#IAmABlog

In no way affiliated with #IAmAStudent.

[iamablogubc]

The part where we say goodbye

Reading note: this post is best read with dramatic background music such as this.

Hey everyone,

Well. Here we are. This post is like a kick:

When we began this blog, we thought it would be a fun, lolzy way to kill some time (we didn't plan for it to also kill our midterm grades). Maybe a good opportunity to vent some of our frustrations about student politics that would otherwise fall on deaf ears.

The prospect of making a few hundred dollars? I guess it helped to rationalize the effort we were putting in, but apportioned per our comprehensive 137 page partnership agreement, we knew it wasn't gonna be much.

We never planned to live-Tweet #AMSCouncil, write ~40 posts (yes, the VFM requirement was 5), subtly feud with ubcunderground (we still love you), and make a few friends (can we call you that? <3) as well as, inevitably, a handful of haters.

We've had, if we do say so, a couple of pretty funny posts, a lot more unfunny ones, and hopefully—hopefully—just a tad bit of value-added election coverage.

Is this goodbye, forever? "Forever" is a very long time—a concept better left to some of society's greatest philosophers (J. D. Bieber, 2010): 

But it is time for us to leave. Will we be back next year? Sadly, there was no succession planning here; no vision for a better future. So what now? What we will do with the small pile of cash we've accumulated?

And there we have it. Goodbye, everyone.

- The #IAmABlog Team

[iamablogubc]

Predictions

The end times are upon us.

Here are our predictions (note the difference between our endorsements, which were published earlier this week [much sad face]) of the winners in this year’s #AMSelections:

President

Aaron Bailey

Vice-President, Academic and University Affairs

Jenna Omassi

Vice-President, Administration

Ava Nasiri

Vice-President, External Affairs

Jude Crasta

Vice-President, Finance

Mateusz Miadlikowski

Senate

Aaron Bailey

Marjan Hatai

Jenna Omassi

Gurvir Sangha

Viet Vu (close tie with Eric Zhao)

Board of Governors

Veronica Knott

Julie Van de Valk

Student Legal Fund Society

Students for Accountability (Tanner Bokor, Jude Castra, Carol Dou, Ron Gorodetsky, Bahareh Jokar, Kathnleen Simpson) [we expect the full slate to be elected, though we think a mix with key individuals from the Responsible Leadership slate is also very plausible, with less known candidates such as Dou and Simpson perhaps not being elected]

[iamablogubc]

AMS Exec candidates' vision for the future

We used our exclusive telekinetic abilities to find out exactly where each AMS Executive candidate sees the organization moving forward:

President

Cheneil Antony-Hale: The AMS has divested itself of any holdings in corporations that have engaged in business transactions over the past four years that involve the exchange of money for products or services. The AMS has been the subject of 3 segments on the O'Reilly Factor discussing the takeover of college campuses by liberal interests.

Aaron Bailey: The AMS has decided to engage in a student "strike" in protest of the absence of a campus brewery further increases to international tuition. Students have been urged to attend daily Block Party events to rally around something that nobody's quite certain of.

Viet Vu: The AMS bylaws have been amended to require all constituencies to complete an annual re-registration process that involves holding multiple referenda and proceeding through countless bureaucratic hurdles to receive recognition. Vu is quoted by the Ubyssey as having muttered "an eye for an eye" under his breadth at the most recent AMS Council meeting.

Vice-President, Academic and University Affairs

Jenna Omassi: LPC will be moved under the Academic portfolio under the auspices of everything the AMS does being academic-related. When Bailey's plan to reinstate ACF with the name of AMS County Fair goes through and the AUS sues its own parent (resulting in the landmark Supreme Court case AMS vs. AMS) Omassi will experience a conflict of interest and resign the post. "No" will have its victory; one way or another.

Vice-President, Administration

Ava Nasiri: "This'll be the year, I'm telling you" as the AMS announces construction for the new SUB will finally come to a close in 2019.

James Jing: "Oh, AMS stands for Alma Mater Society? There go my plans to sell the acronym naming rights to raise money for transit."

Alexander Remtulla: In addition to existing initiatives to require students to complete at least one first nations or social justice course during their time at UBC, students will also be required to successfully storm the wall at least once per year and earn a minor in kinesiology over the course of their degree.

