The Insiders
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Jan
31
The Thank-You Post
Posted by: Neal Yonson | January 31, 2007 | 4 Comments
We’ll both have withdrawal symptoms and we hope you’ll still read and interact with our discussion posts below. Play with them! We’ll probably reply. Actually, I’m sure we will. And stay tuned for Elections Results tonight! We’ll come back then, with commentary, of course. And photos. End Transmissions. This is goodbye, because the election is […]
Jan
31
One more thing
Posted by: Neal Yonson | January 31, 2007 | 4 Comments
Don’t forget about the post below. We want your thoughts. But there’s another important question, too. Which is how ought this blog to live on? I think there’s a demand for some AMS/student/UBC blog out there. Now Gina and I are graduating, but would be happy to help out anybody who wants to keep a […]
Jan
31
Issue of the Day: Systemic Reform
Posted by: Neal Yonson | January 31, 2007 | 18 Comments
So, we can’t publish tomorrow. And elections are up. So, this post is designed to have a great deal to chew on in our blogging absence.In short, a few ideas requiring bylaw reforms have been floated this election. If we can amend bylaws for one of them…. why not all? To begin: AMS Fees Linked […]
Jan
31
Campaign Wind up
Posted by: Neal Yonson | January 31, 2007 | 22 Comments
Today I saw Jeff Friedrich standing on the North Side of the SUB flyering, all by himself. I’m really curious to see what the voter turnout is going to be. I would not be surprised if it were lower than most years, because of the quiet campaigns which I’ve bitched about many times before. Needless […]
Jan
31
Thoughts on an Election
Posted by: Neal Yonson | January 31, 2007 | 25 Comments
My computer has unceremoniously fried itself. This angers me. It also means my ability to respond to comments instantaneously is greatly reduced, as is my ability to create a thoughtful, well-reasoned post. So, in the style of the “real” media, I present not-quite-formed thoughts, in short, digestible sentence form! 1) I’ll bet The Thunderbird didn’t […]
Jan
30
Inkless Insiders
Posted by: Neal Yonson | January 30, 2007 | 30 Comments
Without a doubt, my favorite political journo is the intrepid Paul Wells; I get downright giddy when he posts about University affairs, which he does with some regularity. Today’s post is noteworthy. It explains quite succinctly why tuition reduction is a profoundly misguided way to increase access, and how lower tuition actually keeps the under-privileged […]
Jan
30
Issue of the Day: AMS Accessibility – Language
Posted by: Neal Yonson | January 30, 2007 | Comments Off on Issue of the Day: AMS Accessibility – Language
This hit me the other day. I was having a conversation with a candidate, asking him (candidate wasn’t necessarily male, I’m just using the pronoun because it’s easier) about his ideas, and he was having trouble communicating, and verbalizing them, particularly when I’d ask him to relate them to abstract concepts. I tried my reassuring […]
Jan
30
Poll Results
Posted by: Neal Yonson | January 30, 2007 | Comments Off on Poll Results
Now that online voting has closed, it’s time to pollute the waters of the Sea of Democracy with that most undemocratic of innovations – the opinion poll!! We had 80 responses, and this violates pretty much every law of polling – no random sampling, no random ordering of the numbers, self-selecting respondents… so it’s pretty […]
Jan
30
Global Citizenship – where does the AMS fit in?
Posted by: Neal Yonson | January 30, 2007 | Comments Off on Global Citizenship – where does the AMS fit in?
The AMS recently passed a motion to support the 1948 UN Declaration of Human Rights. If you haven’t read them/are too lazy to Google, they can be found here:http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html At first I thought the motion was out of order as this had no context or relevancy to the AMS. And then I re-read the 1948 […]
Jan
29
Issue of the Day: First-Year Students
Posted by: Neal Yonson | January 29, 2007 | 12 Comments
The AMS has done a terrific job in addressing issues of systemic barriers to access. (Note: by “access” I refer to the general ability to participate in the AMS, both in terms of services and in government.) See the gender-neutral washroom, its bursary fund, cab fares after midnight, and childcare for examples. But take a […]
