March 02, 2020

MARCH 2, 2020 | VOLUME CI | ISSUE XXII NO GREEN PANTS ALLOWED SINCE 1918

U THE UBYSSEY

ELECTIONS 2020

2 table of contents

the ubyssey MARCH 2, 2020

VOLUME CI

ISSUE XXII

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TC

able of ontents 3

from the editors

4

president

5

vp admin

6

vp external

7

vp finance - vp academic

8

board of governors

11

senate

14

student legal fund society

15

referenda

16

lights, camera, campus

19

why you should vote

20

who should you vote for?

24

bingo

from the editors 3

writers charlotte alden, henry anderson, maneevak bajaj, marissa birnie, kyle delgatty, andrew ha, kevin jiang, emma livingstone, bailey martens, chimedum ohaegbu, sonia pathak, ethen sun, thea udwadia, myla white, sarah zhao photographers elizabeth wang, sophie galloway, zubair hirji, diego lozano, salomon micko benrimoh illustrators alex vanderput, eisha sharda, irene zhang designer lua presidio

FROM THE EDITORS For this year’s AMS Elections issue, we hope to introduce you to the 25 students running to represent you on various decision-making bodies — from the AMS to the Senate, Student Legal Fund Society and Board of Governors.

Throughout the last week, we’ve covered every debate and development. We’ve sat down with each candidate and parsed out their platform points to understand if the goals they’re promising are actually attainable or a far-flung fantasy.

The reason we do this, other than that we’re being paid to, is for you: the voters.

Even if you don’t know who these candidates are, there’s most likely at least one student issue they’re advocating for that you care about, whether that’s ensuring the university makes good on its promises to act on the climate emergency or a faster reimbursement system for your club’s expenses.

We hope you take the time to read through the profiles and explainers. Some of these candidates will become your elected representatives with the mandate to advocate for your interests. You deserve to make an informed decision, so enjoy our coverage — consider it research — and, of course, don’t forget to vote from March 2 to 6.

Henry Anderson

Emma Livingstone the news editors

4 candidate profiles

CANDIDATE PROFILES

PRESIDENT

COLE EVANS

IAN STONE

HARRESH THAYAKAANTHAN

ole Evans is vying for the AMS presidential role on CThe a platform of student advocacy and support. third-year political science student and cur-

an Stone is hoping to bring his experience working Ipresident. with students “on the ground” to the role of AMS

arresh Thayakaanthan is centring his camH paign for AMS president on a platform of affordability, social justice and student support.

rent AMS VP Administration has encompassed a wide range of topics into his platform from mental health to housing affordability and climate justice.

In an interview with The Ubyssey, Evans said the top priorities would be pushing the university to prioritize affordable student housing and density planning, supporting marginalized communities by implementing the AMS Equity Plan and advocating for increased funding in UBC mental health services.

“UBC can commit a ton more funding to mental health on campus so we need to make sure that we are pushing the VP students portfolio to invest millions more into Integrated Health Services,” he said.

“Not just to support those students who have acute and chronic mental health issues but also being proactive about it and making sure that students feel, that when they’re on campus, they feel safe and that they know where to go.”

Ensuring the AMS Equity Plan is properly implemented across the society is one of Evans’s top priorities under his plan of equity, diversity and inclusion.

Additionally, he wants to create campaigns that encourage students from marginalized communities to get involved in the AMS. “Just really reinforcing the message that: ‘Yes, you do have a right to be at the table. You do have a right to pursue this and … we’re here to support you through that pursuit to bring more voices to the table.’”

He’s also advocating for “bold climate action goals,” including making the AMS carbon neutral. Evans said it’s a lofty but attainable goal that will require the entire AMS to be on board.

“I think that that’s going to be a full team effort on the AMS side to really make that happen and to really make us a leader in sustainability.”

Evans also said he wants to focus on making himself more accessible to students, as well as the rest of the executive team, than his predecessor was.

“I really do believe … it’s really important to support [the executive] and show your support and not look at it from a top-down perspective, but look at it as a collective and in a ‘we’ sense.”

During both debates, he focused on articulating concrete steps outlined in his platform while being sure to point out the missteps of Ian Stone, a competitor with AMS experience.

While Stone pointed out that Evans had not carried out some of the promises he made in his run for VP administration, such as revamping the bookings system, Evans responded that the slow process was to ensure they “get it right the first time.”

Overall Evans says his drive to run for president — as well as a senator-at-large seat — comes from a passion for helping students.

“I’ve always been accountable to students. I’ve always been clear with students to earn their trust and their support. To make sure that in the work I’m doing is justified and the work that I’m doing is supported.” U

The seventh-year political science student and current AMS student services manager hopes to transfer his experience managing the AMS Services and engaging with students to the presidential position.

Stone outlined three main projects for his platform: enhancing career development, bringing a cannabis dispensary to campus to help fund services and tackling housing affordability by developing a new service and exploring the idea of the AMS developing its own affordable off-campus housing.

Stone admits that these are all ambitious goals that most likely will not be fully completed by the end of his term. But he hopes to set the groundwork and help the AMS be more “proactive” in their work on student issues.

“I really want to be able to start that footstep, to be the person that gets started so that my [successors]can continue with it as well,” said Stone.

“But ultimately if we want to stay relevant, we need to start thinking towards the future and what future students might want, but also while serving students now.”

Stone said that while his predecessor had a “mind for policy,” he wants to dedicate the role to more proactive engagement with students, citing the consistent 20 per cent voter turnout in AMS elections as a reason why engagement is necessary.

“The president can go out there and really get better feedback from students. To actively make the opportunity to speak to a diverse group of people, not just the people that come to us,” he said.

“The policy is important. I’m not an expert on policy by any means, but I’m definitely interested in kind of figuring out how we can get on the ground, how we can help the individual students having a hard time.”

During the debates, Stone was often put on defense by competitor and current AMS VP Administration Cole Evans who called him out for not including plans for equity, Indigenous engagement, support for survivors of sexual violence and climate action in his initial platform, and then again for changing it to include those topics.

Stone defended his decision, saying it was the mark of a good leader to incorporate feedback.

“I listened and I changed my mind. I think it’s a good leader to be able to take responsibility and to be humble enough to listen and say, ‘Hey, I messed up. I will change,’” Stone said at the Great Debate.

Stone was also quick to acknowledge the fact that only male candidates were running for president this year and said he’d work to meet with more diverse groups “where they are.” He has also promised that if elected, his first act would be to go on a listening tour.

“I just want to hear from students and I will proactively go to where students are to figure out how next year or the year after, we’re not just having a bunch of dudes running for all these positions and we’re actually having a diverse group of students because they’ll ultimately make the AMS better.” U

The third-year science student and current president of the Residence Hall Association (RHA) said his top priorities were promoting a democratic student union, mental health and sexual violence support as well as the multi-faceted issue of affordability.

“Affordability plays a major role in multiple aspects of an individual’s life that affects their access to food, which leads to food insecurity, [it] affects mental health and the whole way they engage in the community,” Thayakaanthan said.

Citing rising costs of textbooks, he said he would advocate for the expansion of open educational resources — a topic that has traditionally been spearheaded by the VP Academic and University Affairs.

Outside affordability, Thayakaanthan also wants to focus on student engagement and support. He outlined hosting monthly town halls on different topics of concern for students and engaging more with clubs.

“Clubs are one of the best resources that the AMS has and it’s not being optimized to its full potential,” he said, explaining that engaging with clubs could help the AMS better understand student needs and how the AMS can support them.”

In answering a question on which committees he’d consult with to achieve his goals, Thayakaanthan said it was important to work with executives, but did not mention the Executive Committee by name.

He further articulated the importance of engaging with social justice groups on campus — citing the Social Justice Centre, UBCC350 and Climate Hub — and said it was important to make sure they were connected on student advocacy topics.

“It’s important to be on the same page with these organizations and … ensure that we’re working together to achieve that because when we work together we can achieve more.”

He also mentioned making the AMS more open to newcomers and introduced an idea of creating “an anonymous video submission” that would allow students at large to submit statements to Council if they did not want to come in to present in person.

In the debates, however, Thayakaanthan struggled to articulate his points in comparison to his competitors, Ian Stone and Cole Evans, both of whom have prior AMS experience.

Thayakaanthan cited the AMS Annual General Meeting as something he’d like to improve next year and ensure higher turnout.

“Just because we only met quorum once, doesn’t mean it can’t happen again,” he said.

“I think the AMS needs to drive to engage students, to help students understand and I think blaming students for not caring about the AMS is not the way to go.” U

candidate profiles 5

CANDIDATE PROFILES

VP ADMIN

AIDAN WILSON

SYLVESTER (SLY) MENSAH JR

ourth-year political science and history major AidF an Wilson is promising a fund for new clubs and more greenery around the Nest in his bid to make the

hird-year international economics student Sylvester (Sly) T Mensah Jr wants to bring his diverse experiences to the VP administration portfolio and improve relationships with

AMS more accessible as VP administration.

“I find the organization tends to be a little insular and you don’t always get the views of just normal students reflected,” he said. “And so I wanted to represent that as somebody who’s been pretty active in student life for the last four years.”

In a race with only two candidates, Wilson said his experience as a club executive and in student government sets him apart from his opponent Sylvester Mensah Jr. Wilson is the current president of the UBC Debate Society, vice-chair of the AMS Operations Committee and lead liaison for the Campus Culture and Performance fund. Wilson’s knowledge of the AMS from an operational standpoint gave him an edge in debates.

After seeing how prop plants “spiced up” the Nest during a show’s filming last year, one of Wilson’s platform goals is to use money from the Capital Projects Fund to add more plants around the Nest — improving student well-being and building aesthetics.

“This place is a bit of a concrete jungle,” he said.

On sustainability, Wilson discussed a possible case competition for students as well as having his associate VPs of sustainability hold office hours.

Wilson also wants to centre marginalized groups who “tend to be worse affected by the effects of climate change” by reaching out to clubs and resource groups representing these communities. But it is unclear how this would impact Nest operations.

With AMS policies I-17 on sexual assault and I-18 on a respectful workplace passed last semester, Wilson said he would hold mandatory workshops on trauma-informed approaches to disclosures.

His platform emphasizes clubs and Wilson said he wants to address ongoing complaints by moving room bookings online and allow clubs to track applications with the replacement system for the recently defunct Clubhouse.

He wants to improve transparency to clubs by hosting open Operations Committee meetings at set times and publishing committee decisions online, although meeting minutes are currently posted on the AMS website.

One of Wilson’s goals is the establishment of a fund that would give new clubs $200 to $500 in seed money.

Despite recognizing the importance of having opportunities for new clubs to join the AMS, the candidate raised the possibility of merging existing clubs if resources are scarce — for example, strain from increased demand for room bookings with an improved system, or limits on the administration portfolio’sability to oversee clubs. He dismissed the idea of “culling clubs” as unfair, however.

“This is not as sexy, but there is an issue with the number of clubs we have,” he said.

“We need to find an equitable solution for everybody, [one] that we’re not pushing anybody out to pasture.” U

undergrad societies and clubs.

The candidate is in a two-way race with Aidan Wilson. Over his years at UBC, Mensah said he has grown from his time at the Vancouver School of Economics Undergraduate Society, UBC Recreation and AMS Events. Emphasizing his events experience, his platform wants to “empower” students and make every week feel like AMS Firstweek.

“Coming into this role, I want every single week to feel like the first two weeks of school with regards to the amount of engagement, the amount of creativity and the amount of things available for students to do and interact with.”

Mensah said he has the “disposition” of an ideal VP administration: someone able to “relate to people easily [and] fluently.”

“I feel as though there wasn’t any better time for me to run,” he said.

When asked about AMS Policy I-17, the society’s standalone sexual assault policy which passed in fall 2019, Mensah said he was “not that familiar with it.” His lack of policy knowledge was noticeable during debates.

In discussing his plans for club resources in his interview with The Ubyssey, Mensah acknowledged that “most clubs are very stagnant” due to a lack of institutional knowledge with typically annual club executive changes.