Vice-President, External Affairs

Jude Crasta: UBC as we know it will have been dismantled. Crasta will have successfully lobbied the University to end the construction that has plagued the student experience. Instead of traditional infrastructure, all funds will be dedicated to expanding transit capacity. Skytrain cars and buses will be a new "informal learning space" under the flexible learning initiative.

Janzen Lee: The AMS will adopt a new policy of zero-based spending. Fees are meant to be seen, felt, and heard—but not used. Lee will ensure the AMS has banked reserves for a massive political campaign that may never come.

Vice-President, Finance

Mateusz Miadlikowski: "The AMS is proud to announce that, following much consultation with constituencies, Councillors, and the community at large, the AMS Student Nest will be renamed. Today, the AMS unveils The Gallery—no, not the restaurant. The building. The whole damn thing. The Gallery will be a 19+ venue intended to be accessible to everyone, to provide them with the quintessential student experience and opportunity necessary to perhaps one day lead the organization."

William Pigott: The Alma Mater Society of UBC Vancouver is a part of the North American Division of the AMS Group of Companies. AMS Group is a privately held Swiss conglomerate with holdings in 187 subsidiaries across the globe. The organization has come under fire in recent months for receiving over $120M USD in government subsidies, in spite of paying an average tax rate of just 3.7% on $2.7B in profits over the past eight months. AMS Group is under investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission and RCMP for engaging in corruption of foreign officials and University administrators. The AMS Group owns an 87% stake in the United States Democratic Party, holds 34% of the shares in Wells Fargo bank, and has formed several joint ventures with Koch Industries.

[iamablogubc]

Endorsements: SLFS

Student Legal Fund Society. Let's make this simple.

There are two slates:

Students for Accountability (Tanner Bokor, Jude Crasta, Carol Dou, Ron Gorodetsky, Bahareh Jokar, Kathleen Simpson)

Students For Responsible Leadership (Lama Al-Awawdeh, Julius Foo, Nathan Ho, Janzen Lee, Michael Northfield, Cameron Sharpe)

The latter, with Janzen Lee being the SLFS's incumbent President, is essentially business as usual. SLFS has been inactive and unaccountable to students for years. It's an embarrassment and the Society should be shut down if it can't do more than it has so far. We endorse Students for Accountability (Tanner Bokor, Jude Crasta, Carol Dou, Ron Gorodetsky, Bahareh Jokar, Kathleen Simpson).

[iamablogubc]

Endorsements: Board of Governors

Let's start with the easiest of the three. We endorse Veronica Knott. She's been a vocal member of AMS Council this past year and she's been willing to take on added responsibilities. From her experience as EUS President, we think she's built up an ability to work with University administrators on key issues. Our biggest concern is that she might be somewhat abrasive to those who disagree with her, but at the same time, a tough skin isn't such a bad thing on the Board of Governors. We're confident she's the right choice.

Then we have two remaining choices: Tanner Bokor and Julie Van de Valk. Bokor is somewhat polarizing, and while we wouldn't say he's done a bad job as AMS President, we're not exactly sure he's earned the trust and respect of his fellow AMS Councillors or proven to the electorate that he isn't the politicizing candidate he often seems. That said, Van de Valk is essentially the "divest" candidate in this year's race (following up on the introduction of one last year), and we think she's riding that bandwagon a bit too much towards victory. We're unsure she knows enough about the University and its governance, given her lack of related experience. To that end, our second endorsement goes to Tanner Bokor.

[iamablogubc]

Endorsements: Senate

(Check marks ✓ indicate who our endorsements go to.)

Aaron Bailey: A President who's on Senate. That'll be interesting. To start, we dislike Bailey's expectation that he will be the default Student Senate Caucus Chair (per his platform). The time commitment of him serving on Senate—never-mind Chairing the Caucus—while also serving as President will be extremely challenging. Without regard for his specific platform points, we think this is an unnecessary position for him and feel he will have a say in key academic discussions as AMS President. While we would have endorsed him were he not the likely winner of the Presidential race, we think voters should give this opportunity to someone else who might make it a greater focus.

