If you’re in Sauder and and you’re concerned, please raise your hand.

I am concerned,  But then again, I’m also really confused right now so I may be being misguided into my worry.

Back up.

What’s going on?  [WARNING: I may be misinformed, I am definitely confused, but it seems I am not the only one, so I share what I understand of it in hopes we can collaborate in our confusion and figure it out… you may be better off with a real “news source”]

Sauder school of business is running (holding?) a “referendum”.

In short:
– The government changed it’s mind about giving Sauder the money it needs to implement “Phase 2″* of construction on the Henry Angus building

– Why is Phase 2 important? Because (or so I understand) the “accreditors”**  will not “accredit” our school (Sauder ONLY) if we do not get another upgrade/fix up HA

– There will be a vote on whether or not Sauder students fund the project with our student fees (additional $500 per year, subject to inflation. Voting on March 11-12)

– A similar ordeal happened in 2007

[for a more detailed explanation click here]

*Phase 2: renovate upper floors of the old Henry Angus, at the “Town Hall” meeting today Dean Dan also mentioned something about the building being “seismically unstable” (think earthquakes).  Additionally I remember hearing something about tearing down the tower and building a new one? (Where all the offices are)  But not too much word about that…

**accreditation: I’m told if your school is not accredited, your diploma is worth nothing.

My initial thought: What? Something this important is riding on infrastructure?

That doesn’t sound right.  Which is why everything is quite foggy and confusing.

However to make it clear, there are different accreditations we can receive.  The ones I know of that we hold are AACSB and EQUIS.  It is unclear however which is the one that is being challenged and either I missed it (I only caught the end) or it wasn’t addressed at Town Hall.

The alternative to paying:
Well, Dean Dan says there isn’t much of a choice.  Er no “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow” as he puts it.  A dis/non accredited school isn’t worth much.  Students are going to have to pay some way.  Hey, maybe they’ll cut that class you love/hate.  Maybe they’ll return those awesome mics we got in the new class rooms that have the mesmerizing glowing red button.

What exactly happened at Town Hall:
I was only there to catch some of the Q&A but there was a lot of information being thrown around so I’ll just keeping my eyes open for the Ubyssey or Cavalier or something.

My conclusion:
These meeting things with the free lunch are really good! (The food or the meeting? BOTH!)  On the referendum, I still need more information and less persuasion on both sides.

Some articles you may find more concretely helpful than this blog:
http://ubcspectator.blogspot.com/2010/03/thoughts-from-commerce-and-cus-alum.html

http://foxtrotubc.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/breaking-cus-caught-in-a-pickle/

https://blogs.ubc.ca/ubcinsiders/2010/03/01/cus-board-to-vote-on-500-building-fee-referendum/

The “official website”:
Finally found it. http://mybuilding.cusonline.ca

You know what?  Actually maybe this accreditation thing isn’t as huge of a concern as I thought.  It’s not mentioned on the website at all…