It’s been a bit quiet around Insiders lately: writing long posts take work, and we’d rather be enjoying the sunshine. But that doesn’t mean things have stopped happening. Make sure to check out AMS Confidential’s News for N00bs for the latest news (and lulz!); rather than overlap, we’ll come up with our own alliterative title and report even hackier things for you. Without further ado…
Category: BoG
Back in January, UBC Insiders broke a story about email voting by the Board of Governors. At the time, we intended to actually go into the board policies that were involved. Life and AMS elections got in the way.
Hubert Lai, University Counsel (ie. UBC’s lawyer), gave an interview about Policy 116: Commercial Agreements Initiated by External Affairs and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, where he explained what the policy was and why it was repealed. Most of all, he repeatedly played down the importance of the repealing of this policy, saying it was obsolete and should have been taken off the books years ago.
The UBC Board of Governors will be holding an extraordinary Board Committee meeting tomorrow, April 21st, to approve the new Commerce student fees and a Board 3 for the Sauder building upgrades (agenda). It’s important to note that the date-stamp on the agenda is April 19th. This means that there was only two days of notice given to the public (and Board members, as I have confirmed). This gives extremely little time for any consultation or feedback to happen. As members of the public are required to apply for tickets at least 24 hrs in advance, it makes it extremely hard for any interested parties to attend.
The agenda lists only the following four open items, and Sean Heisler, student Board rep, has confirmed that there are no closed items on the agenda:
Finance Committee
Join Property & Planning and Finance Committee
- 2.1 Sauder School of Business Building Project
Considering all the controversy surrounding the CUS Building Fee, it’s alarming to see this being pushed through so quickly and under the table.
In particular, this meeting raises a number of interesting questions:
1. Why is this so pressing that an extraordinary meeting has to be called?
2. Knowing the controversy surrounding this fee and the building project, is this being deliberately done semi-secretly?
3. There is no extraordinary Full Board meeting scheduled. Will these resolutions be brought into effect prior to a resolution of the full Board?
4. Is the Board 3 being rushed to prevent students from being able to change the building program now that they are a major donor?
Further discussion, rampant speculation, and a detailed analysis of each item after the jump.
Categories
BoG Breakdown – Mar. 23 Meeting
The Board of Governors meeting for March/April has once again rolled around. Today is the Board Committees Meeting, with the full board meeting being April 8th. The agenda has a number of interesting elements on it, including details of UBC’s next budget, updates on the UBC Transit Line study, the tuition fee increases for next year, and more.
As always, if you have any thoughts or comments about these items or any others on the agenda, you can email the student Board reps, Mike Duncan and Bijan Ahmadian, who will be transitioning to the new student reps after this meeting.
Read on for a detailed analysis of what I consider to be some of the more interesting items on the agenda.
As has already been discussed in a number of places already, UBC has recently created a Student Editorial Team to go along with The Administration Blog, where Pierre “zeeVP” Ouillet and Brian “BowtieBrian” Sullivan can communicate directly with the UBC community. The fact that the various different media have managed to each take something different from what was discussed during the first meeting is, I think, a positive thing. In that spirit, this posting is about something that definitely won’t be appearing in any other media source.
During the meeting we were discussing the (then-upcoming) CUS fee referendum when BSul mentioned something about an athletics fee at UVic having been recently turned down. It was a throwaway line, really, but my ears perked up due to my fanatical interest in athletics fees. As I looked into the details surrounding the proposed UVic athletics fee I realized something: UBC already did what UVic had proposed and had gotten away with it, successfully avoiding ministry intervention. And not only that, UBC will probably get away with it again in the future too.
.
UBC Insiders Analysis
Click here to skip to profiles of the candidates in this race.
The 21-member Board of Governors at UBC is composed of “the Chancellor, the President, eleven persons appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council (representing the province), three students elected by students, three faculty members elected by faculty, and two employees elected by employees.” Two of these students are elected during AMS Elections from the student population at UBC Vancouver. (the third student is from UBC Okanagan).
These elected representatives are privy to a vast amount of information about UBC, as essentially every major decision is passed by the Board. They also have a unique opportunity to speak before the Board about student issues, and ensure that major developments at UBC are not negatively impacting quality of education or the student experience.
We asked candidates about which Board Committees interest them; what the biggest problems with the Board are; what is important about the role of the Board; and how they will advocate and increase student accountability to the Board.
