The protesters have three main demands: a greater emphasis on transparency and openness at the Board of Governors level, a proper documentation process of all meetings and sub-committees, and an independent external review of Board practices.
When asked whether he attended yesterday’s meeting, board member David Sidoo responded, “Yes, I was. I was at the phone, on the conference call. Most of us were.” Other board members could not be reached for comment.
The committee consulted with over 125 stakeholders, ranging from internal groups, AMS and GSS members, the Faculty Association and external groups such as municipal and provincial governments, First Nations and presidents of various organizations.
“Information that has come out from freedom of information requests, as well as Wednesday’s leak of documents, has justified our concern that the Board of Governors had acted via secret, in camera processes,” the Faculty Association (FA).
“What was published is a one-sided representation of what transpired in the months prior to my resignation,” reads the emailed statement. “The assertions in the released documents were not based on facts or evidence given to me at any time.”
The timeline that led up to former President Arvind Gupta’s surprise resignation last August is becoming clearer, largely thanks to documents accidentally leaked by UBC and discovered by Reddit users late last night.
UBC does well in terms of financial aid to domestic students partly because of Policy 72, which states that no current domestic student should be forced to stop their studies due to financial constraints. However, education about finances is lacking.
2015 was a busy one. Fortunately you had The Ubyssey to distract you with articles about Mandopop stars, hot profs and tuition increases. We've compiled our top 10 most popular articles from the past year:
The allegations have not yet been fully disclosed.
“We did respond to a number of the students concerns. For example, on financial support for diversity, they pushed hard in some of the discussions in how the strategic investment fund should be used so we responded to that.”
“We disagree with the methodology used,” said Jenna Omassi, AMS VP Academic and University Affairs. “And even if we had agreed with the methodology used, it was applied inconsistently.”
Recommendations include increased operating grants to universities in BC, resources for open education initiatives such as the BC Open Textbook Program, and a needs-based grant system for BC students.
Held in the Agora of the Nest, the rally featured speakers and the opportunity for students to write letters detailing why they oppose the tuition hikes to Interim President Martha Piper as part of the AMS’s “Mail for Martha” campaign.
The conditions include cutting $2000 from the proposed tuition fees and adjusting the benchmarking process.
“This happiness was targeted, young people going out on Friday night. It was us, me and my friends…. It was really hard on us that our lifestyle was targeted.”