Engineers are challenged by poor public perception. According to multiple surveys conducted by the American Society for Engineering Education, engineering falls far below professions in fields such as medicine and academics in terms of prestige. The common public understanding is that engineers simply build or fix things.

These viewpoints do not line up with the perception engineers have of themselves. In a recent survey of 190 first-year Engineering students at UBC conducted by the teaching assistants of Applied Science 150, 83 per cent of students considered engineering to be a “helping profession.” When ranking the role of engineering in society, 72 per cent of students polled chose “to address societal problems and needs” in the top three of six choices. “Getting drunk and throwing people in ponds” was not included as a choice in the survey.

There is a crucial need for engineers to understand the societal context that their work takes place in: policy-making, economics, and the environment are among related disciplines affected by the work they do. This has been recognized by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB), which has started placing higher importance on professional ethics and the understanding of the role of engineers within society. In order to solve global problems, engineers need to understand the correlations between social and technical issues so as not to accelerate problems such as climate change or extreme poverty.

Whether it’s the Women in Engineering program addressing issues of gender empowerment, the Electric Car Club fighting for renewable energy or Engineers Without Borders reaching out to high school students on a weekly basis, there are hundreds of Engineers at UBC that are promoting a healthy, sustainable world.

Engineers Without Borders

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Canada is a national, student-driven organization dedicated to promoting and supporting human development by empowering Canadians to look at the root causes of poverty and engage in innovative solutions. With an emphasis on global human connections, EWB advocates for a variety of issues including agricultural development, fair trade and clean water infrastructure.

In collaboration with engineering faculties across the country, EWB is building the concept of the “global engineer.”

This type of engineer will need to be able to create innovative solutions to the complex issues facing our new global society. Superior communication skills, cultural understanding, interdisciplinary teamwork, entrepreneurial skill and the ability to understand complex and interlocking systems define the global engineer.

As university education continues to improve to meet evolving demands from industries and professional organizations, many engineering students hope that UBC will live up to the EWB’s global engineering mandate to “increase the focus on social issues and sustainability, [and] train engineers as leaders with the knowledge and skills to be successful in helping solve the issues of today.”
Dan Boland, a Mechanical Engineering student, feels that engineering influences society in many ways, including “the water we drink, the food we eat, the appliances and technologies that we use, the way we communicate and receive information.”

Boland, along with many other engineering students at UBC, is already embracing and acting on the principles of the global engineer.

The UBC chapter of EWB is the second-largest in the country, with 40 core members who are supported by more than 200 volunteers from across the university. They are global citizens and strong advocates for positive social change not only in Africa, but also in Canada.

Their annual Bridging the Gap Conference, the largest of its kind in Vancouver, addresses important questions about international development and global poverty, such as the way that the economy, education and health of developing nations are linked. Every March, EWB volunteers take to the streets in an attempt to engage Canadians to support the poorest in the world by distributing information about how local action—such as buying fair trade goods or donating to a cause—can have far-reaching impacts. They are also highly involved with high school outreach and local education programs.

In Africa, EWB volunteers from UBC have worked hand-in-hand with local organizations in everything from coffee farming to earth-dam maintenance. Every year, EWB sends “Junior Fellows,”

Engineering undergraduate students with the drive to learn firsthand about development, to African nations to work directly with local organizations on local development projects. Overseas volunteers are currently working in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi and Zambia.

UBC Electric Car Club

Photo courtesy of Ricky Gu

The UBC Electric Car Club has an ambitious goal—to compete in the upcoming Zero-Emissions Race and have their electric car race around the world in 80 days. They are currently the only team representing North America in this competition. Their team is comprised of UBC students from various engineering faculties who have come together for the common goal of promoting sustainability and finding innovative ways to break fossil fuel dependence.

Women in Engineering

Women in Engineering (WIE) at UBC is a program developed to help female engineering students with personal development and networking—allowing them to “be a leading force both on campus and in the community” according to current WIE student coordinator Kerry Black. Their vision is “to create a safe and inclusive environment that allows female students to participate fully and equitably in the Faculty of Applied Science at UBC.” This is achieved through formal leadership and career development seminars.

Emerging Green Builders

The UBC Emerging Green Builders (EGB) are an interdisciplinary network of students and young professionals concentrating on the environmental impact of our buildings and infrastructure. Founded in 2008 by a group of UBC Engineering students, EGB has provided seminars and workshops on green building design and sustainability. “We intend to accelerate a sustainable transformation of our buildings, neighbourhoods and communities,” said student participant Stefan Storey.

