Veronica Knott is a fifth-year mining engineering student. She’s served as the Engineering Undergraduate Society president and last year made waves as one of the student representatives on the Board of Governors. She's running for another term representing students at board level.
Describe your platform and what makes it different from those of other candidates.
I’m the only who mentions transparency (note: while perhaps not as often, the other candidates have indeed mentioned transparency in their campaigns). My first and foremost platform point is to fight for increased transparency in board practices because I’ve been there this whole entire year and I’ve witnessed it, and I understand the practices and I understand why decisions were made. I can support that, but I think that’s something that all societies need to continue to review and look at. That’s why I’m putting, as my top priority for next year, to review stuff like policy 93, but also stuff like how dockets are set, and how timelines are set, and what information is online beforehand. That’s my top priority.
My next priority is increasing teaching and student support. There’s often a big focus on research and increased research funding, but that really doesn’t benefit students, apart from the research opportunities.
The third is rebuilding communication, and the reason that is so important is because that was my platform point last year. I wanted to build communication, I wanted to make everyone understand what the board does, and I think everyone understands what the board does, and they don’t particularly like it any more [than they did before]. So, right now, it’s about showing our whole community, especially students, that the board does really important work, and they work so hard, and have such amazing people, and they dedicate their time and their passions to that, and being able to communicate that. One of the big things I want to do is start writing small informational things about what’s happening with board through The Ubyssey and on blogs.
And my final point is last year when I sat on the Board of Governors, the tuition increases resulted in a diversity fund, as well as increased student financial aid, and the whole point of that was because board really wanted to ensure that we’re maintaining our diversity and we’re increasing our accessibility. I think that we have to make sure that the promises that they made are kept, and that’s something I want to follow up on and make sure happen because I was part of that conversation … and I want to make sure it’s done properly.
What drew you to this specific position again?
The first time I went was because I was so enraged by the international tuition process when I was president of engineering, and so I ran originally because I wanted to be that strong student voice. I thought a lot this year about whether or not I was going to run again, because obviously, like everyone, I was frustrated with what happened this year. I thought maybe it was time to pass on the torch — I really reflected on my role — but I looked at it and I said, "This is something I want to do, because I can do better, and I want to do better." I had all these goals, and I achieved some of them, but there’s so much more I could achieve. The thing about board is that it’s such a steep learning curve — you have so much to learn, but you only meet five times a year ... and I won’t have to go through that learning curve again. That means that not only can I support whatever student joins me on the board this year, but it means I can also really continue on my platform points that are often more than just one year.
What are the challenges facing this position in the upcoming year?
Luckily, we don’t have international student tuition increases, because that’s now on a three-year schedule ... so, this year, the challenges are really going to be about transitions. Martha [Piper] is no longer going to be the interim [president of UBC], we’re going to have a new president, and then it’s about welcoming that president, supporting that president, and really putting students’ priorities in front of that president. And it’s about repairing stakeholder relations — I think that’s going to be really important — and ensuring all the promises that were made last year were done and certain things were reviewed, and I know some of the other candidates have had stuff about reviewing funds that were created and decisions that were made, and I think that’s fantastic.
I think a lot is about dividing the work between student reps last year to ensure that we’re really covering all of our bases, we’re covering the past, about reflecting about what happened, but also the future — preparing for the next hundred years. So, with the transition and all the new board members, I think it will be really important to have some stability on board, and for the students, be able to communicate clearly what our priorities are, and where we hope to see the university go.
Who is the most important body or person that you will have to collaborate with, and how will you foster that relationship?
By far, I think the most important is the AMS. The one thing I learned is that I can’t waste so much time trying to duplicate what the AMS already does, and what they do is they reach out to their students. This year, tuition is the appropriate example: they were able to utilize their resources and their strengths and their communication. They had staff working on the benchmarking, which allowed Julie and I to take that information and be able to talk about it.
What do you think the weakest part of your campaign or platform is?
Money is behind a lot of [achieving my goals], and so I think that’s probably going to be the weakest part — finding the money to make those goals a reality. It’s going to be a gradual advocacy of when the opportunity arises — I can really jump on that, and increase that, and support that, but I’m not sure exactly how it’s going to play out, or how the tangibles are going to be received, or what I can deliver by the end of the year, because I think that’s going to be a longer term thing, there really needs to be a part of a strategic plan, so my goal there is to get it to be a part of a top priority and strategic plan.
Interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.