Kyle Rogers is running for a place as one of five student senators at-large with a campaign focused on amending the academic calendar.
Specifically, the third-year political science student wants to have an earlier final exam period and an extended fall reading break, in addition to more online course options during the summer semesters.
“When the last possible exam is on December 22nd at 7pm ... especially for international students, it’s a real struggle around the holidays,” said Rogers.
He compared UBC to other universities like SFU, whose exam period ended December 18 last term, which was four days earlier than UBC’s.
“I think especially around that time, even just a couple of days makes a huge difference.”
Rogers also wants to have a week-long fall reading break. He recalls having one in his first year when he attended UBC’s Okanagan campus.
“[The couple days] isn’t enough ... I feel like it loses its purpose if it's just half the week,” said Rogers.
Another priority for Rogers is having more online options for summer courses for students who leave the province, but still need to complete their required credits. He cites Vancouver’s challenging job market as a prime reason that many students return home during the summer to find work.
If elected, Rogers said he would bring his experience in local politics as an executive of the Electoral District Association of Minister Brenda Bailey, and as a member of her Election Planning Committee. He added that he has experience with student governance as he ran for UBC Okanagan’s student union in his first year.
This is also where Rogers' motivation to run for Senate was sparked.
“I just found it really rewarding and exciting to be a student voice at the university. That's what motivated me to run this year,” he said.
When asked about his thoughts on Senate 2026, a report of goals and priorities for the future of Senate which was put together by this year's student senate caucus, Rogers said he had not seen it.
To complete his platform goals, Rogers hopes to work with other student and faculty senators on the Curriculum and Academic Policy Committees.
He intends to maintain student engagement through social media and in the classroom, to keep up to date with the opinions of the student body.
Rogers foresees the impacts of international conflicts and academic partnerships to be a major challenge facing student-senators this upcoming year. Concerns around UBC being in agreements with universities located in countries with histories of human rights abuses or records of obstructing academic freedom has arisen in the Senate multiple times.
On how he would tackle this challenge, Rogers said “it would depend on the challenge and the time and what's happening.”
Rogers is running against incumbent student senators Kareem Hassib and Kamil Kanji, as well as newcomers Alex Chui, Jasper Lorien, 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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