs to at least know that, but also have good working relationships with those people. 5. I sit on the senate’s academic policy committee, where I am vice-chair of that committee and I sit on the council senate’s budget subcommittee for Vancouver. I am a regular [budget sub-] committee member and the council of Senate.
18 | Candidate Profiles |
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
to translate that experience into the Senate role. 1. Student engagement and maximizing space for student learning. I want to improve student engagement … making it easier for them to look up information on running next year. It would be cool if whatever [Senate] could legally disclose, there could be a monthly report online. There should be a two-way conversation with students so they aren’t just informing them. Students should be able to give feedback.
Samantha So
Samantha So is a fourth-year biology student who has gotten very involved in the last year. So sits on several AMS committees — such as the AMS Legislative Procedures Committee and the Education Committee — and hopes
2. I stumbled into a student life and communications committee meeting and I was appointed as the all-presidents co-chair for the last year. I really liked that and I really wanted to get involved with the AMS. I ran in the Science Undergraduate Society in Totem Park and is a student ambassador, giving potential students and their families tours of campus. Reed plans to make the senate a more transparent body and wants to increase student engagement with and awareness of the senate.
Reed Eaglesham
Reed Eaglesham is a third-year international economics student. He currently works as a residence advisor
Université d’Ottawa
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1. When I’ve said I’m running, people don’t know what it is on top of the fact that people don’t know what they do. So my main thing is to be able to make it as transparent of a body as possible on campus and to make it so that students know what the senate does so they can have their voice heard while I represent them. What sets me apart from the opposition [is that], in all honesty, I’m just someone who’s new to the game. I
University of Ottawa
elections as AMS representative and I won. Over the summer I jumped right in. I sat on seven AMS committees over the summer. I was elected chair of the education committee and vice chair of the legislative procedure committee. I was reappointed to all the committees I was on this fall and the university external relations committee. 3. The whole thing with student engagement. It’s been really nice that they’ve been utilizing social media to talk to students, let students know what is happening in the Senate meeting. Because they are so tightknit it’s really hard for students to understand what’s happening outside those tweets. I’ll use this year’s elections as an example — it’s hard to truly grasp what’s going on even with those tweets. It’s a one-way feedback know there’s people who have been in the AMS for a while and I’m sure they’ll have a wealth of experience with that, but I think having an outside viewpoint is important in a lot of these things and getting kind of fresh people. That’s why we have elections — to be able to get fresh people into it. 2. A lot of my involvement has been outside of the AMS. I’d say ... most of my time with the AMS has been kind of just the crossing of paths just with club things. My main involvements are [that] I’m a residence advisor, I’m a student ambassador ... I am also part of the IEBA — it’s kind of a business and econ team. I also was the videographer for faculty cup. I do
thing, you can’t really asked questions. It’s on Twitter and not everyone has Twitter. It’s a challenge that students around me that aren’t senators don’t know what’s happening and these issues and these decisions affect them. [At the debates] only the incumbents knew everything because they had access to ad hoc minutes and they sat on ad hoc committees. Students who don’t sit on Senate can’t easily access them. I want to make it more accessible because Senate is a body that deals with issues for all students. 4. I believe it is the Student Senate Caucus. Student Senate Caucus must work together to strategically speak and vote to advocate on behalf of students, voice student opinions and work to guide Senate toward decisions that are best for students. To work toward this, honestly have quite an outside perspective. So when it comes to my involvement, [it is] really quite outside the AMS and I decided that it’s about time that I — now that I’ve seen all these other aspects of campus — be able to see what it’s like to be in the decision making area. 3. My goal is to get people to know what senate is ... I think the main thing that I’m going to try starting with is making an infograph or something where it’s accessible and easy to follow and understand the layout of the AMS and what role the senate plays, specifically and from that, trying to find whatever best medium would work for students to have their voices heard. I think those
I intend to attend every Caucus meeting I can attend, as well as the monthly — or, if possible, more frequently than monthly — strategic planning meetings, and most importantly, every senate meeting. In addition, I wish to work toward increased bonding over the summer term for senators who are in town and perhaps a greater level of transition-type interaction between incumbent senators and new senators over the summer term to not only build bonds, but ensure better senator understanding of goals, senate and strategy. 5. I would choose academic building needs, curriculum committee, the academic appeals committee on academic standings — it would be good to have a student voice on that committee. are the main challenges and that’s really what I’m looking forward towards solving 4. I feel like the main people I’m going to be partnering with outside of the senate is going to be a lot of the AMS members — definitely the president as well — because they’re a perfect face for UBC and I think that they have a lot of sway in what students are looking for. 5. In all honesty, I don’t. It’s something that, right now, I’m focused specifically on the main role that I want to play and [if I’m elected], then I’d focus on that. So I think right now I’m just kind of a onetrack mind.