Mensah said he’d host workshops for club execs on how to better market their events. This, he explained, would benefit small clubs with fewer resources than larger clubs, but it is unclear how this would address yearly executive turnover.

Mensah said he would host mandatory workshops for club execs when the replacement to Clubhouse, the central software where clubs could book rooms, is functional. Annual workshops would follow.

Part of his plan to empower students is to “enforce a feedback channel” between undergraduate societies and their constituencies, although he didn’t describe what the channel would look like.

He touched on sustainability, saying that his policies would expand beyond environmental sustainability to “human, economic and social sustainability” but did not elaborate on particular policy proposals.

When asked what he thought of current VP Administration Cole Evans’s performance, Mensah gave a generic answer approving of Evans’s “changing [of] policies” but was unable to say anything Evans could improve on.

With Evans’s admin staff currently negotiating a memorandum of understanding with the Interfraternity Council after its club status was revoked, Mensah’s fraternity membership raises concerns of whether he could remain nonpartisan in talks between the groups. He reassured voters it wouldn’t affect his stance when Wilson questioned his loyalties in debate.

Still, Mensah is confident in his goals.

“I do genuinely believe I can accomplish everything I’m setting out to do,” he said. “But there isn’t any particular issue that keeps me up at night with regards to this role.” U Sylvester Mensah Jr previously served on the The Ubyssey’s Board of Directors, but resigned shortly before the campaigning period began. The Board of Directors does not influence the decisions of the editorial board.

6 candidate profiles

CANDIDATE PROFILES

VP EXTERNAL

ANDY WU

KALITH NANAYAKKARA

REMZI FUENTES

ndy Wu, a fourth-year arts student, is running A for AMS VP external with plans to “take the AMS towards another direction.”

hird-year arts student Kalith Nanayakkara is T running for AMS VP external on a platform that prioritizes student affordability.

fter a fiery speech at the Great Debate on Friday A night, it is unclear whether graduate student Remzi Xhemalce Fuentes is still running for the VP

This direction is one that is less focused on services, but rather adopts “a more politically activist stance” when it comes to external advocacy.

“I have a vision,” said Wu, who has served on three AMS committees and as an arts councillor for the past two years. “... And I’m coming in with a plan.”

Wu’s platform includes eight major policy points revolving around affordability, the climate crisis, mental health services, housing security, transit, and Indigenous and international student advocacy.

According to Wu, he would advocate for these issues by increasing AMS presence on the provincial stage and registering the AMS as a third-party political advertising group at Elections BC and commit up to $100,000 to “issues-based, non-partisan political advertising.” But the AMS is already registered as an advertising group with Elections BC as of early February.

When asked by The Ubyssey, Wu admitted this was news to him.

While he admits that several of his goals are ambitious, he is confident that he can leverage the 2021 provincial election to push for further engagement with the current government on key issues like climate action, affordability and transit.

One of the biggest challenges Wu anticipates in implementing his platform promises is related to the expansion of AMS and Graduate Student Society mental health coverage through securing additional provincial government funding. His plan is to advocate for the federal government to institute national universal pharmacare — as was promised during the 2019 elections — which would offset the cost of increased mental health coverage.

Wu admitted that this would be challenging because AMS healthcare technically falls under the VP finance portfolio. His plan is thus contingent on internal coordination between AMS executives.

For his transit goals, Wu has pledged to continue existing lobbying efforts to secure the Skytrain to UBC. In the VP external candidate debate on February 25, Wu stated that if elected to the position, he would work to make ridesharing and bus services more efficient, consulting students throughout.

Wu added that he intends on expanding the AMS’s current stance on climate action by establishing an external policy for AMS climate advocacy.

This policy would clarify the AMS stance on climate issues — such as on massive energy projects and pipeline disputes — which he believes has not been made clear in previous years. “[This policy] would also hold the next VP externals accountable to that policy,” he said. “So that we have consistent climate advocacy for many years to come.”

Of all his goals, Wu admits that his loftiest one relates to affordability and tuition. Wu’s platform advocates for full tuition elimination for postsecondary education in BC. “I think there are ways that we can take the first step to getting there,” he said. “Not necessarily within one year, but over the course of many years.”

His platform thus proposes advocating for tuition elimination for all students who lie below the low-income cutoff in BC, as a first step to achieving tuition elimination.

“And then we will see where we go from there.” U

While his platform is most comprehensive on the issue of student tuition and living costs, Nanayakkara also has plans to advocate for climate action, Indigenous and international student support as well as student wellness.

Nanayakkara is founder and president of The Plug UBC, an event planning and promotion organization with slightly under 4,000 followers on Instagram, and has previously completed a term of work placement in the provincial government. He believes his leadership experience makes him wellequipped to lead the VP external portfolio. “[Working for the provincial government] nurtured an interest in politics for me and in representing people and fighting for change,” he said.

In his platform, Nanayakkara promises to advocate for student affordability by pushing for the elimination of federal loan interest rates, which he admits is his loftiest goal. On the provincial level, he wants to lobby the BC government to lower the moderate standard of living costs, given that it is not adjusted for intercity differences.

“The reason I prioritize affordability as so important is because removing financial stress from UBC students is important in order to build other aspects of their university life,” he said.

Nanayakkara also wants to fight to lower student living costs by advocating for increased access to open educational resources and continuing support for the Rent With Rights campaign. The campaign died two years ago, according to AMS President Chris Hakim at the Great Debate on February 28.

Another advocacy goal central to Nanayakkara’s campaign for affordability is to lobby for tuition caps for international student fees, which have steadily risen over the past few years.

Beyond affordability, Nanayakkara cited transit goals as a key portion of his platform. Like other candidates, he stated that he would continue the previous VP external’s work to lobby for the Skytrain to UBC and secure funding for it. He also mentioned the short-term goal to make buses and ridesharing services more efficient, although he is currently unsure what this advocacy would entail.

“As someone that’s not the VP external office right now, I don’t have access to this type of data or the right people to speak to,” he said. “So a priority for me is to look into how effective the current transit model is and see if we can improve that.”

Nanayakkara also mentioned that if elected to the position, one of his goals would be to lobby the government to increase awareness about Indigenous matters for incoming students.

“I want to advocate the federal government or provincial government to look into educating the incoming populations on this campus about the problems that Indigenous peoples face,” he said.

While he describes himself as nonpartisan, Nanayakkara is committed to fulfilling certain climate goals if elected to the VP external portfolio. He said that he would lobby the provincial government to meet the targets of their climate action campaign CleanBC. “I was very careful when putting my platform together to ensure that these are platform points that my audience will trust,” Nanayakkara said.

“And I feel like this is achievable during the one year term that I have.” U

external portfolio.

Fuentes walked off the stage within the first five minutes of the debate, after declaring that the Graduate Student Society (GSS) had unfairly questioned his candidacy in the previous debate. This speech — which was in response to a question about sexual misconduct prevention — has left people questioning whether or not he still intends to run.

Fuentes has not responded to requests for confirmation on the status of his candidacy from The Ubyssey.

Pending his confirmation, Fuentes is running for VP external of the AMS and the GSS and envisions using the two roles simultaneously to perform advocacy.

At the VP external debate on February 25, there was discussion over whether running for both AMS and GSS VP external positions would violate AMS code Section 2, Article 1: Conflict of Interest, a point raised by GSS President Nicolas Romualdi.

Fuentes’s platform for the AMS position is most heavily weighted on the issue of affordability. And while he has ambitious goals on this issue, the rest of his platform has varying degrees of planning involved.

One of Fuentes’s primary goals is to advocate for free post-secondary tuition in BC. He plans on doing this by “changing mindsets” at the government and individual level on the privatization of education.

“We need to show [the federal government] the clear data and the clear statements on why education is important,” he said.

In addition to free tuition, Fuentes hopes to continue the VP external office’s previous work lobbying the federal government for lower interest rates on student loans and loan forgiveness.

At the provincial level, he plans on advocating for student housing costs by pushing for an increased Empty Home Tax in Vancouver, as well as engaging with private developers to increase student accommodation on campus.

“We should star[t] discussion by turning the useless golf course into affordable student houses,” his website mentions. The University Golf Club is owned and operated by the Musqueam Capital Corporation.

Additionally, as part of his affordability goals, Fuentes plans on tackling food insecurity on campus. Although it does not directly fall under the VP external portfolio, Fuentes said he would support the AMS Food Bank by securing donations from food providers and by reaching out to third-party organizations to increase the number of non-profit eateries on campus.

“Students rely on the AMS Food Bank and that has been doing a good job,” he said. “... But the Food Bank needs a lot more reach.”

In terms of his climate action plans, Fuentes hopes to perform advocacy fighting for renewable energy and Indigenous rights.

“There needs to be a strong position from UBC,” he said. “And from the position of the VP external … we need much more renewable energy. We need that [for] the rights of all peoples in this country be respected.”

In the debate on February 25, Fuentes also mentioned that he would collaborate with the University Neighbourhoods Association to prevent instances of racial profiling on campus, an issue usually not included in VP external campaigning. U

candidate profiles 7

CANDIDATE PROFILES

VP FINANCE LUCIA LIANG ucia Liang wants to leverage the L experience she’s gained in the past year as AMS VP finance to reduce the

financial burden on students and make financial systems more efficient.

While her vision for “sustainability, affordability and transparency” remains constant, her platform for re-election has evolved to showcase more tangible steps: automating the orientation of treasurers, creating a new position for a permanent financial analyst and switching to a new ticketing platform.

“That comes with experience and being able to identify specifically what needs to be done,” Liang said.

In the past year, she said she planted seeds that she hopes will grow in her second term to become “a big tree that people can harvest from and … sit under to get shade.”

“I want [all the] work I deliver to be the best that it can be,” she said.

“It’s extremely important for me to finish what I’ve started and to ground it so that it is benefiting the students long-term.”

It’s clear that Liang has benefited from a year of experience. Her platform

is more specific than when she first ran for election last year and her goals reflect a much deeper understanding of the role.

In her interview and debates, she has criticized the unnecessarily complicated and manual nature of different processes, saying that they negatively affect both students and her staff. In particular, she opened the Great Debate by taking responsibility for the “outdated” and “obsolete” financial systems at the AMS. To improve these systems, Liang wants to integrate and automate the AMS’s financial systems to make them less reliant on manual input, which usually creates more room for error.

For example, after a ticketed event, a club’s money from Showpass could be accidentally deposited into a different club’s account.

“I believe this push towards modernization and digitization will benefit both staff and students in the long term, as reimbursements and student financial aid will be optimized for our future,” said Liang.

Hiring a financial analyst as a

permanent staff member is another of her main goals.

“Because of the high turnover rate, [projects don’t] get set up properly and a lot of work is either reversed or redundant,” said Liang. “Having that position there will ensure every single project that comes in is an enhancement of the ones before.”

The introduction of a new ticketing service, another priority, is familiar.

Last year, Liang also wanted to move away from Showpass, whose “high service fee is reflected in the cost of tickets purchased by students.” But the AMS’s contract with the company doesn’t end until this year.

As an incumbent running in an uncontested race, Liang is conscious of the fact that it would be easy for her to slack off. She said she’s doing her best to remain on her toes while doing her work as VP finance.

“I don’t ever want the student to ever feel like, ‘Oh this girl is gonna win again, she’s not putting in the effort,’” she said. “ I don’t think that’s who I am as a person and I would always work my best.” U

CANDIDATE PROFILE?

VP ACADEMIC

?

THERE ARE NO CANDIDATES. NOW WHAT? n February 26, the lone candidate outlined by Section 9, Article 11 of AMS When asked about the impact that O for the VP academic and univer- code. a by-election has on turnout, Holmes sity affairs (VPAUA) race, Nikol Grishin, “If it’s a special election, it would said that it is lower than a normal elecannounced that she would be withdrawing from the race.

“It’s a decision that has been taken into serious consideration and thought, and one that was very difficult for me to make,” wrote Grishin in a Facebook post.

