Ah, election day. The day I walk into the SUB for my morning coffee and notice over a dozen cameramen and reporters just milling about in the concourse. Were there more bonfires last night? Another murder in the park? Doesn't seem likely.
Who's that grey-haired man with snazzy glasses walking in with an entourage? Why it's Gordon Campbell, coming to the SUB for his voting photo-op!
I wish I had had my own camera on hand, but I suppose you can watch some footage on any newscast this evening. It was interesting to see the news machine at work.
He brought the full entourage, including the seldom-seen wife, kids and grandkids, with one big burly RCMP officer dressed in black, constantly standing on the periphery.
As he entered a voting booth, he had his back to the reporters. Being hopelessly naive, I expected the cameras at that point to turn away, or stop filming at least temporarily, to respect the fact that voting is supposed to be private. Instead, they stepped it up a notch. The CityTV cameraman was particularly shameless, holding his camera aloft above his head in hopes of getting a better shot. For Christ's sake, do you want him to just pass around his marked ballot? It's not like you don't know who he's voting for.
Then came the posing with his ballot half in the box. If the photo-op nature of this event was not yet obvious enough to observers, he asked everyone if they had gotten the shot they wanted before actually putting it in the box. Then the scrum moved outside for a brief Q&A.
At this point I was thinking: where's the AMS? Let me first say that I absolutely don't have any expectations that it is the AMS execs' duty to constantly harass Gordon Campbell or other politicians. That should not be one of the primary duties in their job description.
However, the external office did put out a press release in April bitching about how ministers made themselves unavailable, (followed of course by the obligatory NayloRant™). The AMS has told the world that they are quite eager to meet with politicians, and are unhappy that they were not able to. So you might think that having the premier walk into their own god-damned building on election day followed by a gaggle of reporters and cameramen might represent a good chance to ask him some questions! No such luck today, though Blake and Crystal did leave whatever they were doing to catch the very end of the scrum.
I couldn't actually hear most of the questions and answers since in the interest of informing the public about this absolutely vital story (Premier ♥ voting and democracy!) the media formed an impenetrable wall around him, keeping the actual public away. He pimped out his grandkids, and gave some pretty stock answers to some pretty milquetoast questions. Then it was off to the parking lot by the bookstore to do... whatever else he is doing today.
Edit: Well, there it is. Gordo and his ballot, currently the lead picture on globeandmail.com. You can even make out the out-of-focus AMS logo in the background.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Gordo In Da House
Monday, May 4, 2009
UBC in the news
I definitely don't want to turn into a news aggregator blog, but there have been a number of UBC news items lately that I thought were interesting and wanted to share. And trust me, I think it's totally lame when I read something that is just a recap of other stories I've already read or heard about. So hopefully there is something in here you didn't know about yet...
But only if they form a government. That's a rather large 'if'. Hooray for pandering!
I guess the judge doesn't read UBC Insiders - too bad.
I guess they don't read UBC Insiders either. Otherwise they'd know lawsuits like that don't work.
Incidents like this no doubt contributed to the RCMP crackdown on alcohol. However, I am 99.9999999% sure this did not occur at a licenced event, so if incidents like this are used to justify the stricter rules, it's a red herring.
A Vancouver Sun story with more details from right after the accident can be found here.
There is still hope that one day Hampton Place can be expropriated and turned into student residences.
I'm not sure The Power Within will be welcome at UBC again. This was one of the first non-hockey events to be held at Thunderbird Arena and a test of how disruptive these types of events would be to UNA residents. Everything was going fine until, unbeknownst to UBC, they decided to set up drumming and fire-walking outside the building...
The best part of the ticket is the last line on the back: "This Traffic Notice is issued by authority of the Board of Governors of The University of British Columbia." Whoops.
From the article: "If you can get school paid for just for playing football, that is awesome. But the whole point of college for me, is to get my degree," says Kelly Kurisu. There was nothing stopping him from getting his degree at WWU since the university did not go under, to the best of my knowledge. I wonder what incentives Athletics offered him to come here.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Pierre Shakes It Up
Pierre Ouillet, UBC's recently hired VP Finance, Resources, Operations is getting down to business. In a memo dated April 2, significant changes to the structure of many units in his portfolio were outlined. At first, it may seem strange that one of the stated aims was "an imperative to streamline and simplify our organizational structure to improve impact and efficiency" when in fact it could be argued that even more layers of bureaucracy were added. Nevertheless, let's press on and find out more about these changes.
- Darren Peets
The revised organizational chart can be found here. Although there are a number of blank spaces on the chart, no positions are actually vacant. Other than, that, it's a pretty standard, boring org. chart.