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TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
| Elections | 19
BY Emma Patr idge A number of referendum questions are coming your way on this year’s ballot. The topics range from a fee increase that would double the number of incoming refugee students, to supporting a new Gallery. So how will you vote?
rEFERENDUM W usc
The World University Service of Canada club at UBC facilitates the arrival of refugee students to UBC. At present, our $2.61 student fee funds four new refugee students annually. The referendum question asks for students to vote on doubling the current fee to $5.22, in which case the number of refugee students able to attend would also double. The
bylaw and constitu tion revisions Referendum revisions According to the AMS, revisions are up to be voted on so that their bylaw and constitution will conform with the new Societies Act — the act that governs all the non-profit organizations within BC. Since there are penalties for not complying that go as far as dissolution of the society, the question needs to pass to make small changes to conform.
The referendum revision in bylaws would prevent the holding of referendums that are illegal or leading, and allow council — the governing body of the AMS, made up of
students — to alter said questions. Right now, Student Court is what makes the call as to whether or not referenda are acceptable, but this group has not been filled
U-Pass
The current contract of our U-Pass Agreement expires this April. Right now, students pay $38 per month for the program. If the referendum question is approved, students would see increases on that sum by $1.50 per year. If not approved, UBC students can kiss the U-Pass program goodbye.
Fee Increases The AMS has proposed an increase of the general membership fee to $4.20, meaning the annual fee will go up from $38.44 to $42.64. The change would come into effect next fall. According to the AMS, these fees are raised every few years to keep up with the costs. Ex-
penses at the AMS haven’t slowed down this year or the last. For example, services like Safewalk and the Foodbank saw significant increases in use. To continue growing and meet the increasing needs, the AMS is hoping students will agree to the increase in fees.
increase would mean we could offer more supports for students — such as career support and on-campus housing — in addition to tuition. Students whose attendance is mediated by the student fees are permanent residents. The impetus for raising the fee came from the continuing Syrian refugee crisis due to the ongoing civil and political strife.
properly in many years and has also made several rulings that the council then rejected, prompting the AMS to question whether the body was needed.
Campus culture Our final question on the referendum ballot asks whether students would support implementation of a $1.50 to go towards student perfor-
mances and cultural groups on campus. If this goes through, it would be in place next September but could be refundable upon request.
Health and Dental
The AMS calculates the fee structure based on the Health and Personal Spending component of the British Columbia Consumer Price Index, but this has its problems as both spending and health needs between students and the general population differ widely. The margin is supposed to hover around what we take in from fees and pay out in claims —
that’s around 0.7 per cent right now, or $1.74 per student. According to the AMS, this limits the ability to keep the plan flexible and respond to feedback. Basically, they want to change it to better reflect student needs, so they are asking for the plan to increase by the higher of zero per cent or the consumer price index of the previous year.
Bring back the Galler y The Bring Back The Gallery movement gained momentum over this term — so much so that they got enough signatures on a petition to bring the question of whether to bring back The Gallery to a refer-
endum. Presidential hopeful Ava Nasiri has even endorsed a yes vote. The movement was put on the radar at the beginning of the academic year — a Facebook page and webpage gained attention from stu-
dents over the course of the term as it was learned that students shared a desire to have The Gallery back. If you’re among these students, you have the chance to vote to bring it back!