EGB has members coordinating with the SUB Renew sustainability committee, the Centre for Interactive Research in Sustainability and the Bright Green Builders Project. The organization recently received recognition in the UBC Alternative Energy X-Contest.

Super milage

Photo courtesy of Morgan Lok

A team of UBC Engineers won the 2006 SAE Supermilage race, a yearly fuel efficiency competition held in Detroit, Michigan. Using standard fuel, a highly efficient engine and a futuristic design that required the driver to operate the vehicle lying down, the UBC students’ entry was able to travel over 5000 kilometres on less than four litres of gas. This UBC Engineering Team’s design was featured as one of TIME Magazine’s Inventions of the Year in 2006.

The Landing Pad

During his third year of studies at UBC, Integrated Engineering (IGEN) student Aaron Coret broke his neck in a snowboarding accident on the Whistler Blackcomb Glacier terrain park. Coret now spends his time completing his studies at UBC and working on his business, Katal Innovations. His main product is an inflatable “Landing Pad,” designed to provide a safe training mechanism for freestyle snowboarders. “This project is directly inspired by my desire to give something back to the sport I love so much,” said Coret.

Hey, all you kool kids! Did you know that the ultra-hip people who run UBC have just started a totally slammin’, out-of-control blog?

Yes, UBC VP Finance Pierre Ouillet and VP Students Brian Sullivan have recently started up a blog called “The Administration Blog.” It currently has four posts, which have garnered a modest number of positive comments, primarily from AMS hacks. Their inaugural post is marked by references to joining the 21st century and preemptive dismissing of the “cynics.” But most memorably, its introduction is, “Your administration now has a blog. How cool is that?”

Indeed, how cool is that? It probably ranks up there with all of those overweight middle-aged parents who started doing the Macarena in the mid-90s. Well, maybe not—those parents weren’t pushing an agenda. More apt might be a comparison to Christian rap groups who visit middle schools to pump out “fresh” rhymes about saying “no” to drugs. In other words, the blog stands a significant risk of exposing the administration as embarrassingly out of touch with students.

The goals the blog works towards are good ones—opening dialogue between students, staff and administration is never a bad thing. But there is an obvious propaganda bent to it. UBC is ranked “top two in Canada, top 35 in the world,” one post says. Another entry is dedicated to the miraculous book-balancing work UBC and VP Finance managed to pull off for this year’s budget…written by the VP Finance.

Of course that is hardly surprising, but the administration blog isn’t all bad. Although we suspect that they will have a fairly difficult time connecting with “normal” students, it is nice that they’ve set up a new method of communicating with the students that actually care. And who knows, maybe it will lead to a scenario where they start listening to concerned students more often.

But there is nothing cool about the blog—it’s simply a form of online media that allows the administration to put a good spin on everything they do. This time, that spin is simply a little more interactive.

”In 1948, Sir Ludwig Guttmann organized a sports competition involving World War II veterans with a spinal cord injury in Stoke Mandeville, England. Four years later, competitors from the Netherlands joined the Games and an international movement was born.”

So says the Paralympics website, explaining their origins. No Greek myths, no overhyped torch, just an expression of inclusiveness. The Paralympics provide one of the most visible proactive celebrations for people with disabilities and are contractually required to follow the Olympics. However, even though they are an international athletic competition like the Olympics, there is nowhere near the same amount of hype. And to that, we at The Ubyssey say, “Thank God.”
Frankly, the idea of the “Olympic movement” has long been dead. The Games are no longer about amateur athletics, ordinary people doing extraordinary things, or a simple celebration of sport and culture. The Games are bloated, incredibly expensive and inherently corporate—

hardly a movement inspired by virtuous ideals any longer.

The Paralympic movement is still alive, strong and needed. It promotes discussion about the practical realities of true universal equity, right down to our language. It’s about athletic ability and human achievement, rather than the chest-thumping and showboating of the Olympics. The drive towards being “world-class”

takes a back seat to seeing our athletes compete, which is stripped of most of the nationalism and commercialism of the Olympics as well.

Flags may not be waving and Sidney Crosby won’

t be anywhere in sight, but the Paralympics are here, celebrating what is good about competition and sports at a much more affordable price. Our city would do well to embrace these games.

Hi Too Sexy,

I have a lot of hair down at my pussy, and I have never shaved it before. Should I shave it or not shave it if I am going to have sex with a guy for the first time? Or should I even ask the guy if he likes it shaved or not?

