Alex Chui is running for a spot as one of five student senators at-large with a platform centered around furthering accessibility, accountability and diversity and inclusion.
The second-year integrated science student said one of his reasons for running is because of a lack of senators-at-large from his faculty. Chui added he wants to advocate for the needs of faculties who are often underrepresented among student senators-at-large.
“I noticed that a lot of the people that usually run for these positions are from Arts,” said Chui.
If elected, Chui intends to advocate for increased access to recorded lectures to accommodate for students who may be impacted by disruptions to transit — he cited the recent transit strike and snow storm.
He also hopes to make the Senate more accountable to the student body by boosting its visibility through establishing a website for students. The Senate already has a website, launched in 2021 to encourage transparency, but it has not been updated since the 2021/22 academic year.
Chui said his main motivation to run came from seeing a gap between idea and application yet to be bridged.
“I try to approach things with a sense of realism,” he said, noting that his intention, if elected, is to facilitate collaboration between student, faculty and staff senators to create policies which honor the progressive ideals of the student body.
Chui hopes to sit on the Academic Policy Committee, as he believes it would allow him to best address his platform goals. He intends to bring his “realist” perspective to the table, on topics such as a requirement for students to take courses dealing with Indigenous reconciliation — which he is a strong advocate for.
He foresees a major challenge that student senators will face in the upcoming year to be the balancing of advocating for what students want, while acknowledging the realities of structural change.
“We have all these dreams and ideas, [but] there is a limit to what we can do,” he said.
Having followed UBC politics since his first year, Chui expressed his respect for the way that student senators such as Kamil Kanji and Kareem Hassib have maintained unity as a group despite differences of opinion. However, he stresses that while he intends to advocate for the same common issues as other student senators, his focus on feasibility sets him apart from his opposition.
“I truly believe that the ideas seem to be common. The ideas are good, but nobody's really talked about the feasibility.”
To stay up-to-date with student needs and opinions, Chui said he will use the connections he gained as a councilor on the Science Undergraduate Society. “[The undergraduate societies] are the ones that work the closest, directly with students,” he said.
Chui is running against incumbent student senators Kareem Hassib and Kamil Kanji, as well as newcomers Jasper Lorien, Sahib Malik, 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.