A motion to censure an AMS President has not come to Council in nearly five years. That alone should tell you how serious last night’s debate was.

Make no mistake, what President Blake Frederick has done is serious. In his eight months as president, the relationship between UBC and the AMS—and therefore students—has gone seriously downhill. A poorly thought-out press release wasn’t significantly worse than anything else our president has done, but it was the cherry on top of the Sundae of Suck that has been his leadership.

When Stephen Toope, the president of UBC, sends out a letter that is so sharply worded that people say they’ve never seen him this angry and disappointed, you know things have been bungled.

Council realized this. To their credit, most all of our student leaders were worried how students would perceive this and whether the relationship between the AMS and UBC was irrevocably damaged for the rest of the year. They realized they had a public relations debacle on their hands. The vast majority realized that the press release was wrong. The question was whether a formal censure would make their disappointment clear, or would cause more problems than it would solve.

In a case like this, it would seem that a formal apology, or retraction of the press release, would be a public show of grace and humility, not to mention a compromise. It would get the message across without going to extreme measures. After all, Council forced VP External Tim Chu to pull back an overly-partisan report card that was issued on the provincial parties during the May election. They could have done much the same thing here.

But Frederick refused to issue a formal apology and refused to issue a second press release. Moreover, he said that the university should be apologizing. Council wanted him to show some formal contrition.

Instead, he said he was sorry about what happened—not formally, mind you. He said he “would take this very seriously.” He said he would change. He said: Trust me. And Council said: Okay.

Is that really wise? Because thus far, under Frederick, if the AMS has had a chance to embarrass students or damage their relations with the university, more often than not, they have.

They spent $19,000 on advertisements in 24 Hours newspaper. They’ve misled students in leaving CASA. They’ve squandered any chance of students playing a meaningful role of making sure the Olympics doesn’t cause undue disruption to this campus in February. They’ve alienated countless university officials and put into jeopardy negotiations for a new SUB. In the choice between making a political point or building up relationships for students, time and time again Frederick—and Chu—have chosen to make a political point. The bus loop was cancelled. Students had won. There was no need to thumb the university in the eye. But Blake did. Again.

A few councillors claimed that while what Blake did was very stupid, and while what he has done in the past has not been helpful, censuring the president would make the AMS look weak and divided, and damage relations with the university further.

Well you know what? The university now knows that the AMS is deeply divided, and that many councilors have no faith in their president. They also know that they let the juvenile press release stand. You think that makes the AMS look stronger?

There are the continued negotiations to build a new SUB for students. There is a possible federal election. And there are the Winter Olympics, where literally hundreds of millions of people will have their eyes on UBC, and Frederick will be in his final month as AMS President, unencumbered by having to deal with repercussions. Just saying.

There are plenty of more chances for President Frederick to embarrass the AMS and embarrass the student body. Council decided to trust him, rolling the dice just one more time. So, if Frederick makes another gaffe, it’s on you, councilors.