See Candidate Profiles and what would make Andrew’s ideal BoG candidate, after the jump.
Last fall, the Board of Governors gave its consent to UBC’s newest policy, Policy 92: Land Use and Permitting. Look closely at the top right-hand corner of the policy. The approval date listed is October 2009.
.
.
One problem: the Board never met in October..
Happy First Week all. Here’s what happened while you were out.
On Campus
The Student Board of Governors representatives turned over. Tim Blair bids farewell, as Michael Duncan takes his place. Bijan Ahmadian and Alexandra Caldwell (UBC-O) were re-elected for their respective second terms.
The University approved a plan to in-fill Totem residence. This was met with surprise and glee from at least one editor of this blog. (Board item front page, 60-megabyte board presentation .pdf)
Categories
UBC Farm Saved?
UBC Board of Governors Chair Brad Bennett caught developing the UBC Farm.After a number of secret meetings, it looks like the UBC Board of Governors may have decided to protect the full 24 hectares of the UBC Farm and surrounding forest. Here’s the press release they issued on Monday:
UBC Board of Governors Requests New Academic Plan for Sustainable South Campus
The University of British Columbia Board of Governors has directed UBC administration to develop academic plans for a 24 ha parcel of South Campus land for teaching and research purposes that are “academically rigourous and globally significant” around issues of sustainability.
The Board directed that the new plans enhance UBC’s position as Canada’s most sustainable university and a recognized world leader in campus sustainability.
At the same time, the Board stipulated that no market housing will be pursued on the 24 ha parcel, which contains the UBC Farm, as long as the university’s housing, community development and endowment goals can be met through transferring density to other parts of campus. The 24 ha parcel is designated as “Future Housing Reserve” in the current UBC Official Community Plan, a bylaw of the Greater Vancouver Regional District created in 1997.
The Board also committed to the continuation of current land uses until academic plans are completed and a decision has been reached on density transfer.
The Friends of the Farm club, which has been one of the primary pro-Farm advocates, welcomed the release and recognized it as a huge step forward for their cause. Their strategy now is to encourage the Board to continue down this path and ensure that their voices continue to be heard.
While this is all great news, it should still be taken with a certain degree of caution. There is no guarantee that the Farm will remain at 24 ha. The Board could decide to build classroom space or non-market housing and justify it as “academically rigourous”. We have seen UBC propose before that building housing on the Farm’s arable land in partnership with the architecture school would be considered sustainability research. It’s also important to remember that the Board’s promise to keep market housing off the Farm is contingent on the creation of a plan to relocate market housing to other areas of campus. This could cause some real problems, especially if the plan is to move market housing to University Square.
It’s hard to know what’s really going on here. The situation would perhaps be a bit more clear if the (partially) elected Board of Governors stopped restricting their discussions on the UBC Farm to closed session meetings. Even if their decisions are positive ones, they need to be deliberated and decided out in the open. But maybe accountability and transparency are too much to ask from a public institution.
Darren Peets, by the incomparable JJ McCullough (don’t sue me JJ!)Governor Peets’s priceless pearls of wisdom. Listen up BoG candidates!!
Can a bog rep actually make a difference?
Yes, absolutely, but it may not always be obvious to more than ~50 people, very few of whom are students. The turnaround time may also be very slow.
Can a bog rep actually make a difference?
Yes, absolutely, but it may not always be obvious to more than ~50 people, very few of whom are students. The turnaround time may also be very slow.
How much time does it take to know enough for each meeting?
“Enough”? Arguably infinite. To do a good job, reading the docket will take a full day or three, and following up on items in it may eat up another day or two. It depends on how much you already know, to what depth you’re inclined to dig on an issue, and how good you are at sifting out the issues that most require attention.
What’s the fastest/best way to make BoG members respect and listen to you?
Have a number of valid, thoughtful points, and not waste their time with minor issues or technicalities you could have asked or suggested to staff. Shmoozing ability is highly overrated in this regard.
what’s the most important issue that’ll be facing this year’s BoG reps?
I have a campus development bias, so I’m going to say one of U Blvd, South Campus “ecodensity”, municipal governance, or the Vancouver Campus Plan.
what would you do differently if you could try again?
Try to get introduced to, talk with, and be known to all the appointees well before turnover. The first meeting would have gone significantly better.
how many free meals did you get this year?
Not many in 2008 yet. In the Board term so far? I have no idea, and it would not be easy to count.