She added that she didn’t feel she could commit to the role as it “deserves someone who is not only passionate and knowledgeable, but also willing to put their heart and soul into this.”

This leaves the AMS in a bit of a pickle: there are now no candidates running for the VPAUA position.

Ahsan Sahibzada, the chief electoral officer for AMS Elections, confirmed that because of this new development, there will not be a VPAUA position on the ballot for this election.

“No one can run for right now … because the nomination period has already closed and we can’t really accept impromptu nominations while the campaign period is going on,” he said.

The Elections Committee hasn’t come to a final decision of how to move forward yet, but they’re leaning towards a special election that would likely take place before the end of March. However, no final decision will be made until the March 11 AMS Council meeting.

Led by Sahibzada, the Elections Committee will be able to create new procedures for the special election, as

have some different rules,” Sahibzada said.

This will include the nomination period and polling hours. He surmised that they would change the nomination period from almost a month to around a week or two in order to speed up the process.

HISTORY OF SPECIAL & BY-ELECTIONS The AMS hasn’t had a special election since 2008, according to a report sent to The Ubyssey by AMS Archivist Sheldon Goldfarb.

“The general election in 2008 included all five executive positions, including the VP administration position.

However, because of irregularities, the Elections Administrator cancelled the VP admin race and ordered a special election be held separately for that position,” the report says.

Seven candidates (including a few joke candidates) took part in the special election.

Another similar case was in 2017, when VPAUA Daniel Lam resigned three months into his term. AMS Council appointed an interim VPAUA until they could hold a by-election in the fall, which current Board of Governors student representative Max Holmes won.

tion. Last year, turnout for the general AMS elections was 21.7 per cent. In Holmes’ by-election, turnout was 12 per cent, which he said was “pretty high” for only one position being elected.

“Hopefully we can maybe hit a higher barrier this time around,” Holmes said.

He also theorized that a special election won’t discourage people from running, a thought potentially supported by the 2008 special election.

“If anything, I think it’s going to tell people, maybe there’s more of an opportunity here because there doesn’t seem to be as many people interested,” Holmes said. “I think overall, I would be surprised if we see an uncontested race actually, I think that you’re probably going to see more than one candidate.”

But Sahibzada was careful to note the differences between these two situations.

In this case, Lam had already taken office and the vacancy opened during his term. By-elections can only happen if there’s a vacancy, according to AMS bylaws. Currently there is no vacancy, as the current VPAUA Julia Burnham will hold the position until her term ends on May 1. “[As] there is no candidate for VPAUA right now … I can still hold a new special election before the executives take their position on May 1.” U

8 candidate profiles

CANDIDATE PROFILES

BOARD OF GOVERNORS

BRANDON CONNOR hen first-year science student Brandon ConW nor decided to run for the Board of Governors (BoG), he figured he was “quite ready” for a “chal-

lenge.” “… I understand it is a bit difficult to take someone who’s not that experienced seriously,” he said “… I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to get my ideas out no matter what my background is. Whether I am their age or not their age, I don’t think that matters here.”

Running on a platform centred around tuition increases and engaging with students and affordability, Connor first started thinking about getting into student government at UBC before his career here had even officially begun.

“Just one day before classes had even started …

I was here for Jump Start and then I saw a thing, and it just went by quickly in the Nest on the television screen. It was about student elections for the AMS. And that’s when I just put in my name and went there for the first meeting ever,” he said.

Shortly after he joined the AMS Advocacy Committee, where he learned about the Board of Governors.

Connor highlighted engaging with students as one of his top priorities. He believes that talking to students will help improve the Board’s publicity and transparency, as well as address the issue of rampant mental health problems on campus.

“Bringing in a fresh perspective, I think we are in dire need of a streamlined and efficient chain of communication between UBC and the students.

The Student Diversity Initiative annual report states that 65 per cent of students feel valued in this University, meaning that 35 per cent of students don’t feel so and focus more on lower years and we start seeing why mental health becomes a teeming issue,” wrote Connor on his online AMS profile.

When asked what his most ambitious goal is, Connor named slowing tuition increases.

“I feel that I’ll be working definitely towards either stagnating how our tuition prices are increasing, because they are increasing every year … or if not, I will definitely see how the revenue is being distributed,” said Connor. “… I want to make sure that that revenue goes directly to students and not through other channels.”

But student and faculty governors vocally oppose tuition increases every year, and Connor did not clarify how his advocacy would be more effective than that of his predecessors.

But despite his enthusiasm, Brandon Connor’s platform lacked detail and substance. He talked about the importance of a fresh perspective, but never named a way in which his platform differed from that of his more experienced counterparts Max Holmes and Jeanie Malone, both of whom are running for re-election.

Throughout his interview and debate, Connor was unable to account for some of the Board’s most high-profile initiatives, such as the Integrated Renewal Program, President’s Academic Excellence Initiative and the Government Business Enterprise for housing.

Connor also did not show for the first Board of Governors debate due to a class scheduling conflict. U

MAX HOLMES

AXEL KONG

fter a year on the Board of Governors, Max Holmes A is vying to return with a wide-ranging platform that places particular emphasis on inclusion and

econd-year cognitive systems student Axel Kong S is running to be a student representative on the Board of Governors (BoG), but he did not show up for

affordability.

Having served as the AMS VP academic and university affairs from 2017 to 2019 and a long-term student senator, Holmes is also running for re-election on the Senate, where he hopes he can champion cross-collaboration.

“I see myself as somebody who’s able to play a role of bridging those two bodies because often … there’s no real communication between the two,” he said.

Holmes wants to use his dual role to ensure the proper execution of UBC’s long-term planning, specifically the Indigenous Strategic Plan and Inclusion Action Plan.

“UBC is really great at creating a plan or vision or framework. We are horrible at implementing it and supporting it,” he said.

One way Holmes plans to do this is through his seat on the Finance Committee, where he will work to secure funding so that the plans will have the staff and resources necessary for execution.

Holmes also sits on the Academic Renewal Working Group that oversees the President’s Academic Excellence Initiative to recruit faculty, expand classroom space and, most importantly for him, provide more financial support for graduate students.

Holmes wants to lighten grad students’ financial burden by providing full tuition waivers, increasing minimum tuition stipends, lobbying the province for funding and allocating some of the president’s over $100-million Blue and Gold alumni fundraising campaign towards graduate student awards.

The effort is a part of a push from student governors for a strategic plan that would bring all of UBC’s disparate affordability initiatives under a single vision.

In BoG meetings over the past year, Holmes has been unafraid to publicly challenge governors and UBC executives for failing to consider students’ financial insecurity on topics like tuition increases and expensive capital projects.

Another pillar of affordability that Holmes has championed is housing, which he has made his personal project as vice-chair of the Property Committee. He said he will support capital projects that provide cheap student housing, work to lower the current rental prices of UBC’s residence system and lobby local governments to provide inexpensive co-operative housing.

Holmes also mentioned the Government Business Enterprise (GBE) as a source of funding for student priorities. The term refers to the creation of UBC Hospitality Trust, a corporation that while university-owned, would be financially self-sufficient.

Pending a tax ruling, the GBE would enable UBC to borrow more money for housing projects and allow it to build substantial capital projects more quickly.

When asked what qualities and skills make for a good student governor, Holmes highlighted being able to put in the time to relationship-build and communicate effectively with all the university’s stakeholders.

“You need to be talking to the AMS, the Graduate Student Society, students senators. You need to be talking to the executives. You need to be engaging with your fellow governors, and so it requires a lot of work,” said Holmes.

“But you really need to be … communicating how what’s in the best interest of students is often in the best interests of the university.” U

either debate. He also never created a Board of Governors profile on the AMS website.

Yet Kong is also running for student-at-large on the Senate, and he created a profile for that campaign and attended both Senate debates.

When asked by The Ubyssey over email, he clarified that he missed the first BoG debate due to personal matters and the second because he got the time wrong.

“I think the debate is just one way to reflect the platform and there are many other ways to do so,” he wrote after the first debate.

In his interview with The Ubyssey, Kong articulated that he would pursue a platform of international student inclusion and alumni engagement if elected.

Kong said he is considering a minor in anthropology, noting that the classes he’s taking on the subject have shaped the way he thinks and advocates for students.

“I always view perspectives and different people through an anthropological lens, and I really focus on understanding what someone’s personal background is or what culture they actually represent because I feel like knowing a person’s background and knowing his way of thinking is really important because everyone thinks differently,” said Kong.

Alongside his experience of living in many different countries growing up, this anthropological lens helps Kong “relate to students.” He said “underrepresented international students” would be a focus of his inclusion advocacy.

Another of Kong’s main platform points is the improvement of employment prospects after graduation. He said he would achieve this by strengthening UBC’s alumni network with more engagement offices in foreign countries.

“Three-fourths of international students that actually graduate from UBC — they actually go back to their home country … maybe because of more opportunities that are out there,” he said. “We don’t have any international alumni centre offices in countries like China, India, and also Korea and Japan … Maybe build centres or international region offices in those countries.”

On the subject of support for Indigenous students, Kong also said the university should host more workshops on Indigenous culture and history.

“The stories need to come out about how those people were actually affected in the past because of the residential schools,” said Kong.

When asked, Kong was unable to identify high-profile policies that are discussed heavily in BoG meetings like the Integrated Renewal Program, and the President’s Academic Excellence Initiative.

In a written statement to The Ubyssey after the first debate, Kong said his being a newcomer made him a more desirable candidate. But incumbents Jeanie Malone and Max Holmes both emphasized what Malone called the Board’s “steep learning curve” in their interviews, due the complicated nature of the body.

“I have great respect for [Malone and Holmes] but at the same time, as many students have pointed out before, sometimes it would be frustrating if we have the same people stay in office over and over again without looking at the general needs of students,” said Kong. U

candidate profiles 9

JEANIE MALONE eanie Malone is pursuing her fourth term as a student repJlieves resentative on UBC’s Board of Governors (BoG), but she beher time in university governance is only getting started.

A biomedical engineering PhD candidate, Malone first ventured into student politics as the Engineering Undergraduate Society VP Communications in 2014 and eventually served as its president. After transitioning to the Board in 2017, Malone is running again on a platform built around the guiding principles of equity, affordability and transparency in addition to a “to-do list” of specific goals.

Her first and “more challenging” priority is to implement an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion statement of values across the university, an initiative that was set in motion after UBC was banned from the 2019 Vancouver Pride Parade for allowing anti-SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) figure Jenn Smith to speak on campus.

As chair of the People, Community and International Committee (PCI) — the first student to chair a BoG committee in over a decade — Malone is overseeing it herself as a joint project with the Senate.

“That’s something that I feel deeply accountable for, and that’s something that I really want to see carried through because I think that that will have a big impact on our campus, on our students, staff, faculty,” she said. “I would really like to see that done well.”

As PCI chair, Malone has also led the development UBC’s sexual misconduct policy SC17, which is currently under its second review.

Malone and the other Vancouver student governor on the Board, Max Holmes, have been championing a comprehensive affordability strategic plan that will integrate all of UBC’s affordability initiatives into a single vision.

“The Board gets a lot of topics that are just sort of one-offs … It’s really challenging for a governor, particularly a provincial appointee, to actually understand [how they impact student finances],” she said. “… What’s the impact of us increasing tuition on those sort of edge-point students who are really living a break-even life, living paycheck to paycheck? What’s the impact of us investing in Work Learn or investing in housing bursaries?

“So we’ve done tons of stuff, but we haven’t got that bird’seye view, and that’s what I want to see.”

Malone also aims to further develop relationships with staff, faculty and especially students. She explained that politicians can always do more to be transparent — “I can’t be, like, a newsletter,” she quipped — but she still counts this as a success. Malone and her co-student governors have been writing op-ed explainers for The Ubyssey before every Board meeting since the fall of 2017, shortly after she entered her first term as governor.

When asked what set her apart from other candidates, Malone said she considers herself “fortunate” to have had a long academic career that sustains her work in student politics and allows her to develop the knowledge and relationships she needs to succeed as a governor.