Wait a minute... Al, is that you? Al Poettcker?! OH MY GOODNESS, what are you doing there? UBC will be going to court to claim that your organization is not under their control. But somebody snuck you and Philip Falls onto that org. chart anyways, perched right beside Pierre in the top middle. This must be some sort of conspiracy.
The Bare Necessities: Food and Housing
The merger between Food and Housing is already running full speed ahead with Andrew Parr, formerly Director of UBC Food Services, on top of the combined unit. UBC Food is now moved into the VP Students portfolio and the UBC-O food and housing units are also included. This merger coincides with the departure of Fred Fotis, former director of UBC Housing, for greener pastures. Most student politicians I have talked to were not fans of Mr. Fotis and Andrew Parr will bring a more student-focused approach with him.
The merger makes sense in that there is obviously a lot of interplay between the departments already. Cafeterias in residence are already integrated, while conferences and catering certainly do plenty of business together as well. However, Andrew Parr has no experience dealing with housing and childcare issues. While he considers housing a functioning department already (meaning that there is no need for any major overhaul; just continued management), long-standing challenges remain. The childcare situation is still at the top of many people's minds, while the length of the waiting list for residence still poses problems.
Two different strategic planning processes are now underway: one for childcare and one for housing. We'll see how much of a priority the AMS and GSS truly put on these issues, since there is a much bigger opportunity to drive change at this point in the process rather than simply bitching about the results later. The strategic planning will also be influenced by the results of the ongoing campus plan process. As we all saw during the last round of consultations, C&CP was hedging their bets on being able to use the "future housing reserves" (aka the UBC Farm) in every one of their plans. Now that that appears not to be an option, don't hold your breath waiting for C&CP to come up with some wonderful plan for all this stuff. I'm going to tentatively say that Andrew Parr's lack of experience in housing and childcare issues may actually be a good thing if he's able to cut through the bullshit and end up with a plan that could actually work.
Pierre puts UBC on a diet: Let's lose those LBS!
-Pierre Ouillet
The Land and Building Services portfolio, which was responsible for infrastructure at UBC, has been dispersed among a few portfolios. UBC Trek and the Sustainability Office now find themselves under Campus and Community Planning. Building Operations takes over Plant Ops and Utilities. Infrastructure Development comes into its own with former Plant Ops head John Metras on top. I'll let Alex explain this one:
-Alex Lougheed
Not only does this help advance UBC's sustainability ethos, it just seems like common sense at this point. One of the themes of this shakeup is having UBC's departments working together as a team towards a common goal. The point that Properties Trust needs to adjust their way of thinking about how they do business has been brought up before. This appears to be the follow through. I again feel compelled to point out the complete lack of control UBC has over Properties.
I guess any reform of Plant Ops at this point is a lost cause. They get shuffled, but with no real changes.
Despite the disappearance of Land and Building Services, the former AVP in charge isn't leaving, he's leading. Geoff Atkins is now UBC's "Leader of University Sustainability". I hope to expand on Geoff and his new role in a future post, but in short: Geoff is free to use UBC as his playground to test and implement new ideas about sustainability. What strikes me most about Geoff is that he takes problems and thinks about them completely differently that most people would. This is an amazing quality and makes him seem well-suited to a blue sky position like this; it also leads to his ideas sounding alternately brilliant and crazy (and sometimes both). He is truly passionate about sustainability issues which makes me hope he will be able to make the most of this opportunity.
HR moved under Toope
The VP Ops/Fin portfolio lost some more weight by having HR now report to President Toope. I honestly haven't a clue why this change was made. Pierre Ouillet's charming assertion that it "reflects the importance we are putting on our people," definitely does not fly with me. This is where you are supposed to help me out in the comments section.
There were other changes as well; this post touched on the ones I found most interesting. The original memo is linked at the top, so read it for the full list.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Freedom of Information Applies to UBC's Corporate Entities
UBC just got a little more transparent.
A very recent ruling from the Office of the Infomation and Privacy Commissioner for BC has ruled that UBC must release records requested under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) for three of its subsidiaries: UBC Properties Investment Ltd., UBC Research Enterprises Inc. and UBC Investment Management Trust.
The FIPPA request was initiated by Stanley Tromp, a former UBC student and Ubyssey reporter who, in 2001, also managed to force the release of Coca-Cola's 12-year exclusivity contract with UBC and the AMS.
The initial request asked for the annual report, salary of the highest ranking employee and meeting minutes from 7 organizations associated with UBC:
UBC denied the requests, asserting that these organizations are private organizations, and therefore FIPPA does not apply. Mr. Tromp then requested a review by the Office of the Infomation and Privacy Commissioner for BC resulting in the ruling linked above.
