Board of Governors candidates Kamil Kanji, Eshana Bhangu and Jasper Lorien shared similar platforms, but diverged on specifics, during the first Board of Governors debate.
Four out of seven candidates did not attend the debate — meaning over 50 per cent of candidates on the ballot did not participate. Ferdinand Rother, Enav Zusman, Leonard Wang and Siddharth Rout were the absent candidates.
In her opening statement, Bhangu highlighted her accomplished background in student politics, citing her experience and track record as AMS president, VP academic and university affairs (VP AUA), three terms as student senator and one term on the Board.
Kanji also listed his accomplishments as current VP AUA which include securing $450,000 in funding for the AMS Food Bank, while Lorien, a first-year and relative newcomer to AMS politics, spoke about their platform’s commitment to ensuring affordability, housing and divestment.
In the debate, Lorien also highlighted their work with the Disabilities United Collective, an AMS resource group that advocates for disability rights for all students.
All present candidates firmly opposed tuition increase, but shared plans with differing degrees of specificity to mitigate this year’s upcoming raise.
Kanji said he wants to push for a multi-year tuition framework and advocate the province for further funding. Lorien agreed that the university should look to find other funding sources.
Bhangu added she intends to advocate for the university to provide more need-based aid for students experiencing the impact of the tuition raise. She said she would advocate for BC to lift the moratorium that currently prohibits student housing funding to come from the Student Housing Financing Endowment to free up funds for students.
When asked, Bhangu, Lorien and Kanji all expressed willingness to advocate for calls to divest from companies complicit in Palestinian human rights violations, despite the university rejecting a motion to divest passed by the AMS in 2022.
Bhangu said her advocacy would focus on institutionalizing a clause in UBC’s investment criteria to ensure it excludes all companies that are complicit in human rights violations.
Lorien added that a lot has occurred since the 2022 divestment motion, suggesting that it may be worth a revisit.
“I think that the appetite is certainly much more out there and I think that needs to be recognized as well,” they said.
When asked what would be the one priority from the Student Affordability Task Force they would most like to see, candidate answers focused on increasing financing support for students.
Lorien said they want to see more need-based aid.
“We really do need to be making sure that UBC is allowing students to come here if they cannot necessarily afford it if they are going to help this institution become one of the best in the world,” said Lorien.
Bhangu, who co-authored the task force, added that revising the Board’s Financial Aid Policy (LR10), which governs need-based aid, is a key priority for her. It currently only covers full-time domestic students.
Kanji agreed with the need to push for further financial aid “without compromising,” but also brought up the need for an increased commitment to food security funding from the university.
All present candidates are undergraduate students, but said they were confident in their ability to advocate for graduate student needs.
“UBC’s disability accommodation policy is very, very much tailored to undergrad students and there are a lot of issues with how that works graduate students,” Lorien said. “I have worked pretty closely with a lot of disabled graduate students and disabled graduate organizations.”
Kanji highlighted his advocacy as VP AUA where he secured an increase of $6,000 in minimum funding for PhD programs.
Bhangu noted her “strong relationships with the graduate student society” and spoke about the need to ensure more “accountability for [graduate] supervisors.”
Lorien, Kanji and Bhangu also agreed there is a greater need to deliver results than to communicate every step of the way to students.
While presenting similar goals, Kanji, Bhangu and Lorien were also asked to differentiate themselves from one another during the debate.
Lorien said they have lived experience with disability and their familiarity and expertise with the Disability Accommodation Policy (LR7) would bring a unique perspective to the Board.
Kanji highlighted his “continued dedication to service” and ability to get wins for students when facing particularly difficult circumstances despite the tight budgetary constraints of the university.
Bhangu emphasized that she often contributed to setting the “institutional precedent” that students use to advocate for today, citing the extension of course withdrawal deadline in 2022. She pointed out she holds a “clear undoubted track record of delivering for students and my promises.”
The candidates will debate again on February 29 at 5:30 p.m. in the Michael Kingsmill Forum.
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.