“I think I’m an anomaly … The Board of Governors is an interesting place but the learning curve is really steep,” said Malone. “Certainly in my experience, it took me at least half the year [of my first term] to figure out what was going on, to learn the language.”

But despite being a veteran among students, Malone feels she’s ultimately only at the beginning of her career in academia and university administration.

“I have certainly been there with burnout and I know what that looks like, and I don’t think that the Board or my work in this aspect has exhausted me to any extent,” she said.

“I feel like I can give more, and I feel like I can do more.”

“Go and be the dean, that’s the goal!” she joked. U

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CANDIDATE PROFILES

candidate profiles 11

SENATE

BRADEN BELLINGER irst-year commerce student Braden Bellinger is F running for one of the five student senator-atlarge seats on a platform of improving the class-

room experience.

Bellinger is currently the VP of the House Council for Robson and Okanagan houses in Place Vanier Residence. He’s also a CEO for a start-up marketing agency, a project with a couple of other Sauder students.

If elected, he hopes to work to improve UBC lecture equipment and continue to push for lecture recording.

He spoke about his Math 104 class, where the professor used a chalkboard instead of a projector, making the lesson less accessible to people in the back of the room.

“I’m hoping for classrooms with chalkboards, they can get projectors,” Bellinger said. “I think that can make a really big impact at the very least.”

He also wants to increase the prevalence of microphones for lecturers in big lecture halls.

As for lecture recordings, Bellinger cited examples of people in his classes who missed lectures due to illnesses and family events.

“What sucks for them is it’s midterm season right now and the questions were like, ‘Answer these questions that were from the lecture,’” he said. “I don’t really think that’s fair.”

Bellinger is also interested in improving communication between teaching assistants and professors. But he did not clarify how he would make that change in the Senate.

“The teaching assistants, they don’t know what’s going on in the lecture,” he said. “I feel like we can get a lot more out of it if they know the specific details that the profs expect us to know.”

He also criticized Canvas, especially the discussions tab and the lack of anonymity.

“That makes students a lot more [shy] to post questions because it has their name on it … that small change could make the discussions tab more relevant and more useful.”

But he acknowledged that this would be a difficult project.

“It’s not entirely controlled by UBC, to my understanding,” Bellinger said. “So we’ll have to take a lot of advocating to convince UBC and then convince that company to make a change. It’s a very bureaucratic process, which is why I think it’ll be a slow process.”

When asked what initiative that Senate is currently doing that he agrees with, he said the UPass.

But the UPass is a project of the AMS VP External, not the Senate.

When asked what policy within the Senate needs updating, he said that “nothing [came] to mind.”

In the debates, Bellinger often didn’t fully answer questions and echoed the statements of those around them. He acknowledged that he would likely be viewed as inexperienced, if elected.

But he said that he has “a lot of leadership experiences that can back [him] up” and hopes to gain more leadership skills in the role.

“I want to make an impact here,” he said. “And I want to make sure it’s a meaningful impact and I’m not just here for show.” U

ESHANA BHANGU n her first bid for a spot in student governance, firstIsenator-at-large year arts student Eshana Bhangu is running for in this election.

Her platform is centred on easing the transition for international students into the Canadian education system, pushing for open educational resources and improving Indigenous representation. Other points include streamlining the mental health support process for students, improving transparency of Senate proceedings and contributing to ongoing efforts to introduce a fall reading break.

Although she shares similar platform points with her fellow candidates, such as support for a fall reading break and advocation for further Indigenous representation, Bhangu believes her support for incoming international students sets her apart from the rest.

“I haven’t heard a lot of candidates talking about [international students],” she said.

While UBC has supplementary English classes downtown, these cost time in commuting and money in registration, both of which Bhangu argues are in short supply for many international students.

Her solution takes the form of free support and tutoring opportunities on the Point Grey campus that will run parallel to the school year, she said to The Ubyssey.

“One guy comes from France — the writing style over there is completely different than what the professors expect over here. So perhaps more classes or courses or something offered during the school year, where people can go. Not just for feedback, but actual teaching,” she said.

However, she admits this will take a lot of resources to implement. She hasn’t yet thought of a concrete plan.

Her loftiest goal is getting courses to adopt open educational resources, such as free textbooks.

“That’s a dream of mine, I doubt that it can be accomplished in a year … but I think it’s definitely important to push to start it and to extend that to as many courses as possible,” she said.

“A really big problem we might face is copyright laws and they’re getting pretty strict, so I think it’s important to work with the provincial government,” Bhangu added.

Addressing her own position as a visible minority, Bhangu said she understands the need for Indigenous reconciliation and representation on campus.

“I feel very passionate about that … I do understand the struggles of being a minority. I cannot even imagine the decades of suffering [the Indigenous] community has been through,” she said.

To accomplish this, she’ll work with the admissions committee to recruit and encourage more Indigenous students to come to UBC. Although she lacks experience in university governance, Bhangu said she’s been passionate about representation and advocacy since the age of ten. She’s volunteered in multiple political campaigns, chaired a youth council and has volunteered in a Member of Parliament’s office for two years.

“I’ve seen the daily work that goes on in a representative’s office, the amount of work you have to do, the compassion and empathy. You need to have to listen to your local constituents … and I’m passionate about that,” she said.

“More than about how to win an election, I think I know and I understand what it takes to represent.” U

MAHMOUD (MACK) BORNO Borno wants to be a voice for minorMHe’sahmoud ity students. running on a platform that includes supporting marginalized groups and pushing for academic policy changes.

Borno was inspired to run after participating in several Middle Eastern student associations and becoming the current president of Colour Connected Against Racism, an AMS resource group.

Like many newcomers to the Senate race, Borno’s grasp on Senate policy and purview is shaky. He wants to create an ethics committee to oversee UBC’s research investments — though some oversight already exists outside the Senate under the VP Research & Innovation portfolio — and he struggled to talk about a specific policy he would like to see reviewed.

But Borno says his commitment to minority students sets him apart from his competitors.

“I’m not a politician,” he said. “I’m running based on the demands of the minority students on campus, something that’s usually underrepresented on the university level.”

He wants to advocate for Arab and Muslim students by encouraging a Middle Eastern and North African studies program, increasing the number of Arabic and Farsi courses and expanding the exchange program to include schools in countries like Lebanon, Egypt and Tunisia.

Borno also wants to see the construction of a multi-faith prayer room. Currently, Muslim students can pray at Brock Hall during the week or the Marine Drive ballroom on Fridays. But he says the space isn’t adequate and that Friday prayers often attract upwards of 100 people.

“A lot of Muslim, brown and Arab students are always underrepresented as a minority. We’re always offered solutions without being consulted,” he said.

“It’s like, ‘Okay, here you go, be happy about it,’ when in reality whatever solution or accommodation we’re offered doesn’t really work out, such as when they offered the Muslim community Brock Hall prayer room — but it’s more of a prayer closet.”

Borno wants to petition for an Indigenous seat on the Senate, though it should be noted that membership on the Senate is dictated by BC’s University Act. “What I notice a lot that happens within university spaces is performative actions to accommodate the Indigenous students on campus … where they offer them the bare minimum to appease themselves as settlers and not to really accommodate or listen to the Indigenous population on campus,” he said.

His academic priorities include pushing for a revised exam clash policy and extending the add/ drop deadline.

Ultimately, Borno’s goal is to represent students.

“I’m taking their concerns and their demands to the floor of the Senate and trying to address [them] because what makes our university is our students.” U

12 candidate profiles

JULIA BURNHAM

COLE EVANS

CHRIS HAKIM

urrent student Senator, Co-Chair of StuC dent Senate Caucus, AMS VP Academic and University Affairs and fifth-year Can-

ole Evans wants to complement his presiC dential run with a seat on the UBC Vancouver Senate.

MS President and current student-at-large A Senator Chris Hakim is taking a four-pillar approach to the senate.

adian and Indigenous studies student Julia Burnham is all in on equity and inclusion.

Burnham’s platform centres around implementing equity plans, reforming the Senate appeals committees and advocating for summer courses to be included in awards criteria.

Burnham said the broken, systemic issues within the Senate will be the biggest challenge. She points to turnover, or lack thereof, as a huge issue.

According to Burnham, high turnover and dissolved committees can mean progress hits a standstill.

Burnham is currently the Chair of the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on Academic Diversity and Inclusion, which will be dissolved at the end of the academic year.

She is worried it could see the same fate as the final report from the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on Student Mental Health and Wellbeing from last triennium, which included no accountability mechanism to ensure the Senate abided by the report’s findings. She said an implementation committee is equally important for the long-anticipated Indigenous Strategic Plan.

“The Senate is a broken system and there are a whole lot of issues with the Senate that I don’t think the average student really thinks about often,” said Burnham.

But Burnham claims she is equipped to tackle these issues by jumping in headfirst.

She said her loftiest goal is making sure that the Senate appeals committees are adequately trained.

“These appeals committees within the Senate and their members received no training on anything related to trauma or sexual violence, which is a huge issue. It’s a basic, fundamental knowledge that needs to be had.”

“That has been something that I’ve been consistently yelling about and pursuing all year and have not gained any traction on,” said Burnham.

She decided to put herself on the committee in an attempt to change things for the better. “I’m angry enough that I have decided that I’m just going to join the appeal committee and do something about it,” said Burnham.

Burnham is also promising to evaluate summer scholarships, awards and bursaries which are only available to those who have taken more than 24 credits. She says this is a barrier for many students who may not be able to take a full course load due to mental health challenges or even the need to work due to financial hardship.

This same promise was part of her platform last year.

“I [am] stubborn enough to think that I can fix all of these dumpster fires, but also a moral responsibility and being someone who has such a wealth of institutional knowledge and expertise and being able to continue.” U

“It fits really nicely. It’s a good balance. I’m really passionate about making the experiences of UBC students better in as many places as I can,” he said.

This is the current AMS VP Administration’s first Senate run, but he’s not unprepared, showing good knowledge of Senate policies and procedures — which is not always the case for first-time candidates.

During the debates, Evans was able to hold his own and keep up with incumbent candidates Julia Burnham, Chris Hakim and Max Holmes, which other newcomers have often struggled with.

Evans wants to amplify Indigenous voices and push for an external review of the Senate. Other goals include advocating for student learning spaces on the Academic Building Needs Committee and working to make summer course credits count towards student awards criteria.

He would also like to see more curriculum and courses centred around Indigenous culture and knowledge but declined to share what tangible steps he would take to reach that goal, saying that as a settler those are not his decisions to make.

“Because I’m not an Indigenous student I can’t really comment specifically to what is the best way of implementing content around Indigenous cultures … but what I do know and what we’ve heard a lot is that the burden of learning about Indigenous cultures can’t be placed on Indigenous folks,” he said.

Evans wants to change the Senate’s culture with an external review. He suggested term limits for senators and reforms to increase diverse representation as possible measures to achieve that goal.

He further emphasized the importance of taking a holistic approach to the role and continuing advocacy beyond the doors of specific committees.

“I think that as a student senator … you really have to push on some of those more institutionalized figures that are there to really take action on those issues, emphasizing the importance of those issues, making sure that you’re mobilizing other forms of student groups and interacting with student groups to put pressure where pressure needs to be put on,” he said.

Evans said he’s an experienced candidate who wants to be seen as a friend to students. ”I really think that people should vote for me because they’d be electing somebody who is truly passionate about helping others. I always expect myself to go above and beyond supporting students.” U

He’s hoping to continue fighting for unified work experience, tuition prices, Indigenous reconciliation and transparency.

Hakim points to inconsistent co-op programs across faculties as a touchstone of his campaign.

He said that faculties like nursing, pharmacy and engineering get hands-on learning experiences that make them employable following their time at UBC. “The issue is that for a lot of other programs and faculties at UBC, this isn’t the case. And instead, students need to rely on the co-op program, which hasn’t had a review in many years.”

Hakim has his sights on an external review as a solution.

“I want to make sure … we’re looking to provide students with a meaningful experience as well as trying to ensure that in our classrooms, our professors and our faculties are showing what you’re going to learn in a course will have direct course learning outcomes,” said Hakim.

