The bill comes as a relief to UBC, which was sued by Dan S Barbour in 2005 when his car was towed because he refused to pay four parking tickets worth a total of $200. If passed, it will override the court ruling that UBC is not a legal authority, and therefore cannot collect fines for parking violations on campus.

Owen said that the university is pleased by Bill 13.

“Frankly, it’s pretty clear that it’s something that had to be corrected,” said Owen, “and if the lawsuit was able to continue, ten years of fines and millions of dollars would have to be paid to people who broke the rules.”

Owen added that if this did not happen, the millions of dollars that UBC was sued for would have had to come out of the university’s general funds—money that could be spent on students.

“[For Barbour] to have repeatedly, knowingly parked, without paying, his Jaguar at UBC, and expect students to pay for that is just outrageous,” he said, “so it’s a very good decision by the government.”

Under the proposed law the university will also be allowed “to regulate, prohibit and impose requirements in relation to noise on or in real property, buildings and structures of the university” and charge fees for violations of these regulations. Owen said that once this is passed, it is up to the Board of Governors (BoG) to decide on the imposition of these regulations.

“Any community has to have the ability to have some kind of regulations,” said Owen. “You have to have some control over behaviour, whether it’s noise or parking. You know there are some rules of common decency that any institution, whether it’s a local government of the university, has to have the means to enforce for the public good.”

“This is a big win for students in BC,” he added, “and there’s no other way to cut it. And for anybody to suggest that this is inappropriate public policy to give universities and colleges on behalf of students the right to organize civilized behaviour…it’s preposterous for anyone to suggest it’s anything but in students’ benefit and good public policy.”

“If such regulation is enacted, the RCMP will have more leverage, beyond the Criminal Code, to enter, fine and interrupt campus culture. That said, if handled responsibly, this power could clarify the rules around noise and nuisance on campus lands, which may be a good thing.”

“Nobody should see any change as a result of this in any of the general rules of civil behaviour at UBC that have always been there,” said Owen. “It goes beyond civil behaviour, it’s about safety and certainly about fairness.”

The new law is especially relevant to altercations between residents of the fraternity houses and the RCMP. Over the past year, these two parties have clashed over rights to make noise on campus in what has been deemed the “War on Fun.”

Current AMS VP Academic and University Affairs Johannes Rebane said that giving UBC a bit more authority over its campus is fair.

“I think it’s fair. Up to this point three quarters of the stop signs on campus were fake, and even if you ran a stop sign you couldn’t be charged for it because under the authority of UBC they weren’t able to impose anything like that,” he said. “It’s giving them a bit more ability to control things.”

But Rebane added that the AMS will remain wary. “As long as the university does not go ahead and not try to abuse those powers then I think it’s all fair that such measures are in place,” he said.

“I think that the AMS will continue to make sure that whatever noise policies are passed are fair and aren’t infringing on students’ ability to lead a fulfilling social and academic 

university career.”