In the end, it was found that UBC Properties Investment Ltd., UBC Research Enterprises Inc. and UBC Investment Management Trust are "under the control of a public body" and therefore must fulfill FIPPA requests. While UBC tried to pull out all the stops in arguing why the records of these bodies were not under their control, the adjudicator seemed distinctly unimpressed with their arguments and rejected all of them as being irrelevant, contrary to the spirit of the law, or inconsistent with precedent.
The adjudicator pointed out that the three organizations were incorporated by UBC, 100% owned by UBC, must report to UBC administration and/or BoG, and most if not all of their directors are UBC employees or BoG members. That constitutes "control".
The other four organizations were found not to be under UBC's control and not required to disclose the requested documents. UBC has thirty days to appeal the ruling.
Update April 27: UBC does intend to appeal.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Collect $200 As You Pass Go
As a number of media sites have already reported, UBC lost its parking case at the BC Supreme Court. The court found that UBC has no authority to issue parking tickets or collect money for parking violations. I know what you're thinking...
Well, not necessarily.
The suit focused on UBC's ability to issue parking tickets and collect money for parking violations. And as it turns out, they can't. However, UBC's ability to regulate parking, charge for parking and enforce parking were not at issue. UBC can still legally do all these things.
What will be interesting to see is whether of not UBC comes up with a genuine, reasonable response to this. From the beginning, it never seemed like they were taking this lawsuit very seriously and were basically trying to bully their way out of it. It's never a good sign when you abandon your main defense right before the trial. And so far, after the decision, everything they've done has merely been posturing. They've already said they'll appeal. They also released a bulletin which I can't help but snicker at.
"Nothing to see here, folks... business as usual... here is some legalese to obscure what's really going on... continue overpaying us for parking... if you do not continue to pay us you will unleash a traffic Armageddon... and if we do have to tow you, please know we're only doing it for your own good."
The result of the ruling is that now, the only way UBC can enforce parking regulations is by either 1) asking everyone nicely to continue paying for parking, or 2) towing and impounding vehicles. I really hope UBC thinks long and hard before using option #2 given that heavy-handed application of parking rules is what got them into this mess in the first place. If they start towing cars left, right and centre, they are eventually going to end up with another lawsuit on their hands.
I don't have a whole lot more to add, but was hoping to hear what people think about this in the comments because I think it's a very interesting development. No other campus blog has mentioned it and the Ubyssey won't have the story ready until next Tuesday.
Personally I am interested in learning that if this judgement is upheld on appeal, what are the broader implications? There must be other instances where UBC has granted themselves powers they are not legally entitled to under the University Act. Anybody know?
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Two fun promos!
Thought I'd drop by to share a couple cool clips.
This is from Terry*, an interdisciplinary project at UBC that runs a course (ASIC 200) and an amazing speaker series. The newest branch of the project is Terry Talks, a one-day conference modeled on the popular TED Talks. It'll bring UBC's most dynamic students to give "the talk of their life" on a high-profile platform. All you folks should consider attending or even applying to be one of the special few!
Promo number 2 is from our very own AMS, starring Prez Michael Duncan. What happens when the Joker threatens to take over the AMS and blow up the SUB? There's only one way to find out dudes.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Introducing Maria and Blake!
We're very happy to have Maria Jogova and Blake Frederick on board for this year of the blog. I'm really excited about the year to come with both of them. Now for a brief introduction to the next generation of UBC Insiders bloggers:
Blake is a fourth year philosophy student and now works in the AMS as the assistant VP external. Maria is a third year physiology student who is also this year's president of the UBC Debate Club. Intrigue and subterfuge of the Devil's Advocate's stronghold, I know. Incidentally, both Maria and Blake were in Science one (as was I). Hmm.
These two are very plugged into the student life and discourse here at UBC in ways that I never was, and they've got some amazing ideas for the blog. In addition to these two fresh faces, we're having a website makeover too. I know I know, we've been promising it for ages, but I'm serious! It's coming I swear.
As for me, I'll be around, but joining Tim and Gina in the backseat. Look out for my new column in the Ubyssey by-weekly (starting tomorrow)!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
B.C. PSE budgets are actually being cut
Last week, the Vancouver Sun broke a story about the Campbell government's decision to deviate from the expected funding levels for post-secondary institutions by redistributing some money, boosting health care and trade training in some colleges and cutting university funding. I wrote a post saying how reasonable this was with respect to strategic development of PSE in B.C. Well, it seems that that wasn't the whole story. As Erin Millar reports in her excellent Macleans article it tuns out that this budget change isn't just a re-allocation of money from some types of undergraduate programs (full-time student seats) to higher priority programs, but an actual cross-the-board reduction from the expected levels, as well. That means that UBC, among other institutions, are experiencing a reduction in per-student funding, but also a reduction from the expected level of base funding.