His next big-ticket item is making sure tuition hikes benefit students.

“I want to make it really clear that we need to be ensuring that the student money that is bought in from our tuition needs to be largely reinvested back into students,” said Hakim.

He sees the Vancouver Senate Budget Sub-Committee, which he currently chairs, as a tangible step in the right direction. According to Hakim, the committee needs to be better at organizing the relationship between faculty and senators in order to discuss how allocated money will impact students.

Keeping momentum on the upcoming Indigenous Strategic Plan is also at the forefront of his mind.

Hakim says the draft plan currently lays out multiple ambitious goals including increasing Indigenous leadership at all levels, respecting Indigenous peoples and increasing Indigenous student rates.

“The one thing that UBC tends to fail at is usually implementation of plans and the Indigenous Strategic Plan is up there with one of the most important plans when it comes to the university and for students,” said Hakim. “…

I want to ensure that this plan, its development and its implementation is provided the resources that it’s needed.”

He is looking to continue working through these goals as a part of the triennial review process and through the Academic Renewal Working Group that he claimed has allocated $2 billion to hiring more faculty. He said he is committed to bringing in more Indigenous faculty.

He said the key to most of these issues is this triennial review, that he is a part of co-authoring, which outlines recommendations for changes to the senate. He is also pushing for an external review process to hold the Senate accountable and make it increasingly more accessible.

“The Senate needs to be changed both operationally and structurally … from increasing training for the adjudicators on our Appeals Committee to receive sexual violence training, decolonization training, trauma informed approaches, the list goes on,” he said.

“I love this work but there are still things left undone.” U

candidate profiles 13

MAX HOLMES ith three years of service as a senator-at-large W and two years as VP Academic and University Affairs, fourth-year arts student Max Holmes is run-

ning once more for a seat on the Senate.

Based on a platform of transparent and accessible governance; “compassionate” academic policies; equity, diversity and inclusion; reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and student career and research opportunities, Holmes is no stranger to student politics. This year he is also running for his second term as a student representative on the Board of Governors and hopes to spearhead collaboration between the two bodies.

“As somebody who’s been at the Senate for three years, I know our governance structures quite well,” said Holmes. In debates and campaign materials, he claims to have spent over 5,000 hours “advocating for students.”

He said his main motivator this year is “unfinished business.”

Throughout his three-year tenure as a student senator, Holmes succeeded in implementing a price cap for rent on student housing, securing $1 million in funding for undergraduate research, fighting for UBC to formally declare a climate emergency, providing additional Work-Learn positions for students and more.

He was also heavily involved in fighting for an external review of Senate governance and for a fall reading break. While he hasn’t yet succeeded in finalizing a fall reading break, the process is now in the final throes of student consultations.

“I really hope to be able to work on all this unfinished business, to work on the Inclusion Action Plan, on the Indigenous Strategic Plan, making sure we’re adopting those actions. Really taking a hard look at our governance structures,” he said.

With the Senate stepping into a new triennium, Holmes wants to continue pushing for an external Senate governance review and improving transparency into its operations.

“The Senate hasn’t had a hard look at its governance and its practices in almost 15-plus years now.

We’re in a completely different, not only academic environment, but world environment right now,” said Holmes. “… We are going to have to talk about our government systems, talk about the fact that many senators have no training or education on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action, on UNDRIP [United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples], on so many other issues.”

One of Holmes’s main priorities is the adoption of the vision and mission of the Indigenous Strategic Plan, which is currently undergoing its final phase of consultation.

“It’s really important to recognize that if we’re going to decolonize our systems, that includes our academic systems and our academic way of governance,” he said.

He also wants to continue advocating for “compassionate” academic policies, whether it be extending the course withdrawal deadline, expanding the academic concessions policy, drafting a policy to accommodate students’ religious observances and “so much more.”

“Some of the things I really want to continue to work on is that course withdrawal deadline extension. I’ve already gotten the academic policy committee to agree that we should go from six weeks to eight weeks,” he said.

“I think [experience] is going to be really important going into this new triennium, that we do have that experienced leadership … so we can really set ourselves up for success.” U

AXEL KONG

SNOW (XUE) WANG

xel Kong has a lot of ideas. He wants to shake A up the Senate with an ambitious platform, but has faced criticism for his muddled under-

s a newcomer to the Senate without any A student government experience, Snow Wang has three main goals: implementing a

standing of Senate policy.

The second-year cognitive systems student found his passion in education after starting an online business tutoring English and Mandarin.

The experience inspired him to make his first foray into student politics with a Senate run.

“I feel like it’s really a place where I can make changes directly, where I can enact what I think is right for students,” he said.

Kong’s initial platform included eliminating the grade curve, allowing students to take courses in other faculties without restriction and lowering the major entrance requirements for international students in programs like computer science.

But, Kong faced criticism from students after someone posted his platform to the UBC subreddit. Current AMS VP Academic and University Affairs and incumbent Senate candidate Julia Burnham pointed out in a comment that grade deflation is not a Senate policy and that course restrictions exist to ensure students enrolled in specific faculties pay the right fees.

But she also added that the Senate “does a horrible job of explaining itself and communicating to the broader ubc community.”

Kong says he disagrees with Burnham’s comments that his platform is not related to the Senate and believes that he can still achieve most of his goals, like getting rid of the curve or pushing for more interdisciplinary programs.

He acknowledges his platform is not perfect, saying he will tweak his goals and is open to feedback.

“But I feel like those ideas actually matter,” he said.

Kong admits that he lacks the institutional knowledge of more experienced candidates. At times, his ambitious and varied platform seems to fall under the purview of other university bodies. For example, he spoke at length about tuition, a topic typically the responsibility of the Board of Governors (Kong is also running for a seat on the Board).

“I don’t know too much about the bureaucracy … my first job is to actually be humble and learn,” he said. “Instead of enacting changes right away I think I need to consult the student body about different issues because I don’t know. It’s a fact. I’m being honest about it, because I don’t know.”

Kong views his newcomer status as a strength.

“I’m just speaking from the perspective of an average student,” he said. “There are issues that our students have but none of the insiders actually know about it.”

If elected, Kong hopes to be an advocate for students.

“I represent their voice,” he said. U

fall reading break, improving course evaluation surveys and eliminating scaling, or down-curving.

In this year’s election, Wang is one of nine students — six of whom are non-incumbents — who are seeking election to five Senator-atLarge positions.

As a newcomer, Wang has a muddled understanding of the role of both the Senate itself and student senators, which is not unlike some of her other non-incumbents competitors.

In her interview, she thought that the Senate was a part of the AMS. Despite articulating three platform points, Wang has not provided much detail about how she plans on implementing those goals in her interview or in the debates.

During debates, her main talking point was student consultation, although she was unfamiliar with the way the Senate currently does those consultations and incorporates student voices into its work.

Wang also echoed a sentiment raised in the first debate by other potential Senate newcomers about increasing student awareness of the Senate during her interview. She says that she first learned about it herself from a friend and is still learning.

“I want to make sure that … every student [can] know about the Senate, and what actually the Senate can do for them,” she said, without naming any feasible or specific initiatives.

She raised the idea of adding incentives for students to complete their course evaluations, but was unclear in her interview about whether this was in reference to evaluations administered by the university or surveys that individual professors choose to give out.

In her platform posted on the AMS website, she specifies adjusting TA evaluations to be sorted by numbers rather than “shading circles.”

“Many of students including me found it’s easy to mix up between Strongly Agree and Strongly disagree options on the TA evaluation form. Hence, the new evaluation form I am suggesting include filling in actual numbers on a scale of 1-5,” reads her platform.

Wang, like one of her competitors Axel Kong, has a platform point of introducing a new academic grading scale. But, scaling policies do not fall under the work of the Senate and are up to the discretion of departments.

When asked to explain which committees she would sit on to work on any of her goals, Wang was unable to name any Senate committees, both in the Great Debate and her interview. She was also unaware of Senate policies and was unable to name any that she’d like to work on if elected.

Wang did say that her main reason for running is because she believes that she can listen to “a lot of students, no matter domestic students or international students.”

“As a student, the core is study and the Senate is really related to [studying], and I think the Senate could do most of the things that are related to the students’ life and can help them to do much better.” U

14 candidate profiles

CANDIDATE PROFILES

SLFS

STUDENTS FOR STUDENTS

DANNY LIU

laria Cobb, Chris Hakim, Nicholas Harterre, Sara Sebba, Idents, Molly Wilson and Ryan Wong form Students for Stua slate running for the Student Legal Fund Society

econd-year biochemistry student Danny Liu is running to S bring accessibility, transparency and AMS integration to the Student Legal Fund Society (SLFS) through changes to

(SLFS) Board of Directors.

Their platform is based on accessibility, transparency and strategic partnerships.

AMS President Hakim, who currently sits on the SLFS board as an AMS rep, emphasized the diversity of the Students for Students slate.

“We’re bringing in expertise from not just within the Student Legal Fund Society, but from the AMS, from the UBC, from our undergraduate societies, as well as from Greek life,” he said.

Sebba, a third-year political science student and current SLFS administrative assistant, said her focus is on accessibility. She believes her perspective within the SLFS staff will help her bring knowledge and experience to the role.

“Right now, the application process is a little bit unclear and the bylaws are unclear,” she said. “We really want to ensure that we have proper staff support to help assist the applicants.”

Hakim added that he wants to add a policy that would make the application approval process more transparent and to clarify the SLFS budgeting process.

“Over the years, it’s been essentially smoke rooms and mirrors for students who want to know where their money is going towards when it comes to this Student Legal Fund Society,” he said. “So coming in, we want to ensure that there is a comprehensive and transparent budgeting process so students ... know exactly how that money is being allocated.”

One focus of the budgeting process would be the $1 fee that the SLFS collects from UBC students.

“We plan on having a comprehensive review over the current fee that students paid to the Student Legal Fund Society, to determine whether we can repurpose the fee to maybe expand the mandate ... or we can reduce the fee to make to make it a cheaper cost on students,” said Hakim.

The final pillar of the Students for Students platform is strategic partnerships.

“We want to build partnerships with law firms in Vancouver that bring in a diverse background and expertise in various fields of law that are directly related to student cases,” said Hakim.

He also tended to speak on behalf of most of the Students for Students, being one of only two slate members — Harterre was the other — to have been present at both debates. Against independent candidate Danny Liu, a Science Undergraduate Society representative to the AMS Council, Hakim’s insider knowledge and public speaking experience were on full display.

“What we’re trying to provide students with is clear promises that will result in clear changes,” he said in his interview. U

STANFORD ENVIRONMENTAL & WATER STUDIES SUMMER PROGRAM June 22 - August 15, 2020 STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA

the society’s bylaws.

As a Science Undergraduate Society representative on AMS Council this year, Liu has been busy consulting on an upcoming code change. He wants to bring his experience with society bylaws to the SFLS. “I see many things that could be improved on in terms of how the society operates ... and when these changes are put into paper, there’s finally something to hold the future leaders accountable,” he said.

One improvement Liu would make would be to the SLFS’s financial reporting. He proposes a change of the SLFS bylaws to require the publication of a budget in addition to the quarterly reports the society releases.

“You can say you want to publish your budget for next year. That’s perfectly fine, but if you don’t make the code changes, who’s to say that next year’s SLFS Board of Directors will follow suit, or next, next, next year’s?”

Liu also wants to make it easier for everyday students to effect change at the SLFS. He suggested a mechanism for bylaw change via referendum similar to the AMS’s policy.

Liu’s drive for accessibility focuses on under-represented groups on campus, such as international students.

“For those who may not have English as their first language, for example, navigating the appeals process or just any lines of code or just even law itself might be extremely difficult, as some of it is super jargonous.”

Liu recognizes difficulties in reaching out to international students.

“I can’t just go to the Vantage College ... ask ‘What are some problems?’ and then just take that as the word for all international students.”

He suggested that adding SLFS questions to the AMS Academic Experience Survey would get feedback directly from students themselves.