20 | elections |
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
Referendum questions ts our though
U-Pass - Vote yes Do you support and approve the continuation of the U-Pass BC program at the following prices? $39.50/month: May 2016 – April 2017 $41.00/month: May 2017 – April 2018 If this doesn’t pass, no more U-Pass. It’s that simple.
$4.20 - Undecided
WUSC - VOTE YES Do you support an increase in your AMS fees from $2.61 to $5.22 a year to allow the UBC Branch of the World University Services Canada (WUSC) to enhance supports for refugee students at UBC? This could be problematic from certain ideological standpoints. The points we’ve heard against this referendum mostly stem from the idea that one shouldn’t be forced to give money to charity if they haven’t explicitly agreed to, and the argument that there are other, better charities out there. Practically, though, we think it’s a great idea to double the amount of refugees able to attend UBC for an increase that almost no one is going to notice.
Do you support and approve an increase in the annual AMS Membership Fee of $4.20, from $38.44 to $42.64, effective September 2016? We didn’t come to a consensus. Their justification for the increase boils down to the fact that use of services like SafeWalk and the Foodbank has increased — this is true. What they neglect to mention is that, when it comes to managing money, the AMS has blown it. None of us feel great about the AMS asking students to pay for their mistakes. Depending on your outlook, though, it might be worth it in the short-term to pay $4.20 rather than potentially see services like SafeWalk face cuts. We don’t want to bail out the AMS as much as the next person, but we also don’t want to see students suffer.
Health & dental - vote yes Do you support the following modification to the fee structure of the AMS/ GSS Health & Dental extended health plan? At minimum, the AMS/GSS Extended Health & Dental Plan fee will increase by the higher of:
Referendum changes - vote no Do you support and approve the adoption of the Bylaw revisions outlined in the document ‘AMS Bylaws Referendum Rules Revision’, these revisions to take effect immediately? This is definitely not just housekeeping, though that’s how they’re trying to pass it off. This, in theory, would reform questions that are leading or asking for something illegal. Sounds like a reasonable idea, until you consider that Council —the governing body of the AMS — would be the ones altering the questions. They would get to decide what constitutes a question to be “leading,” and decide the new wording. They would also be unrestricted by any timeline for getting back to the groups, meaning they could just put it off indefinitely, and would not be required to consult with the question askers to collaborate on a new wording, meaning they could just make it up themselves. If a section were added that required a deadline for new wording that could not be overridden by a two-thirds majority, and the original question askers had to be consulted, our vote would definitely be reconsidered.
-0 per cent -increase of the Consumer Price Index of the previous year An increase in excess of this minimum percentage and up to 5 per cent annually may be made if approved by a special resolution of the GSS Council and a two thirds resolution of the AMS Council, provided that a recommendation for such an increase is made by the AMS/GSS Health & Dental Plan Committee. Basically, this allows Council some flexibility in increasing fees (with limitations) in order to keep up with CPI.
artsy fee - vote no
#bringbackthegal - vote no Do you direct the AMS to provide a new, social restaurant lounge in the Nest for students with a social culture reminiscent of the former Gallery Lounge? As much as it hurts to say this, this isn’t the right question to bring back the dingy lounge we know and love. The question, as it stands, doesn’t address where the new Gallery will be built, meaning there is still potential for them to do something dumb with the former Perch space. Also, when people behind Bring Back the Gal are asked to define what the culture of the Gal actually is it tends to be a variation of “it was different for everyone,” or dodged altogether. Students need to be consulted properly before an attempt to build a new Gal should be undertaken.
Do you support the AMS establishing a refundable, graduated Campus Culture and Performance Fee of $1.50 to contribute to student performance and cultural groups on campus? -The fee would be fully refundable upon request. -The fee would be levied annually on all active AMS members beginning in September 2016. -The amount of the fee would increase annually by $0.25 for ten years and then annually in accordance with CPI. -The fee will be administered by the Finance Commission and split equally among UBC Film Society, Blank Vinyl Project, UBC Debate Society, UBC Slam, UBC Jazz Café Club, UBC Player’s Club, and UBC Musical Theatre Troupe, or their successors. We’re always happy to support arts and culture on campus, but this question is needlessly restricted to certain clubs with no oversight as to how they’ll need to spend it. If a new, amazing club popped into existence and wanted to use some of this money, they wouldn’t be able to.