Thanks,

—Hairspray

Hi Hairspray,

Ah, that age old question: to shave or not to shave? Let’s start by stating the obvious. What you do with your own genital foliage is purely your business. As with any concern associated with personal (in this case, really personal) appearance, what matters most is that you are happy and comfortable with yourself. Just like all the other parts of your body, your genitals are particular to you and special in that regard. And if there’s any situation in which you most want to be feeling relaxed and confident about your body, it’s in sexual situations. Comfort is the foundation of a pleasurable sex life.

Ultimately, Hairspray, your sexual partner should be more focused on you than the state of the downstairs rug. So ask yourself—would shaving “the area” make you feel more you? Or is a thick, lush carpet what you truly desire? Which better expresses your unique personality?

That said, let’s look at some of the pros and cons of shaving, with some tips and troubleshooting along the way.

Pros:

Self-expression. A walk down Wreck Beach during the summer reveals a plethora of pudendal patterns as distinct and varied as the people who sport them. If you so desire, you can trim ye olde hedge into a variety of shapes, including hearts, stars, rectangles, ovoids, or even lightning bolts. The more adventurous pubic fashionistas can even find hair dyes and accompanying stencils specially made for pubic hairs. The female half of the Too Sexy crew, simple soul that she is, favours only a light side-trim resulting in a gently-sloped triangular shape.

Avoidance of tickle trouble. According to some Too Sexy sources, particularly long or abundant pubic hair may occasionally tickle a partner’s nose during oral sex. Some cunning linguists never face this particular quandary—in fact, some enjoy profusions of hair when they’re going down. Others find it mildly troublesome, and will usually not hesitate to mention this fact. In the latter case, some landscaping may be recommended.

Your partner will never have to pick your pubic hair out of their teeth. ‘Nuff said.

Cons:

Itching, Razor Burn, Ingrown hair and Potential for Injury…Oh My! Shortening or altogether removing hair around the groin may cause a spell of itchiness, either immediately following shaving or as the hairs begin to grow back. The regrowth period also brings the threat of ingrown hairs. These cause irritated red bumps that, aside from being potentially unattractive or alarming, may marginally increase your risk of contracting an STI by breaking your skin and making it more permeable to germs. Razor burn, an irritation of sensitive skin following overly-vigorous shaving, may also have this effect. Finally, as with any situation involving sharp objects and your body, its important to be careful when shaving to avoid damage to delicate tissues.

The Chafes of Despised Love. Au naturale pubic hair provides a degree of protection from groin-on-groin rubbing during energetic or prolonged sexual intercourse. Sexplorers who choose to remove this mechanism, either partially or completely, risk being chafed in an uncomfortable manner by their partner’s skin and/or hair. Think of it as a tiny suit (hirsute, if you will) of armour for your junk.

Body Image. One of pubic hair’s biological roles is to distinguish adults of the human species from prepubescent children. Upon removing this marker of maturity, some folks find themselves feeling puerile, self-conscious, and unpleasantly naked. They may feel uncomfortable engaging sexually with a partner, or icked out by what they perceive as an infantilized state. So before shaving, it’s important to consider how a hairless existence would make you feel. As we’ve said, you and you alone are the architect of your own destiny with regards to your depilatory choices. In the immortal words of Captain Planet, “the power is yours.”

Remember also, before you make a choice, the world of hedge trimming is not one of black and blonde. There’s plenty of middle ground, and even a tiny trim every month or so can change love jungle most savage into a serene garden of pleasure. In the end, it’s purely your decision. It takes all kinds to make a world and whether you’re sporting the 1970s super bush or the bald eagle look, you’ll do just fine.

Anyways, that’s it for this week. Questions, comments, and pornography can all be sent to toosexy@ubyssey.ca or submitted anonymously through our web form at ubyssey.ca/ideas.

Commerce students will be going to the polls this week to decide whether or not they will be paying a $500 fee each year for decades to finance upgrades to the Henry Angus Building. This is the second time that Sauder and the Commerce Undergraduate Society (CUS) have tried to hoist this fee on Commerce students—a referendum passed in 2006 asking students to pay a similar fee.

It was poorly conceived then, and it’s poorly conceived now.

The referendum makes it so that funding Phase Two of the Sauder building upgrades, worth $20 million, will be up to students. This fee is supposed to be in effect for 35 years. Commerce students are being pressured into deciding whether incoming students have to pay for a new building, bigger classrooms and better technology for the next 35 years, without any support from other donors?