Liu’s most ambitious goal, perhaps, is to bring the SLFS entirely into the AMS. “One thing that really struck me [as] odd about the SLFS is that they are still not affiliated with AMS’s services. ... They have AMS Elections for elections for example. They have office space in AMS, but we’re still not yet an AMS service.”

But the SLFS’s independence would be essential if a student ever needed representation in legal cases against the AMS or the university.

Notably, Liu did not bring up this platform point in debates.

Otherwise, Liu struggled to differentiate his views in debates from that of Students for Students, the slate of six candidates he’s running against. He said that he kept his goals purposefully open-ended and nonpartisan so that he could cooperate with the other members of Students for Students should he be elected and have to serve alongside the rest of the slate.

“Frankly, looking at all their goals, I am more than committed to working with them as a team,” he said in the Great Debate. U

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PROBLEM SOLVING

DESIGN THINKING

INNOVATION

GUIDE TO THIS YEAR’S

guide to referenda 15

REFERENDUM QUESTIONS

E

very year during elections season, students have the opportunity to vote on certain issues pertaining to the AMS and campus through referendum. This year’s referendum consists of two proposals from AMS Council: an omnibus bill of proposed AMS Bylaw changes and the creation of an Indigenous seat on the Council.

In order for a referendum question to reach quorum, it must obtain a two-thirds majority of votes in its favour. This can be difficult to achieve, largely due to a lack of votes. Doubly so for this year’s referenda given that it’s not a U-Pass renewal year, which has historically drawn large voter turnout.

We’ve provided an in-depth explainer for this year’s referendum questions and why they deserve more than just a passing glance.

AMS BYLAW CHANGES “Do you support and approve amending the AMS Bylaws in accordance with the changes presented in the document entitled Proposed Changes to AMS Bylaws?”

A lot of the proposed changes can be boiled down to house-keeping — extending the date for subsidiary budgets, adjusting general meetings in accordance with the new Societies Act, fixing typos and more.

However there are a few we’ve singled out — such as the abolition of Student Court and the increased confidentiality of AMS records — as ones that deserve more analysis.

Student Court is abolished. The Court’s power to review referendum questions will be transferred to Student Council.

The AMS has been trying to get rid of Student Court for years. The Court is a judicial body established in the 1970s which, through their interpretation of AMS Code and Bylaws, mediated disputes within the AMS, but it has been dormant for over a decade.

According to AMS President Chris Hakim, Student Court is “an old, dysfunctioning body that takes up student money.”

“Three years ago, we had a report written after conducting an analysis of all the cases coming out [of] Student Court,” he explained. “… And the conclusion of that report was essentially that the Student Court is not able to fulfill its function, and that instead it takes away student representation from elected student representatives.”

In addition to this, Hakim cited the AMS’s various working bodies, such as the Operations Committee and Human Resources Department, that handle the same tasks as Student Court at significantly lower expenses.

“So there’s no longer a need for Student Court when there are bodies within the AMS that already deal with corrective action cases much better than student court does, and without the same cost,” said Hakim.

Membership period: Students will continue to be members of the AMS after Christmas even if they complete their studies by Christmas.

This change seeks to close a loophole within the bylaw’s membership section.

According to Hakim, maintaining AMS membership and access to its services for the full school year is conditional on enrolment for Term 2. “[Say] you don’t want to take your second semester because of, potentially, affordability, cost of tuition …

Technically you’re not an AMS member anymore, despite having paid that fee earlier in September which is supposed to guarantee you a year-long membership within the AMS.” By changing the membership period, students who have already paid their fees in September will be able to maintain membership regardless of the status as a student in the second semester so that they use AMS services like the Health + Dental plan, Food Bank, Sexual Assault Support Centre and more.

Referendum questions will have to meet several new requirements: They will have to be clear and unambiguous.

They may not include any materially untrue statements.

They may not call for actions that would be illegal.

If they would result in actions that would violate a contract, they must state that and also state what the penalty will be for violating the contract.

Because referenda questions are legally binding and can set fees to tuition, the AMS seeks to prevent potential questions that could mislead students put them in a legally precarious situation.

“It’s important for students to know that when they’re looking at a referendum question on the ballot, they know exactly what the question is asking them,” said Hakim.

Records: Council will have the power to create a policy to designate as confidential certain records whose disclosure would be harmful to the AMS, third parties, ongoing investigations, solicitor-client privilege, or the secrecy of in camera discussions.

By granting Council the power to designate certain records as confidential, the AMS is able to cover its bases and “avoid a lengthy and costly lawsuit at the end of the day,” explained Hakim.

“So a lot of these records, for example, are items that we try as much as possible to keep confidential,” said Hakim, citing the recently established sexual violence policy.

“We believe that our stance in terms of certain confidential records needing to be designated as private, such as ongoing investigations, is critical to ensuring that not only are involved students within an investigation protected … [but] that where the money could have been reprioritized ties back to students’ priorities.”

Though concerns over transparency and the bylaw’s vague wording were raised by some councillors when they were initially presented this year, as well as in last year’s referendum guide, Hakim assured that should it reach quorum, the AMS is committed to creating a policy informed by community, consultations and best practices.

Executive Vacancies: Council will be able to fill these temporarily with any AMS member, not just Council members.

According to Hakim, in the event of an executive vacancy, an interim position is available to only members of the board.

“Only members of the board are allowed to fill that seat [not the] general student population, despite the fact that elections for these same executive positions are allowed to be filled by any student.”

Overall, the amount of housekeeping in this year’s proposals is enough to qualify as its own version of spring cleaning.

“If there’s one thing that students should know coming out of these bylaw changes, it’s that the AMS is trying to make sure that our structure is reflecting what student priorities look like today in 2020,” said Hakim.

INDIGENOUS SEAT ON AMS COUNCIL “Do you support and approve the creation of an Indigenous student seat on AMS Council by amending the AMS Bylaws in accordance with the changes presented in the document entitled AMS Bylaw Revisions 2020: Indigenous Seat on Council?”

The AMS and the Indigenous Committee are proposing the addition of an Indigenous seat on the AMS Council to ensure an Indigenous vote in the Council’s decision-making process.

Advocates for the seat argue that it would bring Indigenous knowledge to the forefront of decision-making within the community and assure incoming Indigenous students that their presence matters on campus.

“I know that for there to be a seat in the Council, and to actually have a voting seat, it would make a lot of difference in the relations between the AMS and the Indigenous Committee,” said Indigenous Committee Co-President Kenzie Littlelight in an interview with The Ubyssey.

“Not just the Committee, but Indigenous students, just to know that there’s someone on council that represents them.”

The AMS and the Indigenous Committee are currently working together to determine the best course of action regarding appointments and the election structure for the seat, which would be filled in accor-

dance with the procedures set out in the Committee’s code.

“For the seat, we left it deliberately open-ended because we understood that there is an ever-evolving structure when it comes to Indigenous self-determination,” said Hakim.

Yet 2020 doesn’t mark the first time an Indigenous seat has been proposed during AMS Elections. The 2005 AMS Referendum included a motion to add a voting seat on Student Council for Indigenous students.

The 2005 referendum question did not pass as it failed to meet quorum.

Since then, the quorum requirement has been reduced from a three-fourths to a two-thirds majority in favour of a motion. Rodney Little Mustache, member of the Piikani Nation of the Niitsitapi Confederacy and mature student in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, has been key in advocating for an Indigenous seat on Council leading up to its most recent proposal from the Indigenous Committee and the AMS. Hakim has stated that the AMS has committed funds to raise student awareness of the referendum.

Littlelight and other Co-President Verukah Poirier are confident that with the backing of the more established Indigenous Committee and the networks for Indigenous communities across campus including the Longhouse and the Indigenous Collegium, the referendum will be able to pass this election cycle.

“I think with what’s going on with other nations in the province and our solidarity with that, if UBC and the AMS and the UBC community as a whole can stand behind these motions and these acts of solidarity, but they can’t come through and ensure that Indigenous peoples have a seat here on this governing table, it goes to show a bit of hypocrisy,” said Poirier.

“We see that being a narrative that people want to act on reconciliation, but they say all this lip-service and don’t really act behind it. I think this is UBC as a community’s opportunity … to act.” U

16 feature

LIGHTS CAMERA CAMPUS FILMING AND EDUCATING

B

right lights, big trucks, white tents and workers barking into walkie-talkies: attending UBC means that you’ve probably noticed a film production on your way to class. If Vancouver has made a name for itself as ‘Hollywood North,’ then UBC is its exemplar: as of 2018, the campus is the ninth-most filmed location in the world, according to a GoCompare estimate. The only Canadian location to earn a spot on the list, UBC has been a film set for movies as varied as Fifty Shades of Grey and X-Men Origins: Wolverine and television shows such as The Magicians. Recently the NBC musical Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist filled the Nest with loud colours and quiet onlookers.

The campus is far from camera-shy, but the behind-the-scenes intricacies of filming here are flashy in their own right. Filming on campus involves many moving parts and is coordinated by the university’s Campus and Community Planning (C+CP). Filming in the AMS-owned Nest is overseen by the society itself, falling specifically into the portfolio of the VP administration.

“How space is allocated, how bookings are done, all that goes through [the] Operations Committee in my office. We’re sort of the leads on that,” said AMS VP Admin Cole Evans, who is also running to become the society’s president and for a seat on the Senate.

“As far as what occurs in the Nest, that’s entirely AMS jurisdiction.

So, for example, when there was [Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist] here a couple of months ago, when they also were set up outside in the plaza and they were filling in the atrium, all the logistics of the plaza stuff would have gone through the university, and all of the bookings, as far as our building, would have gone through us.”

Considering Evans’s assertion that “[the Nest] is a building that is here for students, not a conference center or a movie set” and that UBC’s mission is one of learning and research, the question is: why go through all that trouble to facilitate filming on campus at all?

Filming on campus and in the Nest has its pros and cons for the people learning and working at UBC. On the one hand, film productions sometimes necessitate detours or careful footwork to avoid tripping over cord protectors. As well, no matter how unobtrusive they try to be, film productions are distracting if only because they break up an otherwise-regular day.

If you’re a film student at UBC, though, the ‘distraction’ might be anything but. Theatre and Film’s Film Production Administrator Sarah Crauder noted how making an appearance at productions can be instructional for students in the film department.

“There’s been enough alumni that there’s generally somebody connected to [a] production that goes ‘Hey, while we’re here, we might want to reach out, let’s see if there’s anyone interested!’”

This invitational mindset is entrenched in the UBC Filming Guidelines, albeit as a suggestion rather than a required precondition of filming. Of course, unofficially students, staff and faculty can stop and stare at a production whenever possible, regardless of department affiliation. In that respect, out-of-classroom learning is available at varying levels to anyone on campus.

There are financial benefits for filming as well, particularly in the Nest. Because the AMS is a non-profit, “all the money that we raise and generate go back to students in the forms of services and programs and towards our lobbying efforts,” said AMS Marketing and Communications Manager Eric Lowe.

WHY THE NEST? UBC makes an attractive filming location because of its simultaneous variety and unity: the campus contains gardens, labs, libraries, a beach and more, all for the same starting rate of $2,500 per shooting day. The student-owned Nest is only one building, but its internal variety is a microcosm of UBC, according to the Department of Theatre and Film’s Administrator Cam Cronin.

“A lot of other outside productions will film at the Nest,” he noted. “[B]ecause you’ve got that atrium, you’ve got offices … [I]f you wanted to have a restaurant scene, if you wanted to have a boardroom scene, if you wanted to have a shop scene, it’s all in one.”

The Nest is popular with student filmmakers as well as commercial ones for similar reasons, though at a different price, said Crauder. “[The filming fee]’s not subsidized by the department, it’s actually supported by the university,” said Crauder. “It’s considered course work the same way that a physics student would be allowed in the lab.”

