Cade Desjarlais is a first-year law student running to be a student representative on UBC’s Board of Governors (BoG) on a platform of accountability, affordability and stability.
Desjarlais said he intends to improve Board accountability by hosting office hours to give students direct opportunities to address him. Desjarlais also said the Board should increase the number of student governors from two to three to better represent UBC’s large student body. BoG currently has three student governors, but only two are from UBV while one is from UBCO.
“I feel like when it comes to the Board of Governors, specifically, there's a real lack of communication directly to students,” he said.
Desjarlais completed his undergraduate in political science and English at UBCO, during which he was also president of UBCO’s Student Union (SUO). Desjarlais said as president he worked on the student affordability task force to secure funding to address food insecurity and pushed for UBCO to implement a multi-year tuition framework. If elected to the BoG, he intends to continue this work.
Desjarlais added that tuition will inevitably increase over time, but he said he would try to sway UBC to build frameworks which would help students know what tuition would cost across their entire degree.
"With certainty comes security and [the] ability to plan," he said.
Desjarlais stressed his former position gave him many years of experience working directly with the BoG, experience he called necessary given the uncertain political climate of Canada.
“I've been a part of the students union at UBC Okanagan for three years. I was really successful at engaging students and communicating directly with students,” he said.
“Should tariffs or another global crisis happen, [students] feel it first,” he said. “While we've been able to absorb a lot of the crises that have occurred, we're seeing institutions across Canada start to peter out.”
Desjarlais mentioned that Queen's University is set to drain their reserves by 2026, and that UBC Okanagan is operating at a major deficit this year.
“We really need to have stability in mind for students, because … without stability, there's no security for students.”
As SUO president, Desjarlais said he secured funding for a general food hub and secured a number of mental and sexual health supports across campus.
Desjarlais acknowledged that it can be difficult to understand how UBC works, but suggested that his experience has allowed him to “come with the perspective of knowing which levers to pull and which people to advocate to.”
“Without that leadership experience, it's really hard to assert yourself into conversations or to advocate with knowledge,” he said.
Dejarlais said he wants to sit on the Board to ensure UBC doesn’t cut spending in places it shouldn’t, or if they do, to ensure those funds get redistributed to students.
“Even though I have the experience to do this job and start right away, there's still a lot to learn,” he said. “I'm going to learn how to be my best self and best advocate in a new environment.”
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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