How much exactly isn't clear: according to a statement released by UBC President Stephen Toope, the clawback is 4.5 million for UBC-O and 11.3 million for UBC-V. He points out that UBC's budget is still increasing compared to last year, but by 5% instead of 8%. According to the Confederation of University Faculty Associations (CUFA), the numbers are actually higher than that. They estimate 12.4 million less in base funding (from the cross-the-board 2.6% cut) and an additional $5 million less from the reduction in full-time student seat funding, bringing the total cut to $17.4 million for both of UBC's campuses. System wide, CUFA estimates the cuts are worth 40-60 million.
In any event, this is bad news for UBC, which is already struggling to deal with its own structural recurring deficit through program cuts. Such an announcement right before the start of the new fiscal year, after all the budgeting for the university had already been completed is rather a shock. There's been no word about how exactly UBC will absorb this shortfall, though other colleges have already announced layoffs. Even more worrisome is that the government seems to be attempting to spin this as a redistribution only, when it in fact seems to be an cross-the-board reduction from the expected levels by 2.6% AND a FTE redistribution (though still an increase from last year). What's the point in sending the universities letters with the expected funding levels on which to base their budgeting if they don't abide by them?
A group of students and professors from across the province have formed a group called "Coalition Against Funding Cuts" to draw attention to all this. Check out their facebook group HERE for more info on what's being done.
Perhaps universities and colleges have expanded to to much too quickly in a manner that's just unsustainable. If tuition hikes (which we have experienced in the last five years) and great economic times (which we've also experienced in the last five years) aren't enough to satisfactorily fund the province's post-secondary education system, maybe there's something wrong with the size or character of the system in general. I haven't researched exactly how universities and colleges have expanded in the last 20 years, so I don't know, exactly, but I know that just hiring faculty with regular promotions costs more money than the university actually has - a major contributing factor to UBC's own deficit. A sobering thought.
Updates on the Arrests
Edit/Update: Here are some more details from the CBC website, a video and an eyewitness account from Blake Frederick, elected Senator and student. We will write a more thorough analysis as more details become available.
Update 2: A judge will determine around 1pm today (Saturday April 5) at the DTES Criminal Court whether the five or more arrested students will be criminally charged or if they will be released. More updates to come.
Update 3: Youtube clip (anonymously submitted), and another Youtube clip of the bonfire and VP External Stef Ratjen being detained . Here you can keep yourself updated on the rest of the media's coverage.
Update 4: Another Youtube clip of the students being arrested. There is an individual on a bicycle who seems to have been plugged from the crowd and arrested. What did he do to be arrested?
Saturday, April 5, 2008
25 students detained during peaceful protest
(restructured post for new readers) PRESS RELEASE: POLICE BRUTALITY AT KNOLL AID Today a peaceful celebration in defence of public space at UBC was violently quashed by the RCMP. This press release was written on April 5th at 1 a.m. with limited available information. All the events discussed herein have been either captured by camera or can be corroborated by multiple eyewitness accounts. On Friday, April 4th, UBC students loosely associated with Trek Park and SDS held "Knoll Aid 2.0," a musical celebration of public space on campus. Knoll Aid 2.0 was part of a larger campaign against the commercialization of campus, the demolition of the grassy knoll, and the development of a $40 underground bus-loop. Knoll Aid 2.0 was an overwhelmingly peaceful event and featured local musicians, free food, and three simultaneous petition drives. It was attended by primarily UBC students. Though Knoll Aid 2.0 began at noon on Friday, at around 8:00/8:30 RCMP and the Fire department arrived at the area known as "Trek Park" (a liberated space near the grassy knoll) because some students had created a small bonfire. Citing a bylaw violation, the RCMP approached one student, Stefanie Ratjen, in a rather aggressive manner and began speaking with her. After a dialogue, the contents of which are still unknown, Stefanie was grabbed by an RCMP officer and thrown to the ground, pinned, and handcuffed. Her face was literally shoved in a puddle of mud while an RCMP officer sat on top of her. After this uncalled act of police aggression, fellow students came to her aid. One musician was immediately arrested for questioning the RCMP officer's treatment of Stefanie. For approx. two hours students formed a chain to protest RCMP action and several students attempted to peacefully negotiate the release of Stefanie and the musician (whose name at this point is unknown). During this time approx. 30 RCMP cars with officers from across Vancouver and the lower mainland including Richmond came to UBC. Campus security was also present and threatened to discipline students if they did not cooperate with the RCMP. Police officers systematically attempted to break the human chain students had formed by pushing, shoving and kicking. RCMP officers randomly arrested any student present at the scene including Bahram Norouzi who was arrested in the middle of a CTV interview. At around 10:30 p.m. on approx. 