To combat the brain drain that occurs over winter break, here’s a quick recap of what’s affecting elections this term: namely, the United Nations Tuition Debacle.

The United Nations visited the Knoll

I’m sorry,  let me repeat that: the UN DEBACLE!!!!

Quick summary: is tuition a human rights issue worthy of the UN?  Blake & Tim and their legal counsel think so, and they’re willing to secretly spend $$$ on it.  Oh, it was all just a media stunt? The campus is safe from  Too late—we’re still on Failblog.  (The Ubyssey has a whole UN category if you’re a total keener.)

—so anyway, the wake of the biggest thing to happen to AMS politics since Slategate ’09 saw student leadership divided into two factions: Blake & Tim supporters, who believe Council are a bunch of groupthinking overreactors and that involving students in the tuition discussion is worth breaking a few rules, VERSUS Blake & Tim detractors (i.e. most of Council), who are generally displeased with the maverick turn Blim have taken.  Also, they’re not too happy about said broken rules, especially the ones where they demand to be consulted about large expenses. Not to mention Blim had a secret rendezvous with an expensive lawyer and didn’t invite Council along.

In an emergency meeting in which Blim did not appear (those NDP conventions throw serious parties), AMS Council unanimously passed a motion to retract the complaint to the UN against the BC and Canadian governments in regard to Article 13(c) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Basically, they showed them who’s boss.

I’m suddenly confused at this methodology that everything has to go through committee.
-President Blake

Thus, when we last left our esteemed student leaders, everybody was all het up.  In lieu of legal advice which said that removal from office was not an option*, Team Blim had been censured (note existence of previous attempts to do so) and, in addition:

• asked to keep exhaustive records of their activities (aka hourly reports)—Blake, that bastion of transparency, puts his on Twitter.
• effectively stripped of their decision-making abilities

And, of course, Geoff Costeloe, outspoken Blim detractor & vanity URL holder, had become one of the most polarizing men on campus (see also: Matt Naylor), judging by pure undiluted blogosphere commentary.

So what’s to be expected from this round of elections?  Without knowing who’ll run, we can predict platforms in the following non-exclusive categories:

1. People who claim to represent some form of “new politics,” or “fresh thinking,” be that more or less radical
2. People who are 100% committed to lowering tuition (but…)
3. People who aren’t here to discuss Blake & Tim, goddamnit
4. People who are not, in fact people. See: Kommander Keg

Either way, it’s going to be an exciting month plus, folks.

* Unless, of course, there was a referendum.