Margareta Dovgal: Dovgal is an interesting candidate for Senate. Much less known than many of her competitors, she is nonetheless experienced through her past role as AMS Equity Commissioner. Her platform (what we could find) revolves around a limited subset of issues, but we feel she's demonstrated a reasonable degree of insightfulness in her discussion of the issues. We think she'd add a diverse voice to the Student Caucus, and will perhaps serve as a bit of a wildcard—in a good way. We can't quite justify an endorsement for her, but we'd be strangely okay with the idea of her as a possible winner in this election.

✓ Marjan Hatai: Hatai's platform focuses on some relevant issues, like co-curricular transcripts, earlier exam schedule releases, and a first semester Reading Break. Yet, to pick as many large issues as this and provide very little detail on how to complete them is unideal, especially for someone with limited relevant experience. We are not sure she is ready to take on all that she has announced she intends to, or that her experience makes her as well catered to this role as others. That said, one might've said that about her being the Referendum Coordinator for the AMS's fee restructuring, and she played that role out quite well in the end. This endorsement's a tad bit tepid, but we offer it nonetheless.

✓ Jenna Omassi: There is a great deal of value in the VP Academic serving on Senate. Although Omassi's platform points are somewhat general, we believe she is a good choice for much the same reasons we endorsed her for Academic.

✓ Gurvir Sangha: Sangha is very likeable and has put a considerable amount of effort into his campaign. His platform is well-formed and well-informed, but—as is often the case—much of it may go out the window the moment he is elected. What concerns us, however, is that he has been a very quiet member on AMS Council this past year (in spite of being the AUS's "Chief AMS Representative"—whatever that may mean). Senate requires people to be outspoken. It requires them to be willing to raise controversial opinions and be comfortable doing so in front of committees full of, well, senior faculty who tear apart ideas for a living ("peer-reviewed academic literature"). If Sangha has been so passive on AMS Council, we're concerned about what he would get done on Senate. At the same time, we think he would be a good team player on the Student Caucus and would be committed to the role. We endorse him, but feel he owes it to students to prove that he deserved their vote over the course of the next year.

✓ Ian Sapollnik: While it is demoralizing to penalize ambition, it's difficult not to wonder whether Sapollnik will achieve his election goals—for instance, "increase the number of scholarships at UBC to match other Canadian universitiesı." At the same time, some of his points (e.g. "Create student representation in [faculty] curriculum committees") are admirable, important, and surprisingly, somewhat different from the norm in this race. We think he's unlikely to win this race, and that's okay—but he should further his involvement (prospective AMS Councillor or Education Committee member-at-large?) over the next year, and would be happy to see him in the race again next year. That said, we're impressed with his knowledge and interest for someone that doesn't make the cut as an AMS insider, and thought we should take a chance on something a bit different for a change. We endorse Sapollnik for Senate.

Hannah Xiao: We were unable to obtain sufficient information online or elsewhere on which to come to a conclusion on Xiao. To that end, we did not consider her for an endorsement.

✓ Eric Zhao: An over qualified and perhaps a bit-too-smart-for-most-of-us candidate, we have some faith Zhao might actual make some progress on his ambitions election platform. We're confident in his ability to gain the respect of the faculty and alumni that make up Senate and its committees. We endorse him wholeheartedly.

Viet Vu: Vu has served as the Vancouver School of Economics Undergraduate Society (VSEUS) President since its inception one year ago. The process for recognition for VSEUS has been botched left and right, leaving us unsure that  Vu demonstrated the strongest possible leadership over that process. In our eyes, he hasn't been the most effective advocate for his own students as President, and while we imagine he is equally intent on this role, we think he hasn't proven to voters that he's earned it as of yet. 

Note: Vu reached out to us following this post to point out that we did not acknowledge or discuss his platform in our comments. His platform is vague and does not focus on any real ‘tangibles’—things that he could concretely be held to if elected. Although this is pragmatic, and certainly a better position to be in once elected, from a voter’s perspective it is unideal. We respect the general intent of his platform points and the motivation behind them, but prefer candidates that have outlined more specific achievements intended for their term in office.

Vu also draws our attention to the many challenges he and his fellow VSEUS executives faced in the relatively unprecedented process of establishing a constituency. While these difficulties are relevant, they do not change our overall impression on the matter.