To see the full results go to Ubyssey.ca
Housekeeping - vote yes Do you support and approve the adoption of the Bylaw and Constitutional revisions outlined in the documents AMS Bylaws Housekeeping and Societies Act Revisions and ‘AMS Constitution Societies Act Compliance Revisions’, these revisions to take effect November 28, 2016? It’s just housekeeping to make sure the AMS is in line with Societies Act in BC.
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
...and others Vote YES for the WUSC referendum by Jenna Omassi W ith the refugee crisis remaining in the media, campus communities around Canada have been taking up initiatives to support refugees. The amazing work that students and the university community have been engaged in is amazing and inspiring. But when this media focus shifts, we are going to inevitably shift our support to the latest cause. How are we moving past short-sighted support for millions of refugees not only located in Syria, but throughout the world in an ongoing way? This is the question that WUSC UBC — the World University Services Canada’s UBC Local Committee — has asked and found an answer to. The WUSC Referendum question asks if you would like to double your Student Refugee Fund fee from $2.61 to $5.22, doubling support for refugee students coming to UBC and aiming to double the number of new refugee students from four to eight a year. Think about it. For the price of a cup of coffee or a slice of pizza, you can support eight human beings to come to the amazing country and university we
live and study in. Additionally, the university has committed that if this fee increase passes, their support for residence and careers for these students will also increase. Having worked closely with the Student Refugee Program, students this year and being a member of the WUSC local committee, I can tell you that these students have changed my life in the most important way. I have challenged myself to think about how fortunate I am while recognizing the resilience and strength of the Student Refugee Program students in Canada. We need to go a step further and commit to long-term support for refugees, these amazing individuals who enrich our UBC community so much. I urge you to look into WUSC and to vote YES in the upcoming AMS referendum to double the number of refugee students we bring to UBC. U
| elections | 21
Vote NO on the AMS’s undemocratic referendum question by Anne Kessler The AMS has proposed a significant bylaw change that will severely undermine students’ ability to democratically direct our student union’s actions and they’re passing it off as a housekeeping change: “Do you support and approve the adoption of the bylaw revisions outlined in the document ‘AMS Bylaws: Referendum Revisions,’ these revisions to take effect immediately?” 1. Timelines There is currently a requirement that Student Court return with a new question within a week. This gives sufficient time for a new question to be redrafted, while still ensuring that the question can be put to the ballot relatively quickly. Referendums have trouble getting enough votes to be valid (reach quorum) if they don’t run during the AMS elections and since a group will be submitting them 10-30 days before the election, a week gives the possibility that the (revised) question might still run on time. With no requirement for when a question must be redrafted, Council could put off a question until after the AMS elections, hampering the question’s ability to pass. In theory, there’s nothing in the bylaw that stops AMS Council from basically putting it off indefinitely. 2. Consultation The proposed changes say that, “If the question cannot be so redrafted without
fundamentally changing its meaning, the petition for a referendum shall be rejected and no referendum held for it.” Since it will be Council redrafting the question, not the group who put forward the question, how will Council know what the meaning of the question actually is? How will they evaluate whether a new question “fundamentally changes” the original meaning? Simply put, consultation (or even consent) of the group who put forward the question should be required. This would still enable Council to ensure the question is not leading or illegal, but would also ensure the meaning is maintained. 3. Power of council to redraft Finally, a significant concern is how much power this puts in Council’s hands to change referendum questions. Council would be the group that decides whether or not it’s illegal or leading, as well as the group who redrafts it. While I understand that Student Court is not functional in its current capacities, why are we making this change now when the AMS is going through a significant governance review in the next year, which may well make even larger changes to how referendum questions and Student Court works? Consultation with the group putting forward the question would alleviate some of this concentration of power within the AMS. U To see the full article go to Ubyssey.ca
Jenna Omassi is a member of the UBC WUSC Local Committee, AMS VP Academic and University Affairs, and a presidential candidate in the 2016 AMS elections.
