Kamil Kanji is running for reelection to the Senate on a platform of increasing academic support, implementing more equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives and improving Senate efficiency and transparency — things he’s run on before but says require more time to complete.
Kanji, a fourth-year honours political science student, ran unsuccessfully in his first bid for one of the five student senator-at-large positions in 2022, but was later appointed to the Senate following the departure of another student senator. He has been on the body since and currently serves as vice-chair of the Senate and co-chair of the Student Senate Caucus.
He is also the AMS vice president academic and university affairs (VP AUA), which he said will help his work on the Senate as the VP AUA works with many of the same university administrators as a student senator.
Kanji said he hoped to continue the advocacy he is currently working on for less strict requirements to qualify for exam hardships, drafting and distributing the Student Senate Caucus’s three-year policy goals among Senate committees and working on guidelines for the use of AI technologies like ChatGPT in the classroom.
“The Senate is a very slow moving body that takes a multi-year commitment from senators to work to get things done," said Kanji. "I have a lot of things that are still on the go that I really would like to see come to fruition.”
This continuation of work extends to his three platform priorities.
First, he wants to continue pushing for improvements to UBC’s academic support system, including expanding lecture recording capabilities in classrooms, highlighting the value of hybrid learning to faculty and ensuring libraries are open 24/7 during exam periods.
Kanji also wants to keep advocating for more EDI initiatives, from continuing to conduct a curriculum review to incorporate anti-racism when relevant to ensuring the “efficient” implementation of UBC’s Inclusion Action and Indigenous Action plans through the creation of a Senate committee for academic diversity and inclusion.
Lastly, Kanji said he hopes to continue his work on making the Senate more efficient and accessible through helping implement the findings from the ongoing Senate external review and collaborating with popular communication channels, like AMS social media accounts, to share information.
When asked how he would make the Senate more transparent — something he has run on before — Kanji said he believed this year’s Student Caucus has “made more progress than most conferences before us” in this area.
While student senators have written updates for The Ubyssey ahead of some meetings — Kanji has not written any of these articles this past year — the Senate Student Caucus’s own Twitter account and website have been inactive since 2022.
Ultimately, Kanji said his experience in the Senate would be an asset, particularly given that UBC has said there will be no budgetary asks in the 2024/25 fiscal year due to budget shortfalls.
"I've sure shown time and time again, that I know how to use the system to make sure we're benefiting students"
Kanji is running against current student senator Kareem Hassib as well as first-time candidates Alex Chui, Jasper Lorien, Kyle Rogers, Sahib Malik, Ferdinand Rother, Taushifa Shaikh and Solomon Yi-Kieran.
This article is part of our 2024 AMS Elections coverage. Follow us at @UbysseyNews on X (formerly Twitter) and follow our election coverage starting February 27.
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