We find it hard to believe that neither UBC, Sauder, alumni nor donors have the money for this. Do you think Commerce students, who can pay up to $4450 a year in tuition, can afford $500 extra each year?

The AMS, for all its blunders, has reached an agreement with the university for the SUB Renew project. They are paying $85 million and the university $25 million. That is for a building that only students will use, and students will operate. Henry Angus is a building that students, staff and faculty will be using, and students will have barely any control over. Yet, Commerce students are being asked to pay for the entirety of Phase Two of the project. In 2006 students agreed to fund part of Phase One of the upgrades as well, and it was only after the government refused the fee upgrade that the university stepped in to help.

To make matters worse, the Dean of Sauder, Dan Muzyka, has been going around to classrooms giving presentations on the subject. At a town hall meeting last Tuesday, Muzyka highlighted how terrible he thought Henry Angus was when he first arrived at UBC. He should find people to pay for upgrades who aren’t students—deans should not be interfering this much in a student society matter.

The CUS and Muzyka have said that the school might lose its accreditation if the building is not brought up to par with the rest of the business schools worldwide. Does anyone know how true this is, whether other schools have lost accreditation due to similar circumstances? The CUS doesn’t. You would think that as a student society, they would be doing their due diligence and providing students with all of the information they can.

If the legitimacy of UBC students’ Commerce degrees is on the line, shouldn’t Sauder be trying harder to find private donors? Dean Muzyka said that “this is Plan B.” If the referendum doesn’t pass, what is Plan C? He said, “there hasn’t been another pot of money to put into this.” We find this argument, again, difficult to stomach.

Even supposing they couldn’t find that money from private donors, this fee increase shouldn’t fall on the shoulders of students alone. If one of the university’s flagship faculties truly is in danger of losing its accreditation, shouldn’t that be a concern of utmost importance to the administration, alumni and the faculty? The dean, faculty and school lured students into coming here with promises of a world-class education. Now the dean is terrorizing those same students into paying for infrastructure upgrades with the threat that their degrees may become nullified? If that happens, he’s the one who has failed, not the students.

The sad thing is, we think that this referendum will pass. University students are already afraid they won’t find jobs after graduation—to hear that their degree would be worthless if they don’t pony up money for a new building has many scared enough to vote yes.

So Commerce students, when you go to the polls on March 11 and 12, vote no, and place the onus on the university and the Sauder School of Business to make your school better.

Hey Too Sexy,

I’m a 21-year-old guy dating a 23-year-old girl. We have sex about seven to ten times a week, which is about as much as is comfortable for me. For perspective, when I was not having sex, I would usually masturbate every other day.

She says this is not enough for her and that previous boyfriends would be able to have sex 20 or more times a week. I have no problem getting hard, but if I try to push myself and have sex several times a day, it starts to get slightly painful for me. First time, great! Second, still good but not as great. Third, things start to ache afterwards.

I told her that I felt seven to ten times a week can hardly be considered low effort on my part, and that I had no problem using other methods (fingers, toys, etc.). Her response was that those are not the same and not satisfying enough. She says she is fine with the amount of sex for now but that in the future it might bother her more, possibly enough to threaten the relationship.

I have two questions. My girlfriend said I should see a doctor because I might have something wrong with me, because it is a little painful after multiple orgasms a day. Could this be correct?

Second, assuming that there is nothing I can do to increase my sex drive, what would you recommend for my girlfriend and I?

—Sexual Ability Deficient

Hey SAD,

Thanks for your letter. We’ll try to address it succinctly, owing to the fact that Too Sexy just woke up from a lovely dream involving silly string and Eskimo kisses and wants to get back to bed.

First off, the doctor issue. Very few people ever really want to go to the doctor, Too Sexy writers included. That being said, if there’s a chance something could be wrong with your junk, for the love of sex and money, go and get yourself checked out today. We’re not doctors and it’s not uncommon to get a little pang if your prostate’s overworked, but if there’s a chance it could be something medical, you should get it looked at by a trained professional (labcoats, not fishnets). If the doctor says you are fine, your solution may come in the form of a less strenuous position or a bottle of lube.

As for your second question, you’ve got a few options. If it is medical, hopefully you can get it dealt with and move on. If it’s just a case of too much sex in too short a time, then your fix could be as simple as trying to spread the loving over the course of the day. A little morning glory, followed by some afternoon delight, and finally an evening of passionate lovemaking should allow you a couple of hours to cool down in between bouts of coitus. This could make a huge difference, and we highly recommend it.

