After a heated three-hour emergency AMS Council meeting on Saturday, November 28, AMS President Blake Frederick and VP External Tim Chu were asked to resign. The request was due to a human rights complaint they filed on behalf of the AMS to the United Nations without consulting students beforehand.

Over 175 people, most of whom were upset with Frederick and Chu, attended the meeting, which had to be moved to Hebb Theatre to accommodate the crowd. Council voted in favour of withdrawing the UN complaint and ceasing to fund the cause, asking Frederick to resign, and Chu to resign. All motions passed unanimously.

The complaint claims that the government is violating its commitment under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights, which Canada signed in 1976, “by failing to adequately control tuition fees and not providing sufficient financial support to students.”

Frederick and Chu were not in attendance. They claimed in an open letter to Council that they had “prior commitments,” despite Frederick’s comment to The Ubyssey in an interview on Thursday that he was looking forward to Saturday’s meeting.

A student at large, identified as “Greg,” was one of the few who spoke against the motion.

“It’s a stunt,” he said. “Sometimes stunts help you get what you want….As a student who pays a ridiculous amount of tuition, I don’t really see the problem.”

However, opposition was drowned out by numerous students and councilors speaking in favour of the motion.

“I’m mostly your typical, apathetic student,” said Anna Ables, a second-year student. “I don’t really care until something is bad enough that I personally feel embarrassed by. [Making] tuition a human rights issue is incredibly embarrassing….It’s not on behalf [of students].”

“I was a little surprised that we filed a human rights complaint for tuition,” said Conrad Copeland, a UBC alumnus. “Honestly, it makes a mockery of the UN, and it’s deeply embarrassing to the school that we would be presumptuous enough to think tuition is a human rights issue.”

“None of us are happy about this,” said Engineering Undergraduate Society representative Andrew Carne. “We would like a student government that works….What we have seen here is a willful subversion of the democratic process.”

Another motion was brought forward by Mona Maghsoodi, Graduate Student Society councilor, to ask VP Academic Johannes Rebane and VP Finance Tom Dvorak to resign, as they had signed off on the contract with Pivot Legal Society—the law firm with which Frederick and Chu filed the complaint. However, the motion was tabled until January because councilors wanted to consult with their constituents before making a decision.

Dvorak and Rebane apologized for their involvement, alleging that they trusted their fellow executives, and therefore did not read the contract closely. “I took the level of trust that I had as an excuse not to do my due diligence, and for that I apologize,” Rebane said. Dvorak echoed these sentiments, asking for sympathy from councilors and students.
The AMS’ next step is to send out a press release clarifying that the complaint was not an action of Council. In accordance with AMS Bylaws, 12 councilors have signed two separate notices that resolve to remove Frederick and Chu from their executive positions that will come forward to a special Council meeting scheduled for Monday,
December 7.

—With files from Kalyeena Makortoff, Fabiola Carletti & Neal Yonson

Read Frederick and Chu’s response here.
Read the background of the issue here, here and here.
Alternate coverage on UBC Insiders.
Watch Streeters to see the student’s reaction to Saturday’s meeting

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