Ananya Gupta is a fourth-year psychology student and the current Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) VP academic running for one of five student senator-at-large seats.
“I feel like this is the place that I can advocate for the most change for students, something that I have done in my role as AUS VP academic as well,” Gupta said in an interview with The Ubyssey.
Her three years of experience with the AUS includes working with the equity department of the AUS as the equity commissioner, hosting events such as the AUS gala and other events for student community building, mental health and academic development. Gupta also worked on the AMS textbook broke fund and advocated for increased funding for AUS clubs.
Gupta said her sole reason for running is her desire to better student experiences and believes this sets her platform apart from other candidates.
“I want to help serve UBC students and help them succeed. And this is exactly why I think it sets me apart a little bit because I'm not doing this for any secondary or external reason.”
Gupta wants to advocate for changes in policy V-102, exam hardship. This policy ensures that any student facing 3 or more formal examinations within a 24-hour period will be granted a new date and time for the second formal examination.
“I would prefer for it to have two exams back to back and not three … I want to work more on it and make it better and more inclusive for all students.”
Additional priorities include further adoption of the universal design of learning principles to make learning more accessible, inclusive for all students and promote equity, diversity and inclusion principles, including focusing more on students who may be registered with the Centre for Accessibility (CfA) needs in the classroom to reduce the work of the CfA office.
“Since there are more than 350 students assigned to one CfA advisor, and this number is set to climb more, it only makes sense for Senate to urge professors to adopt these principles for the betterment of students and to make sure that students can succeed in the academic sphere.”
Gupta also plans to advocate for food security needs by reducing dining hall waste and working with culinary directors, but this falls outside of her scope as a senator. Gupta is also running for AMS VP academic and university affairs (AUA), and if elected, would be part of her role as AUA.
On what committees she’d like to sit, Gupta said the Curriculum Committee and the Advocacy Committee — however, there is no Senate Advocacy Committee.
Gupta also hopes to work with other senators and constituencies to create an exam database to provide students with study resources. She acknowledged it would be a large initiative to undertake and wants to work on getting it created as soon as possible.
“I would also want to ensure that all … [required courses like] labs and tutorials have a hybrid option so as to include students from all walks.”
This article is part of our 2025 AMS Elections coverage. Follow us at @UbysseyNews on X (formerly Twitter) and follow our election coverage starting March 3.
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