If none of these work and you still find yourself having less sex than your girlfriend wants, we suppose you could try having an open relationship, but be warned—the transition from monogamy to polygamy is often a hard one and we recommend it only as a last resort.

Now that we’ve answered your question, perhaps you could send us another letter answering ours: Why are you with this girl? It seems like she’s trying to push you out of your comfort zone by threatening to break up with you down the road. That’s class-A douchebag material, regardless of the gender of the douchebag in question. If some nights you just want to cuddle, dammit, she has to respect that. If not, moving on might be one of your best options.

Hi Too Sexy,

I haven’t had sex with a man in almost three years. These days, as soon as I go to bed at night, I start to have those fantasy sex dreams and ideas about having a fuck buddy. But as soon as I wake up in the morning, I don’t think I am going to do any of those crazy sex things. I don’t have any desire to have sex when I am awake. But at night when I am asleep, I just want to have sex so badly. Am I normal? Should I really find a guy and get lay, or are there other ways to solve this?

Thanks,

—Nightslut

Hey Nightslut,

Your answer, in three sections.

One: Are you normal?

Yes, it’s normal to want to have sex. But we suspect you might be repressing this desire.

Two: Should you find a guy and get laid?

Why not? Don’t jump the bones of the first willing male you find, but if you want sex, find someone who treats you nice and makes you feel a little crazy and then go for it.

Three: Are there other ways to solve this?

You could try to own your own sexuality a little more. If it wasn’t banished to the night, it might not be as intense. Barring that, take matters into your own hands. There are plenty of instructional videos on the internet, so we won’t supply technical pointers here, but you might find it takes the edge off lonely nights.

Letters can be submitted to toosexy@ubyssey.ca, our anonymous webform ubyssey.ca/ideas, or either of the writers’ Facebook honesty boxes. With so many eager receptacles waiting for your questions, it’d be cruel of you to hold out on us.

As a proud naturalized Canadian and fan of all of my students, I knew there was something about Canada (besides prorogation and climate-change avoidance) and increasingly about the UBC environment that bothered me. The women’s hockey team’s post-win choices and the death of one of our UBC students have clarified it. The attitude goes like this: “Hey, there’s something to celebrate—we need a drink!” What about, “Something to celebrate—sweet, what more do we need?”

It is at the least bemusing to see the justifiable pride over medals morphing into pride that, “See, we are a party town,” when basically that means, “Hey, we know how to drink/use/get messed up!” Yes, we do. Is this actually an achievement? Really?! Certainly not if we consider the ravages of substance abuse and addiction in Canadian society.

Perhaps in addition to the post-Olympic resolutions of greater health and fitness, using transit and addressing homelessness, we can add taking a hard look at the prevailing belief in our society and on campus that we don’t know how to enjoy ourselves, honour people, delight in life, have fun and party without substances. Then, perhaps we can prevent yet another generation stricken with addiction and its losses.

—Anneliese Schultz,
Continuing Lecturer
French, Hispanic & Italian Studies

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You can sit and read
You can sit and think
You can sit and stink,
or stand and be counted
It’s all clean
—Terrill Stanton

Terrill Stanton has worked as a custodian at UBC since 1974. He arrived here almost by accident—he was supposed to go to SFU to work as a subcontractor but he missed the bus. Terrill called his boss, who told him to try UBC.

Thirty six years later, he has finally hung up his dustpan. Prior to leaving at the end of February, most of his life revolved around the SUB; his wife works as a custodian in the Life Sciences Building and a lot of his closest friends—also custodians—are within a few kilometres of where Terrill started work every morning at 7:30am. Last year, I had the opportunity to spend a day with him as he worked in the SUB.

Terrill had a pretty standard routine. After his morning coffee, he walked over to the Pit to finish off what was leftover from the nightshift’s work. “It’s just not as pukey as it used to be,” explained Terrill’s co-worker, Tim Ryan, as they began to mop the beer-stained floors. Based on the messes they find in the morning, it seems like the campus was wilder 35 years ago.

“When there’s parties, there’s parties…but they’re not as quite as often, not as many nights…. I don’t know, maybe people are putting more time into studying I guess? Maybe since it’s because tuition’s gone up…”

But still, when students get drunk, they seem to never change. Terrill described the common woe of post-party night bathrooms. “The worst is when you have to clean up a ‘Stacker.’” That’s the name they give to the multi-layered phenomenon, which includes a layer of excrement, covered with a layer of toilet paper, then some vomit, a layer of hand towels, and finally another layer of excrement to finish it off.

