“For a lot of candidates, they want to talk about what they want to bring to the senate. But for me, a lot of my platform is also looking at how we can improve student senate caucus so that we can better hear student’s voices.”
“I’ve been working under the VP Academic’s office as the mental health commissioner over the last two years, so I’ve gotten to work with two different VP Academics. Through this position I’ve done a lot in terms of research and advocacy.”
“One of the main platform pieces that sets me apart ... is my piece on harassment discrimination and I hope to start a discussion with regards to sexual assault and that's particularly effective in the graduate student community recently.”
“My platform is really focused on student health, development and wellbeing. Those are my three main categories that I’m focused on. Mental health is a big one. I want to introduce a fall reading break and really advocate for that.”
“I’m currently the AMS Vice-president Academic and University Affairs and a current student senator and chair of the ad-hoc senate committee on student mental health. I think that that continuity is very important.”
Mental health and student engagement were under the microscope at the yesterday's debate. Eleven of the fourteen Senate candidates participated in the event and with so many candidates running with similar platforms, contenders struggled to stand out
“Replacing the student information system is one of the largest system replacements at the university because it is so core to everything that the institution is involved with,” said Jennifer Burns, UBC's chief information officer.
In an effort to encourage a more diverse range of students to apply, the senate has approved the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s proposal to remove mandatory science pre-requisites for the M.D. program, although they will still be strongly recommended.
“The answer to that is because these particular students we are targeting are not the ones who are happy in a high school. Secondly, what we know is that most often we underestimate what people are capable of.”
The rally will feature various speakers, sign-making as well as free food and hot drinks. Afterwards, students will be invited to the AMS’s “Mail for Martha” letter drop — where they will deliver all the letters students have either written or signed to the president’s office on the top floor of Koerner Library.
A group of 29 past and current UBC researchers have been awarded the $3 million dollar Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
“The idea is to do this outreach now so that students are made aware of it and see that the AMS is doing stuff related to it,” said Rosenfeld. “Then when we try and do a larger event, people will already have some awareness of what’s going on, why it matters and will be more receptive to getting involved.”
The campaign faces resistance already. CUPE 116, the workers’ union representing nearly 2000 support staff on campus, opposes this campaign. The union says that the campaign risks negatively effecting people working for UBC Food Services, especially students working part time.
A recent study has found that aboriginal youth are being incarcerated at a higher rate than non-aboriginal youth, even when other factors that might place the youth at higher risk were controlled for.
We took the liberty of breaking down the three big names in the Vancouver Quadra riding so that you know where each one sits on the issues that matter to students.