In their filming guidelines, UBC and the AMS share a specific definition of “student-led.” The policy stipulates that as long as a production is “a bona fide student production” involving “an assigned instructor and [that] at least 50% of the crew” are UBC students, students get to film on campus — within and without the Nest — for free, with the notable exceptions of external charges like parking, catering and cancellation fees. Filming on campus is so ubiquitous that, in an emailed statement, Crauder noted that “the [FIPR 469G’s] Naked Cinema film … actually filmed in [The Ubyssey] offices.”

feature 17

CHANGES AND ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

A COLLABORATIVE PROCESS While the VP admin is in charge of the Nest, Evans explained that filming there is a bit too complicated to view it as a strictly one-on-one relationship. Representatives of UBC, the AMS and local and international productions all have some hand in Nest filming. UBC’s C+CP has jurisdiction over filming on the rest of campus, through which vehicles have to travel to get to the Nest. Also, booking requests often go through AMS Catering & Conferences and there is a significant amount of collaboration between these groups and UBC-unaffiliated groups. For example, Lowe said that “We, [the AMS], have listed the Nest as a filming location in BC Film and other databases like that.

“Of course, the trucks [from productions] have to drive through UBC and park on UBC property,” said Lowe. “So we do work in partnership with them.”

All this means that filming in the Nest can involve, aside from the productions themselves, the AMS’s VP administration portfolio, Catering & Conferences, UBC’s C+CP, Theatre and Film (plus their alumni) and anyone who finds themselves near a production.

The season influences things as well. During the academic year, commercial productions who want to film in the Nest need the sign-off from Evans or AMS Managing Director Keith Hester. During the summer, that permission is granted or withheld by C+CP. “I talk with Campus and Community Planning when it comes to things that involve AMS projects,” Evans explained.

“I communicate with them mostly for specific capital project-based items, as far as approvals and permitting and all that stuff. Otherwise, most of the advocacy work and talking to C+CP about things off-site would be through the President’s Office and the [VP academic and university affairs].”

The necessity of teamwork in Nest filming even shows up geographically, said Evans. “Technically the 20 per cent of the plaza that’s closest to [Irving K. Barber Library], which is where the Block Party stage is always set up — that’s the AMS. And then the rest of [the plaza] is [the] university.”

The difficulty of filming on campus and, especially, within the Nest mirrors the give-and-take nature of film and television production itself. While this influence is more due to happenstance than to UBC and the AMS taking direct inspiration from filming in the Nest, Evans has explicitly found inspiration for non-film projects in the process, noting that the decorations from Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist made him “think maybe we should just put some actual trees in the Nest.

“It’s something that I’ve sort of had in the back of my mind ever since that happened,” he said. “So I’ll definitely be taking a look at that.”

The Nest is still a relatively new building, as it opened in 2015, so it will be a while before it catches up to the pace of filming around it, in the general UBC area. It’s making strides, though, between Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and the Rita Ora’s “Your Song” music video that was filmed in the Nest in 2017, and Evans hopes to improve the transparency around the process.

“We’re looking actually to make a change so that commercial bookings in the academic year can only be approved by myself or another elected student executive,” he said. “We’ve been drafting up a lot of changes, actually, to the Operations Committee policy manual … everybody can expect to see those changes come in and be finalized sometime over the next few weeks.”

Despite aspirations for UBC to maintain its role as a top spot for filming, Cronin says that students remain the top priority.

“I think that all the way from … the president’s office down, our mandate is teaching students. If filming fits in, great, and if not, we don’t bend over backwards to make it happen.” U

THE BC GOVERNMENT JUST ANNOUNCED

BC’S FIRST UP-FRONT GRANTS IN 15 YEARS

In its 2020 Budget, the BC Government announced the creation of the BC Access Grant: an up-front, needs-based student grant program with $41 million in funding annually.

WORKING TOGETHER GETS RESULTS! 15 YEARS OF ACTIVISM

DOZENS OF GOVERNMENT SUBMISSIONS 100+ GOVERNMENT MEETINGS HUNDREDS OF VOLUNTEERS

THOUSANDS OF POSTCARDS + PETITIONS

ONE COMMITTED STUDENT MOVEMENT

STUDENTS NEED GRANTS NOT LOANS

opinion 19

OP-ED FROM THE NEWS EDITORS

WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE IN THIS YEAR’S STUDENT GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS

T

his year’s AMS elections season isn’t like the rest. There are no candidate posters lining the walls of UBC buildings and the Great Debate was tucked away on top of the Egg rather than smack in the middle of the Nest’s Lower Atrium.

We’d also be remiss not to point out that the AMS VP academic and university affairs executive position — which saw three candidates run for it last year — has no one vying for the role.

But just because these elections are quieter doesn’t mean there’s less at stake or that your vote matters any less.

We’re The Ubyssey news editors, so we’re pretty into student politics, probably more than the average voter — definitely more than what is healthy. But we aren’t just in this for the drama or the titillating legalese.

We genuinely think these processes are important, as they have the power to impact student life at UBC for years to come, whether they are Board-level policy proposals or AMS strategic planning.

There’s a common perception that the work of the AMS executive team doesn’t matter. But that’s not true.

The AMS is a multi-million dollar organization. It operates bustling businesses and services and provides tens of thousands of students with affordable health care — all funded through your student fees. The AMS also saw an annual budget surplus surpassing $900,000 last year and how that money should be spent is becoming a recurring discussion.

As an AMS member, you own a piece of that pie. Elections are your chance to say where your money should go and who should be in charge of that decision.

We’ve spent the better part of the year covering the meetings of all these bodies you’re voting for: the UBC Board of Governors (BoG), Senate and AMS Council. We’ve slouched outside closed doors during purgatorial in-camera sessions and stayed longer than some of the representatives themselves as they split hairs over bureaucratic technicalities.

We’ve watched AMS Council bicker over minute word choices in

U THE UBYSSEY’S BOARD OF DIRECTORS CANDIDATES KEATON GOOSSEN MICHAEL PRYSUNKA ARTHUR DAVIS BRUNO TEIXEIRA NAYAH MANG NELSON WU REES PILLIZZI DANYELO FADI ASHLEY BATE OLGA UNIGOVSKA

code, we’ve watched them take half an hour to rearrange the agenda or interpret Robert’s Rules of Order.

But we’ve also watched as they made important decisions.

We were there when they passed the society’s first standalone sexual violence policy. We were there when they decided to deconstitute the Interfraternity Council as a club due to code violations.

We were there when visual arts students advocated for keeping the AMS’s over $4 million permanent art collection and we listened as a member of the Sexual Assault Support Centre spoke to the importance of a collective bargaining agreement after the support services were nearly cut in 2018.

And beyond the AMS, we watched the discussions that led to revamped academic concession at Senate, reports of UBC’s Inclusion Action Plan and debate over interpretation of UBC’s academic freedom statement.

We sat in the gallery alongside 50 student protestors as the Board of Governors voted to explore divestment from fossil fuels and declared a climate emergency. We were there when the Board approved tuition increases again despite student feedback against doing so.

We’re not breaking any news when we point out student union elections suffer from apathy. The AMS gets a fairly consistent voter turnout of about 20 per cent. But with no U-Pass referendum — historically a voter magnet — a smaller pool of candidates and no posters, it’s possible turnout will be lower than it’s been in recent memory.

But many students on this campus depend on the issues that these bodies discuss, whether it’s Indigenous rights and reconciliation, climate justice and sustainability or equity and diverse representation.

This year we saw thousands of students walk out of class for the Climate Strike, crowd the atrium of the Nest to watch the federal leaders debate, plaster notes on Lennon Walls across campus and so much more.

We know you’re engaged. We’ve seen it. We challenge you to now take that engagement to the polls.

So read through our elections coverage, watch the debates and go to the forums to ask questions of those promising to fight for you and the issues you care about.

In the meantime, you’ll find us scrolling through policy briefs, bussing downtown for protest coverage, or nestled in the corner of a committee room — reassured that our vigilance makes some small difference in bringing folks like you to the polls. U Voting for the AMS, Senate, Student Legal Fund Society and Board of Governors elections runs from March 2 to 6. Emma Livingstone and Henry Anderson are the news editors for The Ubyssey.

UBCTHEATRE&FILM

REVOLT. SHE SAID. REVOLT AGAIN.

by Alice Birch Directed by Sloan Thompson March 12 – 28 Frederic Wood Theatre

theatrefilm.ubc.ca

20 analysis

WHO SHOULD YOU VOTE FOR? A BRUTALLY HONEST RUN-DOWN OF WHAT EACH PERSON COULD OFFER YOU AS A STUDENT AND WHO YOU MIGHT CHOOSE TO VOTE FOR.

PRESIDENT COLE EVANS

IAN STONE

HARRESH THAYAKAANTHAN

Current VP Administration Cole Evans has the widest-ranging platform of all the presidential candidates and tangible steps to carry out his goals under each section. He also has a good track record of proactively responding to some student concerns, such as authorizing Lennon Walls and keeping the Nest open overnight in preparation for the transit strike, which would be positive going into a higher leadership role. But with little advocacy experience, Evans could see challenges achieving a lot of his advocacy-centric goals and he has also faced criticism in council for not doing enough consultation on projects.

Current Student Services Manager Ian Stone has outlined project-based goals such as developing student housing, expanding career development and bringing a cannabis dispensary to the Nest. Given their ambitious nature, most of his goals likely won’t be complete by the end of his term — something Stone himself acknowledged. He also changed his platform during the campaign period to include equity plans and support for Indigenous students after being called out, but justified it as being open to feedback. He has the relevant AMS experience to come into the role with few knowledge gaps as well as the ambition to take on big projects and make the AMS more proactive.

Residence Hall Association President Harresh Thayakaanthan cares a lot about addressing student concerns, but his platform is mostly buzzwords centered around student engagement with few concrete steps.

He’s focused a lot on affordability issues, but his plans to fix them often include projects already underway at the AMS under different portfolios, such as textbook pricing and open educational resource advocacy.

He also struggled to stand out during debates and often paraphrased other candidate’s talking points without adding new ideas.

VP ADMINISTRATION SYLVESTER (SLY) MENSAH JR Though his platform focuses on student engagement, Sylvester Mensah Jr lacks knowledge that is key to the VP admin position. He was unfamiliar with the AMS sexual violence policy and his policy proposals lacked clear plans for implementation, which came through in debates. That said, his experience working for AMS Events inspired him to help clubs improve their own events and his platform’s emphasis on student outreach is reflected in his broad support in Greek life and on social media. But while the AMS’s relationship with the Greek community is up in the air, Mensah’s fraternity membership also has raised doubts of whether he would be unbiased in negotiations between the groups.

AIDAN WILSON Aidan Wilson’s club and AMS experience showed during debates and in his club-centric platform. Proposing a fund for new clubs and online room bookings, he has the operational knowledge to make good progress on his goals. His goals were concrete, although certain plans including one for adding green space to the Nest for sustainability were criticized as superfluous.

He was confident in debate and pointed out holes in his opponent’s platform, but his defensive response to a question about diversity raises questions about his communications approach and ability to connect with students as VP admin.

VP FINANCE LUCIA LIANG Lucia Liang has a deep understanding of the VP finance role after a year in the job, which is particularly important because of the technical nature of the portfolio. Her institutional knowledge is evident in the specificity of her campaign goals. She took responsibility for the AMS’s outdated financial systems and said she’s pushing for automation and digitization to modernize the system, which she already started to lay the foundation for in her first year. But Liang hasn’t come up with an inspiring answer in discussions about how to equitably allocate the AMS’s growing budget surpluses, a big topic in the society currently.

analysis 21

VP EXTERNAL REMZI FUENTES

KALITH NANAYAKKARA

ANDY WU

Remzi Fuentes is certainly passionate and ambitious, but has displayed a thorough lack of organization in his platform and debates. Much of his platform also includes issues that are beyond the scope of the VP external portfolio, demonstrating a knowledge gap.

His performance during the Great Debate in response to a question about sexual misconduct policy showed a lack of respect for the debate and the topic at hand.

Finally, his inability to communicate clearly with media and elections officials about the status of his candidacy does not bode well for his suitability to a role that, ultimately, is all about effective communication.