Vote YES on responsible governance by Benjamin Israel Last Words: AMS elections staff have been friendly and useless by ubyssey staff T he elections staff this year are lovely — they’re warm, welcoming, friendly and eager to help. They’re also, for the most part, categorically useless at their jobs. First of all, the all-candidates’ meeting didn’t actually announce all the candidates. The reason we were given was that there was no transition report given to the AMS elections staff, but anyone who has the slightest knowledge of the workings of the society knows that there would be no reason to be at that meeting other than that announcement. In short, it was a waste of time for everyone in attendance who wasn’t a candidate. Secondly, on February 18, we received the most desperate email we’ve ever seen, begging for help with writing debate questions because — in the words of the staffer — they were in “dire need” of someone with the slightest clue of what the AMS is. The debate was on February 23. The fact that this person was so
worried, five days before the debate, that they would have no questions for it suggests a serious lack of preparation, planning and training given to elections staff. The staff have also publicly announced that debate moderators were arranged last minute — literally the night before the debate itself. In debates that have the potential to shape voter opinion, it’s simply unacceptable to hire a moderator who has almost no time to prepare their questions. That said, we believe that the moderators did a wonderful job even when one doesn’t consider the fact that they were recruited the previous night, so kudos to them. Again, the elections staff is made up of wonderful people who have been nothing but pleasant to us and everyone involved in this process. But it is hard to understand why whomever was responsible for the elections staff ’s hiring and training did not do their job in a way which would allow elections to run in a professional manner. U
There were three criticisms raised by Anne Kessler. The first is the idea of consultation while rewriting an improper question. I believe this is a very important issue, which is why I had Council direct the LPC (Legislative Procedure Committee) to draft Code changes that will require seeking consultation with a submitter before rewording their question. The second is the deadline for redrafting improper questions. This too belongs in Code, as Council unanimously agreed. It is not possible to predict exactly how long it will take for a question to be redrafted. Depending on the complexity of the issue, we may need to seek legal opinions and consult with HR, as well as with various student stakeholder groups. This is why I also had Council direct the LPC to draft changes establishing a timeline for question revision, to ensure transparency and accountability within the AMS. Since, depending on the complexity of the question and its flaws, the amount of time required to redraft a question can vary, a one-size-fits-all approach will not work here. Instead of imposing a fixed deadline of the longest amount of time we could possibly spend on redrafting a question, by putting the timeline in Code, we can plan for the average case. In emergency circumstances, Council
would be able to override the deadline if two thirds of Councillors agree. This will ensure that redrafts will be done as quickly as possible, while also allowing for student consultation where appropriate. Most importantly, whenever possible, a question’s rewording will be done in time for it to be run with the Executive Election, without which most referenda fail for lack of quorum. Finally, Anne is concerned with this task falling upon the AMS Council. I strongly disagree with this criticism. These revisions will move the responsibility for rewording a question from the Student Court, whose positions are appointed and not elected, to the AMS’s Student Board of Directors, which has elected proportional representation from students of all faculties and programs. Students are elected to Council to represent their constituencies in the governance of the AMS. Students should have confidence in their representatives, or they should petition for their removal. What students should not do is tie the hands of their own Society, potentially forcing them to run a discriminatory or terribly biased referendum question and harming all students’ wallets due to an inflexible time limit. U To see the full article go to Ubyssey.ca
22 | ELECTIONS |
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
Ghosts of AMS PRESIDENTS PAST Canada’s first female prime minister 1967-1968 For Kim Campbell, getting involved with student politics at UBC was somewhat of a fluke. Having been student council president at her high school — the first female to hold the position — she was invited to a retreat put on by the AMS. While there, the actions of a fellow student encouraged her to run for freshman president. “There was a fellow who kept on announcing that he was going to be frosh president [and] being really obnoxious about it. I thought,
‘No, you’re not.’ So that’s why I ran,” said Campbell. That ambition is in part what led her to become Canada’s first — and so far only — female prime minister. Campbell became involved in politics while still in law school, being elected as a trustee of the Vancouver Public School Board in 1980. After representing Vancouver Point-Grey as a member of the legislative assembly of British Columbia from 1986-88, she was
then elected as the member of parliament for Vancouver Centre in 1988. While serving as a MP, Campbell held numerous cabinet positions, including the post of minister of justice and attorney-general where she oversaw crucial legislation amendments in gun control and sexual assault laws. In 1993, Campbell served as prime minister of Canada and implemented radical changes to the structure of the federal cabinet. Campbell sees her legacy as a prime minis-
kim campbe ll
ter though as promoting the equality of women. “We judge who gets to do what job by the people we see doing that job … so if we never see a woman doing something, we don’t imagine that a woman can do that job,” said Campbell. “It takes time to change the landscape, but it’s really the only way you get to change the culture.” Campaign Advice: While running for freshman class president, Kim’s campaign slogan was “Kim is cuddlier.” How catchy. U
COURTESY UBC ARCHIVE
Campaign Advice: While running for freshman class president, Kim’s campaign slogan was “Kim is cuddlier.” How catchy.
