Mar

12

Arts, The Force is With You

Posted by: | March 12, 2010 | 2 Comments

UBC Votes! But none of us in AUS elections since none of us are Arts students. But that doesn’t mean we can’t provide coverage, and so without further ado, we present our first guest blogger who rarely wears pants. AMS Gossip Guy is going to be jealous. Don’t forget to vote in Continuous VFM.

Dear UBC Insiders Readers,

My name is Crystal Hon and I am going to be your AUS election blogger! A couple things about me: I am currently majoring in English Literature and I am a little bit addicted to Reese’s pieces. I have a bit of experience in running in elections and working in student societies. I was most recently known as the VP Administration for the AMS and before that, I was the VP Internal for the AUS. I agreed to do help the Insiders with the AUS elections because I love the Arts and I believe in the ability of students to change their university experience. With that being said, I am so excited to be blogging for the Insiders; I have never been on this side of the elections fence before!

I plan on reading through all the candidates’ platforms and facebook groups, taking a look at their campaigning efforts (posters, chalking, leafleting etc etc), asking candidates questions about what they hope to do, and attend debates and events. I am going to bring this round of AUS elections more media coverage than they usually see!

So, without further ado, a couple of initial thoughts on the AUS elections:

Continuity
Very few people who sat on last year’s council are running for re-elections. While I always lean towards fresh blood on council because I believe that undergraduate societies should reflect the ever-changing student body, there still needs to be a certain level of continuity.

Executive Races
4 of the 6 Executive positions are uncontested. This definitely raises some concerns because I just plain don’t like uncontested races. I’m not making any comments on the merits or the abilities of any of the candidates, I just like having a choice and uncontested positions always make me uneasy. With that being said, most of the candidates have sat on the AUS so at least they have some idea of what the AUS does.

“Joke” Candidates
There seems to be an influx of joke candidates in this election, namely characters from the popular Star Wars franchise. It seems likely that Mr. Obi-Wan Kenobi will be crowned VP Finance for the coming year. I generally like joke candidates, they make elections fun, bringing some excitement to something that can be monotonous. We should also remember that just because a candidate may seem like a joke candidate, there is nothing stopping them from winning and being just the person for the position.

Closing thoughts:

Candidates
An election is really anyone’s game. People can make educated guesses on who will most likely win the seat but if I’ve learned anything from my time in student government is that you just never know. Candidate, I implore you to campaign campaign campaign. You need to live and breathe your campaign. You have a limited amount of time to get the maximum amount of students to come out and vote for you so do not lose a minute.

Students
While student government may seem like a joke to you and the people running for positions seem to be doing this only to pad their resume, the fact that you give the AUS 13 dollars a year remains. While I cannot promise that all the candidates are running to better your student experience, I can promise you that they will be spending your money.

Election Links

President

Vice-President Finance

  • Obi-Wan Kenobi

Vice-President Internal

Vice-President External

Vice-President Administration

  • Laura Manyari

Vice-President Academic

  • Pelican Mann

General Officers (2)

AMS Representative (5)

Senator (1)


Comments

2 Comments so far

  1. Admiral Ackbar on March 12, 2010 10:11 am

    Implying anyone is a ‘joke’ candidate is unfortunate and demeaning. Could anyone be more intensely serious about democracy than those who risked their lives fighting the Empire across the galaxy for it?

    By the way, had Darth Vader, C3-P0, Chewbacca, Renee Ng and R2D2 not been disqualified, there would have been no uncontested races. Just an interesting aside.

    Are you with Ackbar?

    http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=356473073646&ref=nf

  2. no sense of humour on March 13, 2010 11:51 am

    I don’t see how joke candidates are funny. It’s a waste of time and energy. Especially if the joke candidates are recently appointed arts councillors.

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