25 students were arrested and detained. They were brought to a Main and Hastings detention center where they presently still remain. This press release would like to draw attention to the conduct of the RCMP. A university is intended for students, not the police. Upon entering student space, the police should have had the decency, at the very least, to deal with students in a respectful and dignified manner. Instead, RCMP officers were highly aggressive and belligerent. RCMP officers committed gross abuses of power by, for example, threatening to release dogs on students and pointing taser guns at students that were already pinned down to the floor. The actions of RCMP officers are testament of police misconduct, if not brutality. We demand the release of all students arrested and demand that all charges be dropped. Furthermore, we demand an inquiry of the RCMP's actions in relation to this event and the treatment of students. Lastly, we demand that UBC administration defends student's rights to a peaceful protest. To repeat, this was a peaceful celebration/concert in defence of public space. The RCMP had no right to violently quash a peaceful student protest. Signed, Trek Park for the People Students for a Democratic Society Student Environment Center Social Justice Center
Students peacefully protest the arrest of a fellow student Photocredit: Geoff Dunbrack
On April 4th students lit a bonfire and held a music and dance night in support of the grassy knoll on campus. The Fire Department arrived to put out the large bonfire, and this escalated into a number of confrontations and students being arrested.
The press release below was sent to me before there was anything to be found on the RCMP media website or any other news source, but from the limited information I can't help but wonder if the police used unnecessary force if its intentions were to put out a bonfire. While I don't think the police needs to act differently in a student space from anywhere else (as the press release suggests), the police conduct makes me think of 1968 Germany.
I ask that anonymous comments be at least signed with initials.
Press release from Students for a Democratic Society as well as more photos behind the jump.
Here are some photos taken by students on the scene.
Photocredit: Geoff Dunbrack
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
March 2008 AMS Referendum results
Don't forget the below posts. It's a busy week!
Well, unoficial results are in, and all the questions have been approved with a majority 'yes' vote. Here are the numbers:
Overall turnout: 44%
Total votes: 18,446
U-Pass renewal NO: 500 YES: 17,945 ; 97.2% in favour
Bylaw reforms NO: 1284 YES: 4357 ; 77.3% in favour
WUSC (student refugee subsidy) NO: 2162 YES: 8363 ; 79.4% in favour
SUB renewal fee NO: 6228 YES: 7342; 54% in favour
Good overall turnout - the quorum of 10% of daytime students was met in every question easily. SUB renewal fee passed by a very thin margin. I suspect the AMS will have to do a helluva good consultation to create the level of buy-in that's really needed. 54% isn't great - particularly considering that all the students that voted will be paying $40/year max towards the building (not much compared to the cost to future cycles of students). More discussion of SUB renew to come.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Weekend Update
Various and sundry news items:
- At SFU, the defederation referendum passed. Over 66% of voters voted in favour of leaving the CFS. 4500 votes were cast. To student politics people, this kind of referendum is the Most Important Thing Ever. But it goes to show that, to students writ large, it really isn't that big of a deal. Hmm.
- The Globe and Mail contains an op-ed piece whose central idea is that the budget contains relatively good news for low-income students. The summary is that they've pretty much killed the Millennium Scholarship money, re-vamping low-income grants, and increasing and stabilizing funding levels. They're not relying on loans or loan forgiveness; the money will come throughout the school year. This is very good. They've also promised a "review" of the student loan system; who knows what that means, but the system sure as heck needs a review. Regardless, the piece is worth a read.
- The Vancouver Sun wrote that government funding for universities isn't up to the levels promised in the funding letter. AvEd has decided to re-allocate funding, rather than just put it generally into universities. Anybody know what specific impact that had/will have at UBC?
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
BioScience Building locked down
from the UBC website:
There has been a police incident at the Bio Sciences Building, which is located at the intersection of Main Mall and University Boulevard at the University of British Columbia.
On the advice of the RCMP, the Bio Sciences Building has been locked down. Building occupants have been instructed to stay where they are, to secure the room in which they are located, and to await further instructions from the RCMP.
No person will be permitted to enter or leave the Bio Sciences Building without RCMP authorization.
Out of an abundance of caution, the RCMP is advising that others on campus stay where they are currently located. All campus occupants should be aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious circumstances to the RCMP at 911. Persons who are not on campus are advised to remain away from the campus until further notice.
Further information, as it becomes available, will be posted at http://www.ubc.ca.
