All year, we’ve been attending governance meetings and keeping an eye on what’s going on in the AMS, Senate and Board of Governors. We’re familiar with the issues and the pressures of each position in student government. We talked to all the candidates, attended all the debates and fact-checked their claims and platforms. We’re not here to tell you who to vote for, but we will be honest about each candidates’ strengths and weaknesses.
We are gravely concerned about some of the recent developments at UBC that affect Jewish students and we write to ask you to please reject the recent referendum that poses a significant threat to the inclusivity, diversity and fairness that define UBC," writes the Rabbinical Association of Vancouver.
"This referendum is undemocratic and a thinly veiled power grab from a minority of students who are plaguing the campus community with petty politics under the guise of social justice," writes former AMS President Esmé Decker.
Here’s what to expect at the February 21st, 2024 Senate meeting.
Through AMS Peer Support and the Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC), community members can access safe supplies for gender-affirming hormone therapy.
“Lululemon’s products have a reputation for quality and comfort. However, should those properties outweigh Lululemon’s disappointing record on workers’ rights and climate action when our university chooses who to partner with?” asks Rowan Barclay.
In BC, we tax owners of vacant homes to incentivize rental, we protect tenants against unreasonable rent increases, but we do not regulate the rental price of units once a tenant has been evicted or has ended their tenancy. That’s a big problem, writes Laine Jackart.
“If student life at UBC were to be viewed as a stone arch...Instagram acts as the keystone that has allowed the current campus culture to bear weight,” writes Tatum Narode
"If university educators are serious about decolonization, they need to teach and engage with these histories. This is in fact what many teach-ins, peaceful student rallies, and other forms of active learning at UBC have sought to do since October 7," writes Dr. Hicham Safieddine.
On one hand, there are expectations from one's ethnic community to remain closeted. On the other hand, there are expectations from the LGBTQ+ community to come out. The latter is associated with a notion of "living your truth," while the former is seen as living a lie, writes Alyy Patel.
As academics — and as fair-minded individuals — we must explain these events without taking broad swings at a perceived ‘enemy.’ Using inflammatory language and distorting events not only does an injustice to the complexity of the issue but can harm and intimidate the members of our community.
As they learn about the ongoing crisis there, more and more people sympathize with the Palestinian cause, writes the Vancouver Chapter of Independent Jewish Voices.
The absence of a formal acknowledgment from the university highlights just how essential such official statements are, especially during times of crisis, writes Chaimae Chouiekh.
Senate Recentred is written by members of the Student Senate Caucus to demystify the Senate by giving students a snapshot of what Senate is doing this month. Here’s what to expect at the November 15 Senate meeting.
If government policy is dictated by Machiavellian calculations of power, what is the excuse of academic institutions like UBC for failing to live up to their mandate of supporting efforts at decolonizing education?