[iamablogubc]

Dear UBC Underground

Dear ubcunderground​,

We know too. Secret illuminati dance party?

(It's a good thing VFM can't be disqualified for slating, eh?)

[iamablogubc]

Endorsement: President

We're unsure how contested this race really is. Again, we dislike discounting candidates, but it seems a long shot to see past SUS President Aaron Bailey winning the race. Yet, we don't think his opponent, Cheneil Antony-Hale, should be taken as a token candidate. Speculation at the start of this race was that she was running for the role to make a point of certain issues on campus. We think that she's done much more.

Antony-Hale's platform has been, while perhaps somewhat focused on areas of affordability and other elements of social justice, reasonably diverse. She's picked some populist issues (e.g. legal protections for students in residences) and has by no means put herself forward as simply "the radical left candidate" (as we amusingly heard muttered of her more than a few times). We're sure her focus might fall more towards one side of the spectrum of issues the AMS faces, but we also think she would be a capable leader for AMS Council, the Executive Committee, and the AMS's administration. At the same time, she should have been more prepared in her campaign to step outside of the topics on which she is running, and be a part of the discussion on other issues relevant to the Presidency, such as the AMS's financial position. If she wants, ultimately, to be AMS President, then she should develop her experience more widely in the AMS (perhaps run in a constituency election as an AMS Representative) and try again in a year.

Bailey has no doubt been building up to this role for many years. He is, in truth, what we might consider AMS royalty—people who are expected to take on leadership roles, and to a certain extent, have those opportunities very clearly laid out to them (then again, as do most winning candidates in popularity contests). But Bailey is inescapably qualified to take on this role.

At the same time, we are left with a somewhat poor taste from one component of his campaign. His letter to the Ubyssey was as much grandstanding as anything. We feel this sort of cashing in on negative student sentiments towards student government is a bit of an easy way out and all too often simply builds on those sentiments, without ultimately doing much to reverse then. To us, not very Presidential. Bailey has served on AMS Council for the past two years, and cannot entirely absolve himself of the AMS's many flaws. His campaigning is no doubt a sign of her shrewd political aptitude. But as voters, we find a reservation on this one.

With two votes in favour, we endorse Aaron Bailey. Amongst the illuminati that we are, one vote went to Antony-Hale and another to "abstain."

[iamablogubc]

Endorsement: VP Finance

The AMS's financial performance is abysmal. We remain alarmed in spite of efforts to reassure students and Councillors with suggestions that its massive deficit will disappear upon the saving grace that is alleged to be the New SUB.

Like Nasiri, incumbent Mateusz Miadlikowski has had a lacklustre and almost apathetic campaign that makes us wonder whether he has taken his competition seriously—or worse, the electorate. That said, we recognize the difficulty of campaigning for this role while simultaneously carrying out its responsibilities. At the same time, however, that challenge also comes with the advantage of a much greater level of knowledge and experience on which to run.

Miadlikowski has, in our view, not distinguished himself in his year as VP Finance. For starters, he has been a disappointingly unengaged member of AMS Council—something concerning when finances lie at the heart of so many of the AMS's issues. Our earlier reporting on his attendance at Exec Comm also raises questions about how seriously he takes his role. Moreover, while this is his third time campaigning for the role (having originally lost to and then later defeated Joaquin Acevedo), we are ultimately unconvinced he has much to run on. More often than not, we've seen the AMS's budget as being driven the Budget Committee Chair or Executive Committee, and while he may have put in the work, we don't feel he's made substantial achievements.

Will Pigott, a Sauder Accounting student, presents an interesting choice. The value of a business student being in the role is debatable—no doubt, a student semi-literate in financial statements would be a nice bonus, but in truth, most of the role has little to do with what is taught in B-School (or is otherwise supported by, well, real business staff). He is largely new to the AMS, though he has been fairly involved in the Commerce Undergraduate Society over the past few years. We think he'd have an uphill learning curve, but we like his platform—with tangible and achievable goals that might actually have some impact—and think this position needs some change. He's taken the race seriously, and, perhaps to the surprise of some, seems to really want the role as more than a line on his resume. He's a slightly higher-risk choice than some, but we see him as a force for the better.

We endorse Will Pigott.