Stephen J. Toope
President and Vice Chancellor
Also, check out this link:
News Link
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Ineptitude? Carelessness? Cheating? Elections train is off the rails
In a surprising announcement today, Elections Administrator Brendan Piovesan confirmed that the race for VP Administration, between incumbent Sarah Naiman, "Scary" Mike "the Rabbi" Kushnir, and Yian Messoloras, has been cancelled. The exact reasons are yet unclear, but they involve campaign rules transgressions on the part of one candidate. Apparently, Messoloras broke the rules when he asked people to vote on his laptop computer on the spot. The elections code specifies that candidates cannot pressure people into voting and they have to be at least 10 meters away from voting stations. All the votes that have been submitted on the electronic voting system, which closed yesterday, will be discarded. This may not in fact be allowed, according to AMS elections code, however.
Article 3, Section 7, states: "if serious offences have been committed by more than one candidate in an election, the Elections Committee may declare the results of that election invalid."
Cancellation thus requires that there be serious offences committed by more than one candidate. As far as we know, here there's only one. Also, there's no power to "suspend" an election - only to declare the results invalid. This decision may find itself in Student Court.
Right now though, brand new nominations for the position apprently going to open, and the new race will take place in February. Questions about why the disqualification of the candidate in question, as opposed to the cancellation of the whole race, was the course of action chosen remain unclear. This development will doubtless bode ill for the VP admin race, which will probably have a lower profile and lower voter turnout due to the delay.
This incident is only one in a string of administrative and political gaffes that have marked this elections period. Other notable controversies include the bungled all-candidates' meeting, too-short campaign period and late and absent updates on the AMS elections website (including updating candidates' blurbs in a timely fashion). In addition, if you expect to find candidate profiles, media coverage, or posters near the paper ballot voting-booths tomorrow, you may be disappointed. Uninformed voters hoping to make an on-the-spot decision will find it hard to gather information at the voting booths, since Piovesan has confirmed that neither candidate blurbs, nor bulletin boards for posters will be provided at the voting stations. Candidates may independently bring their posters to the voting sites, but according to Piovesan, they will not be officially organized. "No way. I'm not gonna do that," quoth he.
In the realm of the Voter Funded Media contest, things are not much better. Voting using the Interpolated Consensus counting system is impossible on Web Vote software, and even a simplified voting system has not been organized on the university-controlled program. Therefore, voting for the VFM contest has been delayed, only to take place after the elections are over. It remains unclear on what system this voting will take place. Speculation about the influence of this delay on VFM results abound: will late name-recognition entries that have done no coverage (like the Science and Arts undergraduate newspapers) end up benefiting at the expense of smaller unfunded independent media? We'll see.
Of course, administration hasn't been the only issue. Some candidates seem to have stopped showing up to debates. The BoG debate on Monday was notably missing two prominent candidates, and yesterday the VP External debate did not even take place due to the absence of one candidate. Of course, candidates should have the freedom to determine what the most effective campaigning strategies are, but in this elections it seems like unprofessionalism from the administrative side is feeding the same from the candidates to result in a week of exemplary irregularity.
The elections committee redeems itself somewhat by their funny loudspeaker announcements pulling people in to vote on the SUB's North side, but whether that's enough to salvage a voter turnout short of disastrous is suspect.
Monday, January 14, 2008
New rail line to UBC annouced today!
Peter over at the Cavalier (click) has this story. In short, the province is funding an expansion of the sky train to UBC by the year 2020 as part of a 14 biollion dollar transit bonanza announced for the province today.
From the press release:
Some transport-related questions:UBC welcomes the provincial government announcement today of a $14 billion province-wide transit investment to include $2.8 billion for the UBC Line in addition to increased bus service
- How will the transit station work with the current underground busloop plans? Where will the station be?
- Given the differing timelines, will buses be enough until 2020?
- How long will our campus be one massive construction site?
- Will U-pass fees or transit fares be driven up to fund this project?
- Where will bus services be reduced when the line is in?
- Are there safety issues with more public stations?
- Is the rhetoric of sustainability meaninful? How is the line being engineered and built?
Saturday, January 12, 2008
The Campaign: important dates to remember
This years' campaign period is short, and tightly packed. The nicety of an extra week of leeway time between the closing of nominations and the beginning of official campaigning has been dispensed with. That means we don't have much time to get to know all the candidates, and they don't have much time to convince us. So take full advantage of the debate forums happening all through this coming week and the next. Online voting starts promptly this Friday, and you will find detailed instruction on the AMS elections website.