Kalith Nanayakkara’s platform centres mostly around affordability action. While his goals are less ambitious than the other two candidates in this race, he does have fresh ideas about how to tackle issues like the climate crisis and Indigenous advocacy. Nanayakkara seems ready to prioritize these issues for students, but his quick dismissal of longer-term advocacy — like working in advance to leverage the 2021 provincial elections for student advocacy — demonstrates a gap in understanding about the VP external portfolio’s need for sustained, strategic advocacy.

Andy Wu has a thorough, organized and tangible platform for advocacy that includes key issues like affordability, climate action and mental health services. Wu has also demonstrated a more forward-looking approach and acknowledges the need to lay the foundation for work that will come to fruition beyond his term. But he failed to do his research on one of his key platform points to register the AMS as a third-party advertising group with Elections BC, resulting in a slight debate gaffe. But he is the only candidate with AMS experience and demonstrates a strong grasp of what the position entails and how far he can take it.

ESHANA BHANGU

BRADEN BELLINGER

MAHMOUD (MACK) BORNO

Perhaps the most knowledgeable of the candidates without UBC governance experience, Eshana Bhangu delivers an ambitious platform centred on transitioning international students into the Canadian education system, open educational resources and promoting Indigenous inclusion. She’s certainly passionate and it’s clear she did her homework. Out of all the newcomers without prior experience, Bhangu performed best in the debates. But her lack of experience in student governance shows when it comes to concrete planning and actionable steps in achieving her platform points.

What she lacks in institutional knowledge, she would hopefully make up for in what seems like a genuine interest in serving students.

Bellinger did not do his homework. The first-year Sauder student is very interested in leadership, but has little relevant experience. In debates, he often did not answer questions fully, echoing the ideas of others and making factual errors. He also doesn’t know much about policy emerging from the Senate or what they’ve done in the last couple years. Bellinger seems passionate about improving the classroom experience for fellow students, but he has few new ideas or actionable steps to achieve those ideas.

Mahmoud Borno is passionate about advocating for minority students. He has both lived experience and practical know-how, serving as president of the AMS resource group Colour Connected Against Racism.

Borno struggled to communicate his platform during the debates and much of his speaking time was spent agreeing with other candidates or saying there was not much left for him to say. But he has good ideas — like advocating for an Indigenous seat on Senate, improving facilities for commuters and promoting more accessible resources for students in distress — and seems willing to learn.

JULIA BURNHAM

COLE EVANS

CHRIS HAKIM

Julia Burnham is a strong incumbent contender bringing a wealth of institutional knowledge through her experience as AMS VP academic and university affairs, co-chair of the Student Senate Caucus and chair of Senate Ad-Hoc Committee on Academic Diversity and Inclusion. Burnham’s platform, which focuses on inclusion and equity through a trauma-informed lens, continues the work she has already been doing, especially on the Inclusion Action Plan and Indigenous Strategic Plan. She expertly communicated her stance throughout the debates while correcting others misinformation. It’s difficult to find a shortcoming in her campaign other than a repeated platform point: last year, she campaigned on changes to summer awards, which is still top-of-mind.

Cole Evans might be a Senate newcomer, but he’s no underdog. The current AMS VP administration and presidential candidate didn’t quite match up to the commanding presence of the other AMS insider candidates at the debates, but he clearly understands how the Senate operates. His platform points are also mostly tangible and realistic, like pushing for summer course credits to count towards student awards criteria. Assuming Evans gets a seat on the Academic Building Needs Committee — a key part of his platform is to advocate for better learning spaces — he should be able to make an impact.

Chris Hakim deeply understands the Senate. As an incumbent, he has a polished and well-thought-out campaign that he mostly views through a financial lens as chair of the Budget Sub-Committee. He has big ideas on inclusion, reforming co-op programs and transparency, while laying out direct paths to achieving them throughout the debates. But at times, he lacks self-awareness as to how ambitious his goals truly are.

In an interview with The Ubyssey, he said he didn’t see any of his goals as lofty despite many of his pillars being tackling systemic issues. But there is no question Hakim will push for tangible actions.

MAX HOLMES

AXEL KONG

SNOW (XUE) WANG

Max Holmes is the most experienced candidate on the list, having served on the Senate for three years and as a two-term AMS VP academic. We know what he’s capable of and he has a good track record of achieving goals, like bringing fall reading week to its final consultation stages. Transitioning into the new three-year term of UBC Senate, Holmes wants to make the body more transparent with an external review and work on initiatives that he’s pushed for throughout the years.

And as a candidate for re-election to the Board of Governors, he hopes to spearhead collaboration between the two bodies.

Axel Kong is eager to participate in student politics, but it’s clear that he’s in over his head. Kong wants to push for more interdisciplinary programs and eliminate the grading curve, but had trouble explaining the steps he would take to accomplish his goals. He was called out online for a platform that didn’t fall under the scope of the Senate. Kong made several false or misleading statements during the debates and demonstrated a lack of understanding of how the Senate operates. Kong says he’s willing to learn, but if he wants to make an impact, learning about how the Senate actually works would be a good place to start.

Snow Wang, a newcomer to the Senate, does not have relevant experience — or a relevant platform. It’s unclear whether she understands the role of the Senate and student senators, especially since she hasn’t been able to name a single committee or policy. She wants to listen to students and incorporate their voices, but her lack of knowledge would pose a steep learning curve.

SENATE

22 analysis

BOARD OF GOVERNORS BRANDON CONNOR

MAX HOLMES

AXEL KONG

While first-year science student Connor is passionate and well-intentioned, he’s out of his depth in a pool that includes two of UBC’s most experienced student politicians. Connor does have some governance experience at UBC as a student-at-large on the AMS Advocacy Committee, but the Board is UBC’s highest governing body with a $2.7 billion budget. His platform has two major points of emphasis — engaging with students and fighting tuition increases — but shows little understanding of how to do so. This may be the beginning of a long journey through UBC governance for Connor, but he’ll have to take it one step at a time.

Running for his second term, Max Holmes hopes to continue the work he’s started over his first term and introduce some new ideas. Holmes serves as vice-chair of the Property Committee and many of his proposals revolve around resourcing affordable housing on campus and off. As a member of the Finance Committee, he aims to continue work ensuring programs like the Indigenous Strategic Plan, Inclusion Action Plan and Academic Excellence Initiative get the funding they need to succeed. Over the course of the past year, Holmes has not shrunk away from speaking up in meetings to hold executives and other governors to account when he feels student interests have been overlooked.

Axel Kong failed to show up for both debates and he has not posted a platform online for his candidacy. Also running as senator-at-large, Kong’s participation in Senate debates was marked by gaffes and censure from his incumbent counterparts. In his interview with The Ubyssey, he outlined some broad principles — alumni engagement, inclusion of international students and teaching Indigenous languages, culture and history — but failed to identify any Board policies that are currently underway. At this point, what Kong stands for as a Board candidate is an inscrutable black box. Or maybe just an empty one.

JEANIE MALONE Pending re-election, Jeanie Malone will enter her fourth term on the Board — practically unheard of for a student governor. The first student to chair a committee in over a decade, Malone’s leadership of the People, Community and International Committee has allowed her to oversee the implementation and review of UBC’s standalone sexual misconduct policy. Over the past year, she’s been pushing for the university to explore a comprehensive affordability plan that will measure the impacts of UBC’s disparate programs on students’ pocketbooks. She also worked to make Board more accessible to students throughout her career, writing regular explainers to The Ubyssey about the most important motions on the Board docket.

STUDENT LEGAL FUND SOCIETY STUDENTS FOR STUDENTS

DANNY LIU

During the debate, unofficial team captain of Students for Students Chris Hakim proved to have the specifics ironed out for strengthening relationships with other bodies on campus while recuperating from the less-than-ideal state past SLFS members had left the society in. Unfortunately, because Hakim was doing all the talking, it’s difficult to fully understand what the other slate members would bring to the table beyond what they currently have outlined in their online candidate profiles.

While independent candidate Danny Liu lacks the experience some Students for Students members have and had trouble sparring with Hakim in debates, he has to be given props for his persistence and openness to work with other SLFS members and the community.

His goal of integrating SLFS into the AMS raises concerns because it could undermine the SLFS’s ability to give unbiased legal counsel, but it’s unclear how committed he is to this idea since he didn’t bring up the prospect in debates.

REFERENDA AMS BYLAW CHANGES

INDIGENOUS STUDENT COUNCIL SEAT

The AMS has crammed all 10 proposed changes into this omnibus bill, using the same all-or-nothing approach that resulted in last year’s bylaw changes failing to meet quorum. While the majority of these changes seek to modernize dated code and do a fair bit of housekeeping, there is one proposal that doesn’t quite belong: last year’s confidentiality policy has come back with a vengeance. By limiting access to records on the basis of perceived harmfulness to the AMS, this proposal could allow Council to withhold its records with little restriction. AMS insiders who are pushing the policy think it’s necessary because it allows the society to classify legal and financial agreements, as well as private, sensitive information involving individual students. AMS President Chris Hakim assures that Council would develop a policy to govern records classification in a fair and consistent manner. But it is difficult to judge the potential efficacy of such a policy given that there are no details on it yet.

This referendum is one of the easiest and most tangible ways UBC students can collectively act on reconciliation. The process for filling the seat is outlined in the Indigenous Committee’s code and has specifically been left open-ended to accommodate for the ever-evolving structure of Indigenous self-determination. Its passage will ensure there is an Indigenous presence and vote in the Council’s decision-making process. U

VOTE IN THE AMS ELECTIONS

MARCH 2 - 6 | ams.ubc.ca/vote

AMS ELECTIONS

BINGO

10 PEOPLE DROP OUT IN THE FIRST WEEK

IN RESPONSE TO A QUESTION, A CANDIDATE SAYS “WELL...

UHHH...

TRANSPARENCY”

YOU STRAIN YOUR NECK LOOKIN’ FROM ONE END OF THE SENATE CANDIDATE TABLE TO THE OTHER

SOMEONE GETS THEIR CAMPAIGN SUSPENDED FOR THE REST OF THE CAMPAIGN PERIOD

ENGAGEMENT

SOMEONE’S PLATFORM COVERS ISSUES NOT UNDER THE POSITION THEY’RE RUNNING FOR

PERSON RUNNING IN ONE RACE ASKS A QUESTION TO ANOTHER RACE

INCUMBENT NOT SEEKING REELECTION ASKS A ‘QUESTION’ IMPLYING “FUCK Y’ALL THIS JOB IS HARD”

CANDIDATE SWEARS THEIR CLUB PRESIDENT EXPERIENCE MAKES THEM QUALIFIED (AND IT DOESN’T)

SLATE-LIKE BEHAVIOUR

VOTE (FREE-SPACE)

A CANDIDATE GOES FOR A “SCORCHED EARTH” POLICY AND FULLY GOES FOR THE INCUMBENT’S THROAT

A CANDIDATE VAGUELY SPEAKS ABOUT EQUITY WITHOUT ELABORATING AT ALL

A CANDIDATE GETS SUSPENDED FOR BRIBING PEOPLE

A CANDIDATE DOESN’T SHOW UP TO ANY OF THE DEBATES

JEANIE MALONE AND MAX HOLMES SMILE ENDEARINGLY AT EACH OTHER

“SKYTRAIN TO UBC”

NOTHING REACHES QUORUM

“AS A COMMUTER...”

JEANIE MALONE APPEARS ETHEREALLY FLOATING ABOVE ANY PETTY SQUABBLES

YOU FORGET TO VOTE AFTER AGRESSIVELY TELLING ALL YOUR FRIENDS WHO YOU WANT TO VOTE FOR

A CANDIDATE IGNORES THE DEBATE MODERATOR TELLING THEM THEIR TIME IS UP

ALL CANDIDATES IN THE RACE AGREE WITH EACH OTHER ON EVERY POINT

“WELL, [INCUMBENT] HAS DONE A REALLY GOOD JOB”

YOU GET FIVE FRIEND REQUESTS FROM CANDIDATES