Anushreya Arora is a first-year Sauder student running to become the next VP academic and university affairs (VPAUA) on a platform of transparency and inclusivity.
One priority of Arora’s would be to make sure she’s available to students.
Arora commended incumbent VPAUA Eshana Bhangu on how she was available to answer questions for her when she called the number on the AMS website. However, Arora was unable to name any policies from Bhangu’s office she agreed with.
“I do love the way that she approaches things.”
Arora said she wants to “create a platform for [students] to actually speak up.” She suggested creating an anonymous way for students to voice concerns such as “anonymous Instagram page."
Compared to other candidates, Arora said that, as an international student herself, she will be able to “relate more” to other international students. She mentioned the unique challenges students from other countries and cultures face.
Arora said that she foresees difficulty being a first-year student and engaging with other students outside of her year.
“The VPAUA does not get you to just know like the first-, second-year students, they cater to the entire undergraduate community in general,” Arora said, neglecting to mention the VPAUA’s responsibility to graduate students.
“It would be a bit tough to understand what's going on in the fourth-year or someone who's doing a co-op,” she said. But she said she could “talk to my seniors and maintain close net[work]s with them to understand their lives as well” to bridge the gap.
Arora doesn’t have experience with student government at UBC, but she’s been in a leadership position before.
Before coming to UBC, Arora took part in and led initiatives at her school to use technology and digital media to help disabled students. Arora has also served on the organizing committee of a commerce event at her previous school and won awards for her participation in Model United Nations.
When asked about open educational resources, Arora was initially unaware of the meaning of the term.
“There should be more resources for students” than there are right now, Arora said.
She highlighted an experience in one of her classes where not everybody bought the textbook because it was too expensive saying that paid resources mean that not everybody will “get to gain that knowledge,” she later said.
Follow us at @UbysseyNews on Twitter and follow our election coverage starting February 28. This article is part of our 2022 AMS elections coverage.
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