The AMS Code of Procedure requires that elections be over by the end of January. I asked Elections Administrator Brendan Piovesan why the campaign had been shortened this year. He said that by conducting informal chats with candidates from last years' election, it was decided (note the infamous passive voice) that the extra week and longer campaign period was too big a time-drain on candidates, who suffered academically throughout almost the whole month of January. Fair enough. We'll do our best to make the week and a half we have informative, fun, and debate-y.
The full list of elections dates and times are located behind the jump.
Forum: Tuesday, Jan. 15th
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
SUB Conversation Pit
- President
- Board of Governors
- VP Academic
- VP External
Forum: Wednesday, Jan 16th CANCELED
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Place Vanier in the Shrum Lounge
- Senate
- VP Administration
- VP Finance
Forum: Thursday, Jan 17th
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
SUB Conversation Pit
- President
- VP Academic
- VP Finance
Forum: Thursday, Jan 17th
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
The Gallery Lounge
- VP Administration
- VP External
Form: Monday, Jan 21st
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
SUB Conversation Pit
- Board of Governors
- Senate
Forum: Tuesday, Jan 22nd
11:00 PM - 1:00 PM
SUB Conversation Pit
- President
- VP Administration
- VP Finance
- VP External
- VP Academic
Voting: January 18th - 22nd, inclusive
ONLINE BALLOTING
12:00.01 AM to 11:59.59 PM
Via the Elections Website (http://www.ams.ubc.ca/elections)
Voting: January 24th
PAPER BALLOTING
9:00 AM-5:00 PM
Various Locations Around Campus
Party: January 24th
5:00 PM to Late
The Gallery Pub
All Candidates, Friends and Well Wishers
The new AMS bulletin board: right here.
Seems like this here little blog is in some demand for plugging all and sundry AMS postings. Maybe we should start charging for them. Anyhoo, here's two things y'alls might want to know about:
From VP Admin Sarah Naiman:
AMS EXECUTIVE COORDINATOR OF STUDENT SERVICES The AMS is seeking an Executive Coordinator of Student Services for a one-year appointment from March 1, 2008 to February 28, 2009. This position requires a full-time commitment
of about 35 hours per week. Remuneration for the year is $19,622 and is open to
all registered UBC students.Position Description: The Executive Coordinator of Student Services is responsible for providing general supervision and guidance for the AMS Service Coordinators and their Assistant Coordinators in the effective operation of the AMS Services. The ECSS is also the main point person between the AMS Executives and AMS Services and participates as a non-voting member at the Council and Executive meetings. AMS Services include SafeWalk, SpeakEasy, Tutoring, Sexual Assault Support Centre, AMS Connect, Food Bank, Minischool, and Advocacy. Duties &
Responsibilities:
- Oversee the management and administration of all AMS Student Services and facilitate the achievement of their goals in a team based and supportive environment.
- Ensure effective internal and external communications and promotional campaigns for the various Services.
- Act as the liaison between the AMS Executive Committee and the AMS Services.
- Liaise with University Administration on behalf of AMS Services on initiatives,
programming, and funding.- Participate in various committees, including the Executive Committee, Communications Planning Group, Safety Committee, and other duties as assigned from time to time.
Qualifications:
- Demonstrated team building skills and experience
- Comfortable and flexible in the role of mediator, initiator, and problem-solver
- Strong communications and presentation skills and a sense of diplomacy
- Supervisory/managerial skills with volunteers and employees an asset
- Understanding of workplace safety and equity issues
- Knowledge of the AMS services and resources
Only short-listed candidates will be
interviewed for this position. Interested applicants should submit their cover letter, with three references, no later than Friday, February 1, 2008 to: Bernie Peets, AMS General Manager gm@ams.ubc.ca . Include position title in subject.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Allan McEachern, Chancellor of UBC, dies at 81.
Allan McEachern, UBC's chancellor passed away last night. No more details are available at this time. McEachern became UBC's chancellor in 2002, and this year marked the end of his term. A UBC alumnus several times over, McEachern earned his Bachelor of Arts and his Law degree here. In 1990 he was awarded an honorary doctor of Laws degree.
Throughout a long and distinguished career both in legal practice, and as a judge, he was involved in many significant cases and handed down several landmark rulings, including one that denied aboriginal title to the Gitskan first nation, setting the precedent for aboriginal land settlements through government treaty processes, not the courts. McEachern served as the Chief Justice of both the B.C. Supreme Court, and the B.C. Appeal Court, the highest court in the province. Justice McEachern only retired from the bench in 2001 at 75, the next year accepting the appointment as UBC's chancellor at the recommendation of the UBC Alumni Association.
May he rest in peace.