we were savage 1995-1996
Janice Boyle COURTESY UBC ARCHIVE
Janice Boyle was busy during her time in the AMS. In her various roles as science representative, vice-president and president, she strengthened their student services by providing year-round payment for students who were previously employed as volunteers, created the first AMS student health plan and helped negotiate a sponsorship deal with Coca-Cola that garnered the university $8.5 million in funding over 10 years. But the biggest issue that Boyle had to navigate was the tension between
the AMS and The Ubyssey, which published numerous scathing articles about the AMS despite being owned by them. These tensions peaked with The Ufeces, a Ubyssey spoof issue that relentlessly mocked Boyle — who was VP at the time — as well as the rest of the AMS. The paper was eventually shut down for a year due to both sides’ unwillingness to cooperate. “It was tiresome,” she said. “I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it, but it was a good experience in terms of getting a bit of a tougher skin.” Beyond what was learned
from this, Boyle learned a lot from her time at the AMS. “It really gave an opportunity to get a lot of experience it would take you sometimes decades to get in a working life at a young age,” she said. “I got more out of my education in my experience with the student union than almost any other aspect of university.” After leaving UBC, Boyle made a career out of raising money for various charities. She worked for Covenant House for 14 years where she helped raise over $80 million to support homeless youth. She now works
for Multiple Sclerosis Canada where she oversees the fundraising and service staff of the organization’s western branch and gets “to continue to hone all the skills” that she learned at the AMS. Alternative Education: Boyle was initially a physics major, but after three years of working with the AMS, she decided to drop out of UBC. “[I] had no desire to finish after that because, at that stage, I knew I wasn’t going to continue on with physics as my career.” In case you weren’t already thinking of dropping out. U
Alternative Education: Boyle was a physics major but after three years of working with the AMS, she decided to drop out of UBC.
the frosh man 2001-2002 These days, Erfan Kazemi is a chartered accountant who has helped raise over $300 million in financing at Sandstorm Gold Ltd., a commodity finance company that provides funds to mining companies in exchange for the right to purchase a share of the resources extracted. As a UBC student 15 years ago, however, he initially found his footing at the AMS — first as VP Academic and then as president. Together with his student co-workers, Kazemi helped create one of the AMS’s most beloved events — Frosh Week.
“We didn’t feel there was an entire event that kind of got you integrated into the school,” he said. “It’s easy to go from class, not really interact with your classmates and make those connections and friendships. [Organizing Frosh] was something that, at the time, we thought was important.” Other things Kazemi and his team worked on include supporting campus services with adequate resources, ensuring that the AMS health plan would remain in place and lobbying the provincial government to ensure tuition
would not be raised following the end of a province-wide tuition freeze. “We stated very clearly that we thought that the provincial government at the time should still continue to have a regulatory role in tuition.” Following graduation, Kazemi found his way into the world of business. For six years, he worked at the prestigious accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he eventually became a senior manager. At Sandstorm, Kazemi works as the company’s chief financial officer, a role
which consists of tasks such as structuring transactions and sitting down with investors to discuss their plans. “It’s a pretty interesting role and I’m working with some very young people who are very intelligent and bright, and they also went to UBC.” Not-So-Tragic Ending: In 2002, The Ubyssey ran an article that said that Kazemi had been killed in a rap-related gang-war. “I remember getting calls and people reaching out to me worried that it was a real article.” U
Erfan kazemi
COURTESY UBC ARCHIVE
Not-So-Tragic Ending: In 2002, The Ubyssey ran an article that said that Kazemi had been killed in a rap-related gang-war.
