Iman Dhaliwal is running to be the next VP finance on a platform advocating for expanded subsidies for club membership fees, improvements to the AMS Food Bank and greater transparency surrounding financial reports.
A second-year finance major, Iman cited relevant experience from his first year at the University of Toronto, where he was a part of a student-managed fund and served as an executive in the economics students' association. In Vancouver, Iman is part of the Compounding for a Cure portfolio at Sauder, which provides students with real experience in managing an investment portfolio while raising awareness and funds for ALS research.
A key part of Dhaliwal’s platform is expanding the subsidy for students' club membership fees. Currently, the AMS provides students with financial need up to $20 in subsidies for club memberships. Dhaliwal said he hopes to expand this subsidy to include club experiences, such as trips and events.
“Experiences for students [are] the most important thing, whether it's a club experience [or] an experience with an undergraduate society … I want to make sure that every student is able to have the full university experience, without affordability getting in the way,” Dhaliwal said.
Dhailwal wants to tackle food insecurity by providing more support to the AMS Food Bank. He hopes to “leverage the AMS’s negotiating power” to secure better food rates for students from companies such as HelloFresh and local grocery stores. He also hopes to permanently install the food-for-fines program, a four-day AMS initiative launched in November that reduced UBC parking fines by 50 per cent, with the remaining 50 per cent going to the food bank, and donations being matched by UBC parking.
Dhaliwal said that the AMS currently does not have its 2025-26 quarterly financial reports easily available to the public. He said he would prioritize financial transparency if elected, which includes promptly releasing quarterly financial reports and hosting forums where students can ask questions about AMS finances. Although not uploaded to their financial reports page immediately on their website, AMS quarterly financial reports are available to the public through the Council’s meeting documents.
Many of Dhaliwal’s platform policies — such as expanding subsidies for club membership fees — are contingent on the success of a fee referendum, which students will vote on during the election period. If passed, this referendum would require students to pay an extra $12 in AMS student fees, which would be distributed between club benefits, student services and capital projects.
When asked what would happen if the fee referendum did not pass, Dhaliwal said he could still pursue many of his policy goals, regardless of the referendum outcome. On the club membership fee subsidy, he said he would still advocate for expanding it to club events rather than just to memberships. He also said he would work towards providing support for clubs in the form of making ticketing platforms more efficient, streamlining and speeding up reimbursement processes.
Dhaliwal stressed that all AMS student services play a vital role in student life on campus. However, if a fee referendum does not pass, he said he would consider reallocating funds and conducting an internal study to determine “where costs maybe don’t need to be.”
Dhaliwal said a failed fee referendum would mean money would have to come from external sources, such as AMS businesses, which could be optimized to generate more revenue through marketing campaigns and restructuring. Currently, AMS businesses are underperforming, contributing to a $350,000 deficit in the reforecasted budget for the first half of this fiscal year.
One of the measures Dhaliwal proposed to revive AMS businesses is revamping the Pit by repurposing the space when it is not in use, and moving Pit nights from Wednesdays to Fridays to increase traffic. He also said he would look into marketing initiatives for businesses such as Honour Roll to make sure students are aware of the various AMS-run businesses on campus.
Dhaliwal said he agrees with current VP finance Gagan Parmar's advocacy for student services and shares the same passion for providing students with unimpeded access to AMS student services. In terms of disagreements, Dhaliwal said that the management of the AMS businesses could have been improved through greater marketing and visibility campaigns.
“At the end of the day, the most important thing is students and students … their money needs to work for them. They're the ones paying the fees. The money needs to go right back to them,” said Dhaliwal.
