Sahib Malik is running to be one of five student senators-at-large for the 2024/25 academic year on a platform centred around creating more flexible course scheduling options and increasing the Senate’s transparency.
The first priority comes from Malik’s personal experience as a commuter.
“If there’s an accident … because I travel during peak times ... [it can] take me up to three hours sometimes to go to campus,” said Malik, who commutes from Surrey. “My main part of my platform is I want it so that we can have some more evening and weekend classes during non-peak rush hour times.”
Malik also expressed support for pushing back course withdrawal dates, as outlined in Senate 2026, a document detailing the priorities of this year’s Student Senate Caucus. Currently, the deadline to add/drop a course without a W standing is around two weeks into the term.
“A week and a half is not enough to figure out if you want to do this course or not,” said Malik.
When asked what he would like to see added to Senate 2026, Malik said “completely remote programs for students.”
The second part of Malik’s platform addresses perceived issues with the Senate’s transparency.
Malik said “there’s almost no transparency on what Senate is doing,” and stressed the importance of keeping the Senate website up-to-date, as well as publishing meeting minutes in a timely fashion. The Senate website currently uploads meetings agendas and supporting documents prior to the meeting. However, meeting minutes from many committees have not been published.
He also noted that the size of the Senate and monthly meeting schedule could make accomplishing his goals a challenge. Malik said he plans to achieve these goals by talking to like-minded senators and students, but didn’t elaborate on any specific targets.
If elected, Malik said he will lean on his experience outside the university to help him adjust to being a student senator. Malik worked as a youth member of the BC United. While working at a summer camp, he helped organize a 2-week condensed university course, which he believes is particularly valuable experience for this position.
While Malik didn’t detail a plan on how he will engage with students, he stressed that he will always be open to hearing from them.
“If you ever want something done, contact me, and we'll see what we can do,” he said.
When asked about his reasons for running, Malik explained that he wanted to get involved and that the academic focus of the Senate appealed to him. However, he did not provide an answer to which committees he would like to sit on.
Malik is running against incumbent student senators Kareem Hassib and Kamil Kanji as well as first-time candidates Alex Chui, Jasper Lorien, Kyle Rogers, 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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