[iamablogubc]

Note regarding VP Admin platform

Last night, we at #IAmABlog prepared our endorsement posts to publish today. Amongst those was our VP Admin endorsement of Alexander Remtulla.

An hour ago, VP Admin candidate and incumbent Ava Nasiri sent us the following email:

Dear iamablog, I just wanted to note that it's interesting that your most recent article links to the platforms on the websites of James Jing and Alex Rem but only to the facebook event when referencing my platform as vp admin. In case you haven't been able to find the website, my platform rests here and I, like both other candidates have a website http://voteava.com/platform/. I'm sure you have lots to do and were too busy to do proper research so I just thought i'd send that over! Cheers, Ava

(Bold emphasis added.)

While it is true that we did, by accident, link the post to her FB event, we note that her platform on her website at the time was equally thin. While she has since updated the site to add additional content, we happened to have a screenshot of her platform as of yesterday:

While it is possible that the increase in content was coincidental (we aren't able to track the exact time at which the change was made), we don't appreciate the suggestion that we were "too busy to do proper research." And frankly, she missed the majority of the campaign period, and so the changes at this point strike us as too little, too late.

We felt we would share this publicly in the event that were a perception of us not having done our due diligence. Hope that adds some clarity.

Cheers,

- The #IAmABlog Team

[iamablogubc]

Endorsement: VP External

Our earlier comments on Janzen Lee's unprofessional, ill-informed, and in our eyes misleading comments on the AMS earlier in this race should leave our endorsement to be of little surprise.

We endorse Jude Crasta. We don't particularly care for the notion that the VPX position should be filled each year with the previous year's AVP, but it's hard to disagree that Jude Crasta has the requisite skills and knowledge gained from his experience this past year. We don't question for a moment that he will live and breathe the role in the way his predecessors very much have. And, while we always are left to wonder what effect the AMS's lobbying efforts have, he is someone we are very much comfortable entrusting those responsibilities to. We are sure he will represent us well to the university, government, and public.

[iamablogubc]

Endorsement: VP Admin

The importance of this role is no doubt less than it has been in many years. The New SUB is nearly complete and the remaining work will be largely complete by the time the new Executives take office (yes, we know, they said that a year ago too...). With that in mind, the role's focus will no doubt shift more to the community and student experience element of the Admin portfolio (i.e. clubs).

To start, there's James Jing. We don't want to discount any candidate simply because they're not an AMS insider. At the same time, his platform is essentially fluff and he has not drawn to our attention any meaningful experience that would prepare him for the role. We are hard pressed to consider him seriously.

Incumbent Ava Nasiri would bring a certain level of knowledge to the role. But we wonder whether she will drive forward any meaningful change or new initiatives. To call her platform sparse would be generous, and we feel like the passiveness and lack of substance in her campaign speaks poorly to her commitment and enthusiasm for the role. Moreover, while it is difficult to assign exact responsibility given what we see as limited transparency in the project, the New SUB's completion has been nothing short of a mess and Nasiri must bear some ultimate accountability.

Alex Remtulla, on the other hand, presents a much stronger—or at least, more driven—vision for the AMS. Although his platform is populated with somewhat less-than-innovative ideas, we think he brings a certain excitement to the role that it very much needs. We think the position needs change, and while Nasiri is unlikely to do much damage if re-elected, we do not predict much from a second term.

Our endorsement goes to Alex Remtulla.

[iamablogubc]

Endorsement: VP Academic

Looks like we'll be starting with the easy choice.

We endorse Jenna Omassi. No, not because she's the only candidate—which we think is regrettable, given the role's importance and this having been a particularly tumultuous year for University relations—but because we think she's the right fit.

In spite of being a first time member on AMS Council this year, she's stood out as an active and key participant. She's shown a willingness to stand by her beliefs and be a pragmatist, while also being willing to work hard (that LPC Chair life...). She has a demonstrated interest in academic issues, and we think she will serve students well.

[iamablogubc]

#IAmABlog FAQ

1. Who are you?

Though in truth we find those masks sort of creepy.

2. Sometimes you say 'we;' are there multiple of you?

"We" is a tricky word. It may or may not mean what you think it does. See: the royal "we." Not to suggest we're royals. ♫ Cause we'll never be royals. ♫

3. Are you doing this in affiliation with any on-campus group?

No.

