On October 9, AMS Council met to hear room booking issues and the 2024 Academic Experience Survey results and discuss executive performance.
Here’s what you might’ve missed.
Too many bookings, not enough rooms, says VP admin
VP Admin Amy Liao discussed challenges with the AMS's room booking services.
Between May and October, Liao said there have been 790 room booking applications.
“The demand for free spaces on campus has really increased,” said Liao. "We just have too many groups for the amount of spaces and days in the term. We have 414 clubs and approximately 22 spaces to book."
To address room demand increases, Liao suggested weekly updating the booking and availability calendar, providing alternative booking solutions such as rooms available in faculty-specific buildings, capping new club applications and limiting Great Hall bookings to one day per event.
Students aren’t satisfied or happy, according to 2024 AES
VP Academic and University Affairs Drédyn Fontana presented the results of the AMS's annual Academic Experience Survey.
Fontana said this year’s survey response rate broke the records of previous years, with 4,148 respondents. Fontana also facilitated a Workday feedback survey which has broken existing survey response records.
According to the results, 35 per cent of students are not satisfied with their university experience and only 15 per cent of students believe UBC is concerned about their opinions regarding tuition fees.
“[Students] feel disenfranchised. They feel that UBC won't do anything if they voice concerns,” said Fontana.
On academics and learning, around 66 per cent of students responded that they are interested in learning how to incorporate generative AI into their learning. And, around half of the student respondents believe there should be more opportunities to learn about Indigenous and cultural issues during their degree. Fontana said he plans on collaborating with the Provost's Office on these matters.
On health and wellbeing, Fontana said 49 per cent of students responded they were unaware of any mental health resources and/or services on campus. Only 30 per cent of student respondents with disabilities are registered with the Centre for Accessibility (CfA). Fontana said this is because of registration obstacles and CfA inaccessibility.
“That's something we need to address. We need to make sure that we're communicating and partnering with the university to communicate [with students],” said Fontana.
“The CfA needs to do more to communicate the steps to getting registered and the process itself needs to be more accessible.”
On student affordability, 48 per cent of respondents said they encounter financial hardships due to tuition costs, and 58 per cent encounter similar hardships due to housing unaffordability.
To address these concerns, Fontana said he will ensure on-campus housing remains below market rate and advocate for a SkyTrain to UBC.
Committee appointments and AGM concerns
Council appointed Board of Governors student representative, Kamil Kanji as AMS speaker. Senator Jasper Lorien and Councillor Dylan Evans were appointed to the executive performance and accountability (EPA) committee. Councillor Yuki Ichikawa was appointed to HR committee.
AMS President Christian ‘CK’ Kyle was asked about the AMS's upcoming annual general meeting on October 22 at 9 a.m.
When asked about student engagement and meeting time, CK said “we didn't want to make a big show, we didn't want to give out incentives … if we're not passing any motions.”
“It's one of those things we want to get it done first thing in the morning and kind of move on with the day.”
EPA to consider VP AUA performance
After a private in-camera EPA session, Council passed a motion — moved by Councillor Riley Huntley and seconded by Lorien — to direct EPA to "formally consider the executive performance" of Fontana as VP AUA because of "poor performance" and to provide Council with "recommendations for executive accountability" by the October 23 Council meeting.
For the vote and discussion, Kanji ruled the AMS executives in a conflict.
Huntley said this decision was informed by an EPA survey sent to AMS executives and select staff and by feedback collected by the AMS's President's Council.
The motion was adopted.
— Additional reporting by Iman Janmohamed
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