Barry "Bee" Buzzword is hoping to be your next AMS president — campaigning on a platform promoting authoritarianism, engagement and transparency, to name a few.
Buzzword listed off 15 priorities when asked for his top 3 and has many ideas for how to get those goals done.
To promote sustainability, Buzzword said he would rename everything to David Suzuki, (like David Suzuki pit nights and David Suzuki toilet flush) claiming the renaming alone would create a positive environmental impact.
Buzzword also hopes to increase housing on campus. To do this, Buzzword plans to advocate to UBC about the need for more beds and then said UBC would comply because he asked. However, advocating directly to UBC falls under the VP academic and university affairs’ (AUA) portfolio.
“I know that some people might say, ‘Isn't that the VP AUA’s job?’ To which I'd say, ‘Where's the VP AUA,’” Buzzword said.
The insect was also keen on collaboration within the offices — especially since this year two vice-presidents resigned and one was removed from office. To promote this, Buzzword said he would bully his vice-presidents out within the first week to avoid it happening later in the term.
“I'll just pelt them with pens until they decide to leave, and then I'll probably just replace them with my best friends, my romantic partners, that kind of thing.”
On relevant experience for the position, Barry noted he was a representative in the lawsuit where bees sued all of humanity and helped work on the case.
“The AMS [has been] calling lots of lawyers these days. So I'd really be able to interface with that when we are removing people, when we are trying to shut down referendums … I'd really be able to talk to the lawyers in a way that I think most other people wouldn't.”
Buzzword believes that past presidents have not leaned into authoritarianism enough, something he plans to change.
As one of the front-facing figures at the AMS, the president can sometimes face criticism from the student body. On how he would handle this, Buzzword spoke about The Ubyssey.
“Sometimes [The Ubyssey] says really mean things about the AMS politicians, so … I’d make them not independent anymore,” said Buzzword. “I would just absorb them back into the AMS, so they have to say nice things, and then we can use that as a propaganda arm to make sure that the masses are all on board with our authoritarian regime.”
The Ubyssey has been independent from the AMS since 1995, follows the Canadian Association of Journalists ethics guidelines and aims to fairly report on matters of interest to the UBC community.
The bee said that his predecessor, Christian ‘CK’ Kyle, did a good job of furthering student engagement, something Buzzword said he aims to continue.
“I plan to continue the tradition of sending 60,000 students emails at 10:30 p.m. simply every night,” said Buzzword. “I think that sets a really good precedent for engaging with students about what really matters to them.”
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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