Accordingly, this is our last regular issue of the paper for 2010, and with exams nipping at our heels we’ll be seeing you in IKB soon enough. Before we capped off the year we were planning, in the spirit of hokey and hackneyed editorials, to suggest Christmas gifts for various figures on campus. Then we’d finish it off with something appropriately mawkish.
And then Bijan Ahmadian decided the AMS should investigate if student groups were supporting terrorism. Which has sort of turned our Christmasy mood into a Festivus mood—specifically, the mood one has during the Airing of Grievances.
Implying that a person or group might be supporting terrorism, however indirectly, is pretty much the most offensive, Cheneyesque political tactic one can make. So if you’re going to do it, as Ahmadian did several times last week, you better have some solid evidence.
There’s absolutely no proof of any ties. None of the groups organizing or affiliated with the Canadian Boat to Gaza are suspected in any way of being linked to terrorism. Yes, a flotilla meant to break a blockade to a territory run by Hamas has a certain amount of red flags around it.
The prudent thing to do is double-check that the donation is going to responsible people, and cross your fingers that the worst-case scenario doesn’t happen. It is not to talk to the National Post about the dilemma you’re in, all the while implying that the SPHR, SJC, and 70 per cent of your council are the equivalent of Yemen. Unless you want to make a political point.
At this point, we don’t think Ahmadian meant to purposely allege that his fellow students may be inadvertently supporting terrorism. We also don’t think that Ahmadian seriously believes the AMS will uncover terrorist links that the RCMP/CIA/FBI/CSIS have been unable to crack. We also don’t think that Ahmadian realized that implying the organization he runs might have almost mistakenly aided terrorism would make himself look incompetent as well.
Instead, we really, really hope that he’s simply grossly overstated a legitimate worry in a foolhardy way (several times) and he’ll apologize at the earliest public opportunity. Which happens to be this Wednesday, at an emergency AMS Council meeting to discuss a projected $200,000 deficit for this year. Which reminds us….
Really? A $200,000 deficit?
Remember the summer? When the AMS claimed they were going bankrupt, unless drastic changes were made to the budget? So how’s that going?
Not good. Not good at all. On Wednesday, after hundreds of people departed the Norm Theatre, VP Finance Elin Tayyar stood up to talk about money, which past experience has shown always ends badly. And he announced that the projected deficit for the year was $200,000. Now, that was revised to $141,000 after depleting one of their final slush funds. But still, a six-figure deficit is a six-figure deficit.
Four quick points to make here. First, this underscores the point that tying AMS fees to inflation is crucial. Which makes the fact that the AMS has had a total of one meeting since September to plan for a second-term referendum all the more egregious.
Second, since much of this is due to not getting as much revenue from food outlets, maybe the AMS’s awesome idea to raise prices on food during a down economy and a HST implementation wasn’t so awesome.
Third, Ahmadian’s claim that spending $5000 on renovations to his office was needed to impress potential sponsors? Didn’t happen. When you’re a student union, it doesn’t matter how nice your office looks or how confident your president is—you’re still a student union.
Finally, a note to the (at last informal count) three current executives planning on running again for an executive position next year. We know you love your jobs. But at this point, considering you’ve overseen a gross mismanagement of the budget while generally failing to keep your President on message or get a referendum on track, when it’s time to vote students may love you a lot less.
(+9 rating, 6 votes)
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I think theres only one group that actually managed to have their fees attached to inflation-and thats SUS science a few years back- definitely visionary.
http://www.calendar.ubc.ca/vancouver/index.cfm?tree=14,267,785,0
My Gosh, $5000 for renovating his office?!? What does he have in there? How big is this office? Jeez! As if that wasn’t enough, he began an “investigation” on terrorism. Gosh, when did the AMS become an authority on terrorism? And all of this with a $200 000 deficit? Dude, this is precious student money. Students work their butts off paying their tuition. Handle student money with care!! Bijan is hands down the worst AMS president since I started at UBC in 04.
Which is the same thing you’ll say next year, when something else even bigger pops up.
Is it just me, or do things get worse every year?
Make Bijan return his plasma TV and pay for the rest of his “office renovations” out of pocket. Whoever justified those expenses is a scoundrel.
I think there also should be some caviar and champagne..theres nothing wrong with that
“Whoever justified those expenses is a scoundrel.” -Are you calling AMS council a scoundrel?
Mr. Ahmadian, is doing the right thing by investigating the links with terrorism. By investigating he is not going to find anything new but will compile information from different agencies and come to a conclusion.I see this as necessary since many students did not agree with the result on December first thus MR. Ahmadian is executing his mandate and representing the student body and not just a faction that thinks the issue is over.
You comment is misleading, and it may be that you have been mislead. While it may be true that “many students” objected to the transfer of funds to this humanitarian aid mission, this does not mean that these students are representative of UBC students in general. In fact the students who have complained, and are fighting tooth and nail with the most abominable tactics (smear campaign, accusations of “jew bashing”, surreptitiously recording conversations with members of sjc and threatening lawsuits) are mostly militant zionists directly associated with Hillel house or the Israel Awareness Club. These people seem to have a psychotic fixation on defending the foreign policy of Israel (i.e. the siege of Gaza) at all cost, which includes an abrogation of the facts. The average UBC student, I would hazard a guess, would support the sjc in this case.
Durgan, the average UBC student is apathetic to anything that happens on campus other than when their exams are and what time the buses get here.
Stop trying to paint a picture where everyone is on you side or against Bijan’s side. Truth is, no one gives a shit. Why don’t you get that you your thick idealist bald head?
Where will all of the shallow minded commenters be if the groups affiliated with the gazan boats do have connections with terror. I know next to nothing about either side and study sciences, but if a terror link is found, how will MY alma mater be perceived?
Great article. I cannot believe that despite tuition rates going up every year, we are at a $200,000 deficit. And yet, the AMS President makes choices like spend $2000 for a legal opinion that says Resource Groups have autonomy. Frankly, I’m not concerned about Resource/Student Groups. I want to know, who does Bijan report to? There has to be someone over him that gives oversight? Where is Stephen Toope? Our school is falling apart because some guy who’s too scared to get out in the real world after 12 years of post-secondary thinks he’s David Frum. Get Bijan off campus. Someone just give him whatever degree wants and make him leave!
All these people making a stink about having one and a half cents from their student fees go to SPHR, where is their indignation now! You better believe we`ll all be paying more than that to make up for this deficit
As far as I’m aware, the AMS is a society incorporated under the Society Act, or, if not that, then it is some sort of nefarious plot of the kids from McGill who came out here to play a bunch of very unfortunate games during the late part of the 19th century. Regardless, the solution isn’t Nanny Toope: if you don’t like how the student society is run, exercise your freedom of association and divorce from the AMS clusterfuck and create a better student society.