4. Why are you doing this?

5. Will you be endorsing candidates?

6. What do you think of the AMS having to basically bribe people to care enough to blog about it?

7. Why are you sometimes serious?

8. What do you think is the biggest problem with elections?

9. What are your thoughts on your competitors?

10. How do you feel when people call your blog stupid?

11. What do you plan to do with your winnings?

Like us? Don't forget to vote at http://votermedia.org/ubc – thanks!

[iamablogubc]

Janzen Lee's thoughts (rant?) on the AMS

If you were to check out VP External candidate Janzen Lee's Facebook event right now, you'd see a pretty run-of-the-mill platform. But if you'd seen it when it launched early this week, it'd have been a very different story.

Lee's platform at the time was as much an attack on the current VP External's office as it was an expression of disdain for the AMS:

"As students, one of the greatest challenges we face in our great city is affordability... What has the current administration done about that? Why aren’t you in the mayor’s office every day pleading our case and expressing that the greatest shame of our society is that young men and women who want nothing more than access to knowledge are barred by lack of funds. Why aren’t our representatives present at each and every political convention exchanging dialogue with those capable of reforming the student loan system. How could access to funds limit our right to an education?"

Moving past the issue of whether the affordability of post-secondary education is in fact "the greatest shame of our society"—rather than, say, homelessness and poverty, amongst other things—the notion that current the current VP External, Bahareh Jokar, and her minions have been absent on key issues is simply unfair and unwarranted in our mind. Yet, Lee continued:

"Why has the current administration had minimal, if any, contact with the established system? Why aren’t they fighting for us!?"

Over the past several years, the AMS has led the creation of lobbying bodies, including the Alliance of B.C. Students (which has made student grants one of its major campaign issues) and Get On Board BC (transit lobbying); Jokar has served as the student Co-Chair for the Better Transit + Transportation Coalition. Jokar and AMS President Tanner Bokor's updates to AMS Council have consistently focused on their meetings with key government and university officials. We could talk about Lobby Days, David Eby's presence at AMS Council in the fall, etc., but it just becomes redundant at a certain point.

Now, it is fair game to criticize the AMS's effectiveness. But to suggest that the AMS has had "minimal, if any, contact" with key decision-makers is grossly unfair. No doubt, the productivity of these efforts is always in doubt—it's got to be challenging appealing to Christy Clark's goodwill after UBC students contributed to her embarrassing defeat in the Point Grey riding.

But, let's be clear. This is not for a lack of effort.

We were excited to see the VP External race be contested this year—students deserve a good debate on these issues. But that's just it: a good debate. Not this. Janzen Lee, we welcome your comments on this.

Full text

The full text of Janzen Lee's original campaign page text can be seen below:

The AMS has become irrelevant in the lives of students. As an organization, it is inactive and boring and does not relate to the massive student population it claims to represent. It is time for an outside perspective. Time for action and time for a new goal. My campaign is not me vs. my opponent, it is change vs. more of the same. I am the new goal I see for our student government.

3 things: Problem, Solution, Benefit. There exists a problem with the current system. I have a solution. As a student population, we will benefit. The problem is that the office of the External Vice-President whose mandate is to lobby municipal, provincial, and federal government on behalf of the students of UBC has been operating in the shadows, leaving students unaware of the work that is being done. When I told people I was considering running for VP External, the majority of them answered “Oh, that’s really cool… What do they do?” What does the VP External do? Because most people have no idea. I want us to join the ranks of the world’s top institutions. I want our letters to be on the lips of every researcher, highschool grad and instructor in the world. Our problem, is that the current administration wants none of this.

As students, one of the greatest challenges we face in our great city is affordability. I have spoken to students who do not have the fortune of living on campus, outraged they must transit hours each day because they can nowhere near afford the outrageous costs of housing near the university. What has the current administration done about that? Why aren’t you in the mayor’s office every day pleading our case and expressing that the greatest shame of our society is that young men and women who want nothing more than access to knowledge are barred by lack of funds. Why aren’t our representatives present at each and every political convention exchanging dialogue with those capable of reforming the student loan system. How could access to funds limit our right to an education?