Terrill and Tim chuckled as they explain it. “We figured out that someone had to have propped themselves along the walls of the stall,” Terrill says, “to be able to get high enough to add that finishing touch.”

His first break began at 9:30am, when the SUB is just beginning to fill up with the streams of student traffic. The custodians meet back in their small lounge tucked behind a quiet hallway perpendicular to the Deli. The room’s lined with old posters and photos, which have remained unchanged for years.

One of the photos shows a young Terrill—a few pounds lighter with thick brown hair—brandishing a big smile. Even in the morose setting of the lounge, all these years later, you can still tell it’s the same guy: friendly, positive, patient and hardworking.

“I like to keep busy,” he said. He managed to avoid getting dragged by the monotony of the job this way. “It’s the Janitor’s Philosophy you know.…You have to get used to the students’ mess. If you stay angry, you won’t last. All these young people, it’s their first time away from home. What do you expect?”

Sitting across the table, Tim added, “One guy’s mess, is another man’s living.”

As Terrill made his daily rounds of the SUB’s three main entrances, he revealed the underground information network of custodial workers around campus. They’re more comprehensive and often faster than any of the usual news sources that cover the school.

“If you want to know information around campus, sometimes custodial’s the best way to go….People talk to us, then we talk to each other.”

As lunch approached, Terrill made constant note of the time on his watch. According to Terrill, management sets very specific time slots for their breaks and reprimand staff who don’t follow the system. People constantly monitor the custodial staff’s breaks by walking back and forth in front of their lounge around lunch and other designated slots.

“Management is draconian,” Terrill says. “Things have changed. The management since the Piper era are not friendly now….There’s no trust, there’s too much intimidation…[and] the situation on campus just isn’t nice anymore.”

Even though management helped improve the quality of equipment and health, the combination of staff cut-backs—there used to be 22 custodians covering the SUB, SRC and Aquatic Centre, a number that’s been cut in half—and the general atmosphere was enough to convince Terrill to say goodbye to UBC.

“I have good friends here…but, it’s the atmosphere around….My personal boss, she’s a really nice lady and really good to work with, but it’s the people above.”

Terrill spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the bathrooms at the SRC and SUB. He propped the recognizable “Closed for Cleaning” sign outside the door and isolates himself in the washroom with the conflicting aromas of highly potent chemicals and the sweet scent of urine.

After years on the job, he knows every chemical mixture needed for every type of stain and has become a technical expert in his craft. “It’s not like digging ditches,” he said.

He’s also collected an unimaginable amount of funny, sad and dirty stories. At an engineer party once, one student “took a crap on the middle of the ten-foot table.” Another time, for a year or two actually, “the Masturbator” habitually left an adult magazine, a pack of cigarettes and some matches in a bathroom stall. Terrill just laughs them off: the Janitor’s Philosophy.

Editor’s note: in the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that this article was written and set to be published last year, however, due to an editorial oversight, it was reviewed by a representative from CUPE 116 before publication. Due to pressure from the union, and after hours of debate between the writer, Mr Stanton, and members of The Ubyssey’s editorial board, the decision was made to suspend the publication of the article. Now that Mr Stanton has retired, we felt that it was important to run the article.

The AMS Elections are currently being audited, marking the third major elections bungling in as many years.

This year, someone was able to hack the system, voting hundreds of times from the same IP address. Last year, it was when Alex Monegro filed a complaint about Blake Frederick running a “slate” campaign. That year’s elections committee decided to take away his presidency, which was returned to him when he appealed to student court.

Back in 2008, Alex Lougheed nearly lost his position when he voted multiple times, an action he claimed was to point out the flaws in the system. In all three cases, the results of an election would have potentially been radically changed due to a simple oversight.

It seems like elections shouldn’t be as consistently flawed as the ones the AMS holds. By themselves, these boondoggles might seem like isolated and excusable mistakes. But they have become so frequent that it is clear that the AMS is not vigilant enough with their elections process. No one should be able to vote more than once, and once elections results are announced, students should be confident that those results will not be suddenly and unexpectedly overturned.

Part of the problem is that the elections are held frequently and a new group of candidates and elections administrators are involved each time. But these problems could be alleviated, if only slightly, if the AMS started working on their next year’s elections far earlier.

The elections are one of the main efforts that the organization undertakes, and it’s time to recognize this. We’re not saying that future elections candidates should start including “smooth elections process next year” as part of their platform. However, as a basic courtesy to the next year’s batch of candidates, and to the students they serve, they should try to make sure the transition doesn’t include needless elections debacles.