If you still haven’t voted, like me, you need to vote YES on the Upass now. And vote the highest percentage for SPILLING T!

Previous Endorsements: Matt Parson and Tristan Miller for Board of Governors

Referenda: Yes to all.

Here are a few last endorsements:
SENATE – Armin Rezaiean-Asel, Kiran Mahal, Anne Kessler
VP ACADEMIC – Anne Kessler or Kiran Mahal

 

Best Campaign Award goes to… Caroline Wong. Laminated tags with her beautiful campaign designs on them, promotional material all over Rez… this girl is going big! Sure, being in the penalty box and being not able to campaign for the last two days is tough. But I predict a victory for her because of her well-thought-out campaign!

Most responsive: Kiran Mahal. Such a responsible candidate. She had been very thoughtful in the questions she sent me for other candidates. Unfortunately, almost nobody else had the time to send their questions to me.

Freshest ideas: Anne Kessler
from voteanne.com: While there has been a framework drawn up by the AMS and UBC to create emergency housing in the Gage Hostel for people who have been referred there by the Sexual Assault Support Centre or UBC Health Services, we have not seen it implemented yet. If elected I will work to ensure that emergency housing is created for students and others in the community who are in a vulnerable position and need temporary housing.
The [AMS] survey lacked questions on disability and discrimination, and these are two areas of inquiry that I would include in this year’s survey if elected.

While Kiran Mahal does done amazing work in maintaining an unequivocal lobbying effort to lower the Bachelor of International Economics (BIE) tuition and to keep international tuition increases capped at 2%, among many things, her platform this year is, as she has said, a continuation of what she had set out to do last year. Noteworthy are her commitments to tuition consultations, student housing affordability and Acadia Park community needs assessment, all of which Anne Kessler addresses in her platform.

I like Anne Kessler’s fresh ideas, which are more critical of the University’s incomplete servicing of community needs.

 

Biggest Need: For VP External-to-be Tanner Bokor to push the execs and convince AMS Council to lobby for post-secondary education funding. Unfortunately, the campaign that AMS is involved in, Get On Board, is not about pushing for a Skytrain along the Broadway corridor. And you know, I understand this. We want to get lots of big important partners involved, so AMS should become a team player pushing for a better transit system for Metro Van as a whole. It’s a really great campaign and I am very proud of the AMS for its involvement in the campaign. I do feel though, first and foremost, we need to focus on the Where’s The Funding campaign, as AMS has lost a lot of valuable time leading up to the provincial election to bring together a strong, united voice on the need for post-secondary education funding. In fact, the WTF website has been down for at least four days now.

Did they pay their bills?
(click on the image. you won’t regret it)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AMS needs to know that the reason they feel students on the UBC Vancouver campus does not care about lobbying for funding is because AMS has not made a memorable effort to educate students on funding and to speak of plans about increasing organizing capacity. Why not have a post-secondary education funding forum? AMS had one for campus housing affordability!

AMS needs to take advantage of the fact that the BC Premier Christy Clark is the MLA of Point Grey and that her ratings should make her feel she is quite in need of getting people back in the BC Liberal camp. UBC Vancouver campus is situated in the provincial Point Grey riding, which appears to be more of a swing riding than not this election time. Starting from at least last year, AMS should have been collecting signatures and postal codes of anyone who will Vote Education. We could so show that there are a lot of us within Point Grey riding who will Vote Education! Now is the time to let BC NDP Point Grey candidate Adrian Dix and BC Premier Christy Clark know that post-secondary education funding is a need for supporters of both parties and for all British Columbians.

 

 

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What’s AMS?

AMS is UBC students' student union, which provides governance for its businesses, its student advocacy and its student services. The most relevant services to you are probably the businesses in the SUB, the AMS Health and Dental Plan and the Upass.
Read about the AMS here!

The Editor

I am a cheap, library-fine-collecting, free-food-finding, late-assignment-penalty-reduction-requesting critical student at UBC.

With the mission to "improve the quality of the educational, social, and personal lives of the students of UBC," I wish to see AMS not only provide student services for such improvements but to also advocate outside the traditional scope of academic and tuition issues, to improve the well-being of students.

Candidates

UBC Board of Governors: Erin Rennie, grad student Conny Lin, undergrads Harsev Oshan, Tristan Miller, Mike Silley (incumbent) and Matt Parson

AMS President: Caroline Wong, Ekateryna Baronovskaya, and Jay Shah

AMS VP Academic: Montana Hunter, Kiran Mahal (incumbent), Anne Kessler

AMS VP Finance: Joaquin Acevedo, Mateusz Miadlikowski

AMS VP External: Tanner Bokor

VP Admin: Justin Fernandes, Derek Moore, Olivia Yung, Barnabas Caro

Senate: Read about them here.

Student advocacy? Do something with my tuition!

Let's look at what will happen to your tuition in the next few years.
UBC's international student policy is that for students who commence their studies in 2012/2013, the international tuition fees will increase by no more (but likely no less!) than 2% per year for the next 4 years. Domestic students are also facing a 2% increase in tuition a year.

This year's AMS Election is likely to be even more important for students, because it is also the same year as our provincial election. This year's AMS Execs have the opportunity to organize and gain potential to make AMS's lobbying efforts much stronger than it has been in the past four years. The AMS Execs meet with the BC Premier, provincial ministers and critics from the opposition party, along with the University Neighbourhood Association, the University, Translink, other student unions and many other important players of post-secondary life and politics.

I hate student fees.

I hear you.
Go actually take a look at your student fees.

Here's a good Ubyssey article that explains some of our student fees. You're easily paying over $200 for services you may not be able to afford.

Where else are students writing about UBC/AMS?

If you're on this site, then you already know to visit Ubyssey, UBC's official student newspaper.

There's also the SPAM Festival of AMS elections, AMS Confidential. Not the unsolicited email type, but this fun-loving type that makes so many people happy that they would dress up as such and march in a SPAM Festival.

Lastly, there's UBC Insiders. Not sure if they are covering this election but they are extremely informative. Some serious investigative critical blogging there.

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