These are the problems with our AMS as I see it. It has become, to an extent, irrelevant and I want to reverse and bolster the necessity of the office of external vice-president. Here is my solution. We are fortunate to find ourselves in the midst of a federal election year. I pledge to be in the ear of politicians who are seeking election in order to gauge and ensure their commitment to alleviating the burdensome life of a student. Why has the current administration had minimal, if any, contact with the established system? Why aren’t they fighting for us!? We have an opportunity here that comes along only every once in a few years and why don’t we seize it?

The benefit from my planned endeavours are obvious. My only goal is to better the lives of students and I believe my efforts could be better directed towards the overall benefit of the student population rather than spending millions of dollars a year with little to show for it. Or if there have been improvements in our lives, they’ve gone unnoticed. If you will allow me, I will be present at each and every opportunity that passes my desk to have our voices heard beyond the walls of the SUB into the places which actually matter. My voice will ring through the halls that we as students will not go away quietly and we will not allow our plight to be ignored.

I’m in Arts, I study political science, I am from Vancouver and I live on residence, I am a part of clubs and organizations across campus. All of these things are what make our school incredible: diversity. The Alma Mater Society’s mandate is to actively represent the entirety of the student population. That. Means. Everyone. Not just the select few insiders of student government but each and every academic, athletic, creative, social, and entrepreneurial student of this university. I will listen to everyone’s voice, actively seeking it, not just heeding the advice of the political elite that has so long held a monopoly over the affairs of this society.

The powers that be are shocked by my candidacy; that someone not in their “friend group” is seeking to change the way things are done at this school. The fact that the office of external vice president has been naturally uncontested for years is disgusting. Why aren’t people getting involved, why is this unambiguous apathy of students so rampant on our campus? Because it is the failure of this office to get students interested, informed, and involved in student government. I offer difference. Even if I do not win this election, I hope the serious nature of my candidacy and opposition to the status quo serves to show the student population that if things do not change, we will be continuing a trend of mediocrity from our leadership. Instead, you should expect and accept nothing less than greatness from those you trust to represent you.

[iamablogubc]

Presidential platform analysis (less fancy than it sounds)

See below for our thoughts on each Presidential candidate's egoistical bragging bios and platforms.

Aaron Bailey

We would love to know what a "more genuine culture of engagement" looks like. Does this mean banning disingenuous election candidates? Our paranoia sees an unintended subtle attack at V for V.

There's something... very Don Cherry about that tie. 

"If elected, I intend to remind the AMS that it is a STUDENT government." I guess if you put something in ALL CAPS then that automatically makes it less vague and wishy-washy.

Wait what "re-establishing ACF" omfgzzz can we haz nao plz? It's not like the AMS is running massive financial defecits and can barely afford to run Block Party as it is.

"Work to increase accessibility to student and university executives"—because we're sure David Farrar will jump right on that plan.

Cheneil Antony-Hale

For someone everyone planned to discount as a one-issue candidate, she might just have the most diverse and tangible platform of the extensive selection of three candidates that we have.

"Keep it real with Cheneil..." There seems to be some coordinated effort here to make genuineness a theme this year.

"Tell your friends, tell your TA's, tell your family, and tell your cat..." New attack ad: Cheneil hates dogs.

"An overhaul of the internal AMS structure to make it more responsive to the needs of students and clubs." Like that whole "governance review" thing the AMS is already thinking of [not doing]?

V for V

I guess I really do need to finally go read (and by read, I mean watch, because, like, that textbook stack isn't getting any shorter) V for Vendetta.

[iamablogubc]

Obituary: Niloufar Keshmiri's Senate campaign

Current CUS President Niloufar Keshmiri withdrew today from the Senate race in this year's AMS Elections, brining the number of contenders for the five available at-large seats down to a mere ... we don't quite remember.

We don't feel the need to repeat much of our banter regarding earlier decisions to withdraw from the various races. Keshmiri was, in our eyes, unlikely to win the election. While she's made a name for herself on AMS Council—mostly from agitating the Speaker, though also by being a fairly outspoken member—she lacked wider campus name recognition in UBC's larger faculties. We lament this tendency of candidates to get out when the going gets tough, but don't see this as having too major of an impact on this year's race.