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
| ELECTIONS | 23
woRDS BY samantha mccabe, joshua azizi and sophie sutcliffe With the results of this year’s AMS Elections fast approaching, The Ubyssey takes a look back through the years at some of the most interesting former executives. Whether they’re promoting women’s rights as Prime Minister, filing complaints with the United Nations or sighing loudly at our staff members of the past, they’ve had some colourful terms and exciting careers. Aaron Bailey’s legacy of course will remain the Hotline Bling box, because what’s more important than Drake?
brought in the upass 2002-2003
kirsten harvey SCREENSHOT VIA UBC.CA
As both VP External and then president of the AMS, Kristen Harvey devoted herself to the the development and eventual approval of the first student U-Pass, which the AMS had been negotiating for with UBC and TransLink for many years without any success. Thanks to the accessibility of a newly-implemented online voting system, the U-Pass was finally approved in February 2003 with a record-breaking voter turnout. That same referendum also approved the creation of the Sexual Assault Support Centre, which Harvey also
worked towards the creation of. Although she is proud of her successes, Harvey credits a lot of her achievements to her team members in the AMS as well as her predecessors. “Nobody comes in for a one-year term of office and is able to just do everything as a solo or an individual effort,” she said. “We were able to inherit some great work from previous executives and, as a result, finish them.” Harvey was also the first aboriginal president of the AMS and her work after
graduation has focused mainly on providing education to First Nations communities. After a short stint with the Vancouver Olympic Committee, Harvey worked for the First Educations Steering Committee, an organization dedicated to improving the education of First Nations in BC. In 2013 she returned to UBC as the associate director of strategic aboriginal enrolment initiatives where she works to identify and address various barriers to aboriginal enrolment at the university. “My message to people who are supporting students
at UBC is to consider the ways that we can do our work that makes UBC especially welcoming for aboriginal students, whether it’s in curriculum, services or initiatives,” she said. “I’m proud to be who I am and if it can be an example, then I’m happy to share my story.” Fashion Advice: Harvey’s twitter contains gems like this one from 2013 — “Today I wore a yellow rain jacket, black pants and black boots, and I just realized I looked like I was enforcing parking regulations.” U
Harvey’s twitter contains gems like this one from 2013 — “Today I wore a yellow rain jacket, black pants and black boots, and I just realized I looked like I was enforcing parking regulations. blake fred erick
UN shenanigans 2009-2010 In 2009, the AMS filed a complaint with the United Nations to address high tuition fees, claiming that they violated the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights — an international accord stating that higher education must be accessible to all. This complaint ended up making major news and was dubbed “UN-gate.” While the AMS executive signed off on pursuing the legal battle, the stunt was largely run by Blake
Frederick, a staunch supporter of tuition reform and the AMS president at the time. “My main campaign issue was that the cost of education is so prohibitively high that many students who deserve UBC do not get to attend,” said Frederick. “We decided [we needed to] get some more outside pressure on this issue. One of the ideas that was raised in our executive council meeting was [to file] a UN complaint as a media stunt.”