More on Allan McEachern's life and career to follow from Tim.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Three green-tinted notes
A few notes of interest that come to mind for the environmentalist-lite on campus:
- UBC Farm Fee referendum: Yesterday I was at the farm. Getting there was a bit of a hazard due to the South Campus construction bedlam, and I ended up getting tangled in a barbed wire fence while attempting a shortcut, and shredding my favorite pants. Not that it wasn't worth it. In between sorting butternut squashes and bunching kale and collard greens, I checked in with Mark Bomford, the director of the UBC farm, about recent farm developments. As you may have noticed, the UBC farm is collecting signatures to introduce a 4-dollar student fee. Two of these dollars would turn into sustainable yearly funding for the UBC farm's programming. Two of the dollars would be put in a fund to be allocated to students engaged in climate-action related projects. More accurately, they are actually collecting signatures to place a question about the student fee hike on this year's referendum ballot. All new AMS fees need to be approved by referendum. 1000 signatures are needed for referendum questions to be put on the ballot without the approval of AMS council. They're a few hundred signatures short so far, but it's expected to reach the goal. The money would mean that students, not the university, are the ones supporting the Farm in the most substantial and sustainable way. Currently, the farm functions from a combination of temporary grants (chielfy a TLEF grant that expires this year). It has no core institutional funding, though it does receive support from the faculty of land and Food Systems. If the fee is approved in referendum, the governance structure of the Farm would change to include AMS representation. This would probably take the form of AMS representatives on the current farm advisory committee. This committee reports to the dean of the faculty of Land and Food systems, and makes the major steering decision about the farm. Eventually though, says Bomford, the goal is to have the farm acknowledged as an official unit of the LAFS faculty in the Senate. This new funding, he continued, will allow the farm to meet its goals in sustainability, student services, and outreach. These will be student dollars for students, he said. I've had reservations about students saddling the financing of the Farm. Too me, this is an example of a program that should have core university funding - it meets the University's trek 2010 vision perfectly. Does students taking up the cause of the farm send the wrong signal? Bomford and Jeff Friedrich, the AMS president don't think so. They think that if students approve this fee, it will put pressure on the university to match funding. This will be interesting to watch.
- Elizabeth May at UBC: The leader of the federal Green Party was at UBC to speak today. This is the second time I've heard Ms. May speak, and I have to say, I've just been floored both times. She is incredible. First, she really is a talented speaker. She's very sharp, very insightful, and a wonderful aura of leadership surrounds her. Even in a dingy physics lecture hall, she was both comfortable, and respectable. And the content! oh the content! I haven't heard so much actual content out of a politician...hm...ever. Seriously. She was full of information, science, and points of view. She talked about policy solutions in a very concrete, non-hand-wavy way. She summarized, explained, and illustrated with a near-perfect balance of vision and detail. There were absolutely no platitudes. If this is what Elizabeth May can deliver in Hennings 200, I cannot wait to see her in the official debates, not to menetion the House of Commons.
- Terry speaker series: 100 mile diet authors: Today, Friday the 23, is the kickoff of the Terry Project's high-profile speaker series. For the uninitiated, Terry is an innovative project at UBC whose aim is to address big global issues (environmental and social) from a multidisciplinary perspective. There are several branches of the project, including a brand-new undergraduate course (ASIC 200), a very cool website (http://terry.ubc.ca/), a writing contest, lots of neat collaborations, and, of course, the speaker series. Among previous participants are notables like Stephen Lewis, David Suzuki, and Vandana Shiva. Tomorrow it's going to be James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith. From the terry website:
These are the authors of "The 100-Mile Diet," a bestseller and buzz worthy book that uses a social experiment (can we subsist on only eating things produced within a 100 mile radius?) to look into the world of food politics, economics, and culture. Extra bonus is that James and Alisa also happen to be Vancouverites, so their story has this wonderful local angle to it.
The talk is tomorrow at the Chan at 12:00, and there's still some (free) tickets available.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Virginia Tech Shootings
I'm sure you've all heard about the campus shootings at Virginia Tech. Tragic, sad, shocking... all barely begin to describe it.
It raises thoughts. Like when there's a shooting at 7am and a murderer known to be at large, why don't you lock down the campus and cancel classes to avoid exactly what happened two hours later? And how important campus health and wellness programs, initiatives, and people can be. Mostly, it's important that every member of a campus community feel at home. And don't forget about the important college/university experience that's been shattered for thousands of students.
It's one thing to murder someone; it's quite another to mindlessly slaughter. My own personal reaction, is that I was in the same grade as Reena Virk in Victoria, a year behind Harris/Klebold, and the same age as the Dawson college gunman. What is it about this age cohort that makes us more likely to act out like this? I find that element of it really striking. Is there some disconnect? I have no idea.
(I'm presuming right now that the shooter was a student. I have no idea if that's the case or not.)
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