Accountability and secret ballots can't go hand in hand
At the last AMS Council meeting, the society, by secret ballot, voted on whether to take a formal stance opposing the BDS referendum. If we put aside the larger issues of what their stance should have been (or if they should have taken one at all), it’s pretty shocking to all of us that they did not vote on it openly. As Tanner Bokor rightly pointed out at the meeting, transparency is just as important when dealing with sensitive subjects such as BDS as it is when voting on what to, for example, order from the pizza place.
Naturally, it is more comfortable for councillors to vote on sensitive issues in private, but the comfort should not trump the accountability that those who were elected owe to students. While there are definitely times when a vote by secret ballot is necessary, it shouldn’t be an automatic shield away from sensitive topics. In this case, the safety concerns that some of the councillors had brought up were based mainly on hypothetical scenarios rather than actual risks. The fact that councillors had the option to abstain, too, means that if they really didn't want to take a stance on a major geopolitical issue, they could have. The truth is, people in politics sometimes have to make difficult choices and have the public judge them because of it. But when politicians start toying with the scale of comfort versus accountability, accountability should win in almost every case.
AMS elections debate lived up to its name
It was nice to see some actual debating at the AMS elections debates on Thursday. Too many candidates in recent memory have used the debates to just agree with each other, rather than call out holes in their opponents’ platforms or take controversial stances. Candidates actually challenged each other on points that could have easily been let slide, and it’s for the best.
One of Cheneil Antony-Hale’s platform points -- mandatory sexual assault-related training for residence advisors -- sparked challenges from an audience member, as well as spirited debate. Agree or disagree with her point, it was nice to see candidates being challenged. Even the SLFS debate -- one that is often ignored, or doesn’t happen in the first place -- sparked some legitimate discussions about why SLFS matters to students. We hope this spirit of actual debate will carry on to the Great Debate on Tuesday, and more importantly, we hope it will make students look beyond the platform points on candidates’ websites and make informed choices in this year’s elections.
The AMS needs to plan for the long-run
Tanner Bokor is heading the development of a long-term strategic plan for the AMS, and we're impressed. Though how effective the plan will be isn't yet certain, and we aren't particularly hopeful based on the efficacy of long-term plans we've seen, it's critical for the AMS and its student politicians to make goals and plan for the long run. The university is going to be around for a long time, and we need to think beyond our own four or five years here.
The nature of the AMS' governance model means that the executive can switch over entirely from year to year. Bokor seems eager to work with his successor to ensure that this plan is actually adhered to, which will hopefully result in some sort of continuity with the new government (and hopefully with many more to come). Only time will tell how much good the AMS 2030 plan will do, but at least they're doing something.
New SUB celebrations
The New SUB is set to open in early April and though we can’t say that we’re optimistic, we are getting pretty excited. We’ve been in our basement office for nearly 15 years, and we’re all looking forward to a few days of natural light at work before the school year (and our work year) ends.
As far as the opening itself goes, it looks like the AMS plans to make quite an event out of the new building’s first day. The focus on mental health is timely, given that it’ll be smack dab in the middle of the most stressful period of the year for most students. Though we are a little bit terrified by the prospect of “cheap massages” (mostly by the concern that those giving them may be newly out-of-work construction workers), it’s nice that the AMS is going to be putting in some effort to make up for the numerous delays that students anxiously anticipating the building’s opening have suffered.