Frederick had been a supporter of tuition reform since initially getting involved in the AMS while working as a researcher for the VP Academic in his third year. The next year, Frederick was both a student representative on the Senate and an associate VP External. While much of Frederick’s time in university was defined by student politics, Frederick’s life took a very different path after graduation. “After I graduated, I went
to work with the NDP for a bit, [but] I was never really a party person … that only lasted about half a year,” said Frederick. Since earning his second degree in 2013, Frederick has been working as a web developer. Stomach grumbling: Frederick and fellow members of the executive went on a hunger strike shortly after being elected into office in an attempt to shame the government into acting on homelessness. U
the first hipster 2011-2012
jeremy mcelroy FILE PHOTO GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY
Jeremy McElroy saw a presidential term coloured by mild disagreements and a campaign against the original “war on fun.” Before and during his presidential term, new RCMP leadership and newly located private residences on campus took issue with the school’s beer gardens, which used to be a regular feature at UBC. Liquor licenses began to be increasingly denied to student events. “During my time — from my first year until when I left — that was effectively when beer gardens died at UBC,” said McElroy. “That casu-
al event atmosphere disappeared.” In the midst of this, a group of students involved in the various undergraduate societies, including McElroy, banded together to lobby against such measures. They were light-hearted, but certainly took a serious approach. They coined the term “war on fun” to represent the fact that “the university was condoning the quelling of student organization on campus, of leadership opportunities [and] of creating a social and inclusive environment on campus.” The events stopped happening anyway, but McElroy
FILE PHOTO MICHAEL THIBAULT/THE UBYSSEY
still feels that the relative success of the campaign was very valuable to student life as it showed future students that lobbying for social opportunities on campus is possible and important. In his career today, McElroy has continued down the path of non-profit management — he is currently the general manager at the Kwantlen Student Association, overseeing over 20,000 students. His experience with the AMS certainly prepared him for this line of work. “In fact, I was hired almost explicitly because of
my experience at UBC,” said McElroy. McElroy immensely enjoyed his time with the AMS, even when under stress. He described conflicts within the diverse student government as constant — a trend that hasn’t changed. “The Ubyssey being there, always knowing everything that was going on, was both a blessing and a curse,” he said, laughing. AMS Best Beard: “If I could be known as the president with the facial hair, then I will die a happy man,” said McElroy in a 2012 interview. U
AMS Best Beard: “If I could be known as the president with the facial hair, then I will die a happy man,” said McElroy.
24 | games+comic |
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2016
COURTESY BESTCROSSWORDS.COM COURTESY KRAZYDAD.COM
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Now Go VOte. amsvoting.as.it.ubc.ca
ACROSS 1- Collective word for intellectual pursuits; 5- Santa Fe Trail town; 9- Rum cakes; 14- Lacking play; 15- Even ___ speak...; 16- Glass marble; 17- Treater’s words; 18- Guitarist Atkins; 19- Sheer fabric; 20- Error; 22- Tonsil’s neighbor; 24- Chip dip; 26- Thor Heyerdahl craft; 27- On the beach; 30- Pants; 35- Note taker; 36- Yellow spread; 37- Bluey-green color; 38- PBS supporter; 39- Remarkable; 42- Falsehood; 43- Drops the ball; 45- Columbus’ ship; 46- Actress Witherspoon; 48- Change the course of; 50- Turkey’s highest peak; 51- ___ Na Na; 52- Thespian; 54- Lodginghouses; 58- Hardpressed; 62- Building addition; 63- Actor Neeson; 65- Anatomical passage; 66- Wombs; 67- Largest continent; 68- ___ a soul; 69- Silt deposit; 70- Jazz flutist Herbie; 71- Pontiac muscle cars;
DOWN 1- Mighty mite; 2- Hindu princess; 3- Rolaids rival; 4- Felt hat; 5- Equipment for fishing; 6- Barbecue leftovers?; 7- Be in the red; 8- ___ precedent; 9- Flat-bottomed rowboat; 10- Torn by inner conflict; 11- Scott of “Charles in Charge”; 12- King of the Huns; 13- Tournament favorite; 21- Composer Copland; 23- Salivate; 25- Capital of Georgia; 27- “Lou Grant” star; 28- One cubic meter; 29- Listened; 31- Country singer McEntire; 32- Conger catcher; 33- Mrs. Gorbachev; 34- Frozen rain; 36- Ear-related; 40- Actor Ryan; 41- Diamond flaw?; 44- Teachers in habits; 47- Ear ornament; 49- Rupture of a blood vessel; 50- Cossack chief; 53- Series of metal rings; 54- Drag; 55- Not tricked by; 56- Dagger; 57- Close with force; 59- Let’s just leave ___ that; 60- Eliel Saarinen’s son; 61- Prohibitionists; 64- This ___ test;
FEB 23 ANSWERS