Board of Governors (BoG) candidates converged on major platform points of student engagement and enrolment at demure debate on Saturday.
In contrast to the first debate — and debates for other races — candidates stayed away from directly challenging one another and found much agreement, with only minor dissent.
Incumbent Max Holmes’s insider knowledge only took him so far, as most candidates generally had done their research. Holmes is running for re-election against BoG newcomers Dante Agosti-Moro, Arezoo Alemzadeh Mehrizi, Damir Korniiashik and Georgia Yee.
On a skills-testing question about what outdated Board policy candidates would want to review, candidates had creative suggestions that fell under topics of transparency, equity and affordability that candidates had previously found consensus on.
Agosti-Moro said the Board should review its policies for appointments and reappointments of deans while Holmes suggested updating the financial aid policy. Yee suggested a continuation of updating Policy GA6 on naming — something she’s already involved in in her role as AMS VP academic and university affairs.
Mehrizi recommended the creation of a policy that makes faculties more transparent with money, not directly answering the question but keying into an issue candidates had discussed.
Korniiashik faltered, a gap in student government knowledge showing. In response to the policy question, he admitted that he did not know which policies hadn’t been updated recently and could not name one. Holmes noted that Korniiashik was the only one of the candidates who didn’t speak to him as an incumbent for advice before running.
In a conversation about UBC’s plan to stabilize enrolment over the next few years, candidates supported the plan and prioritized accessibility.
Agosti-Moro spoke of the need to focus on current students and what we can provide for them before bringing in even more students. Yee agreed that student support needed a second look.
“Now that we are stabilizing the enrolment of students after a year that UBC has over-enrolled, how do we look back on our current services and ensure that the ratios of faculty and staff that support are balanced out?” Yee said.
Holmes said that if it continues to grow the student population while provincial funding stays stagnant, the university creates “massive access issues” for itself.
Korniiashik said the stabilization of enrolment would be an opportunity to work on Indigenous student recruitment — an idea Holmes echoed.
Mehrizi dissented, but barely. She agreed that accessibility is a “real issue that has not been resolved” but came back to a common platform point of hers: the need to look at how the university uses its money.
“I see this as a short-term solution. Yes, we really need to stabilize, but maybe for several years until we … restructure our finances and more reasonably spend … and [then] we can continue to grow,” she said.
Voting online begins on March 1 and is open until March 5. This article is part of our 2021 AMS elections coverage.
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