After previously serving as an AMS councillor and currently sitting as a student senator, Kamil Kanji is running unopposed to be the next VP academic and university affairs (VPAUA).
Kanji's campaign is focused on student affordability and equity.
Kanji emphasized his opposition to tuition increases. He said the AMS has previously lacked "a consistent plan" to advocate on that front. To accomplish this, Kanji said he would support student protests across campus, bringing up the impact of the tuition increase protest in December.
"With a little bit more support from the AMS … we could have a really serious impact," he said.
If elected, Kanji also plans to collaborate with the VP external on advocacy campaigns toward the provincial government to increase the funding provided to UBC through operating grants.
To address housing and food affordability, Kanji said he wants to push the university to invest more funds into constructing affordable student housing at below market prices. He also wants to advocate for UBC to allocate more of its budget toward student-driven food security initiatives like Sprouts and the AMS Food Bank.
UBC allocated an additional $500,000 in one-time funding toward food security initiatives this year following student protest after a large gap between the 2021/22 and 2022/23 budget allocation on the issue.
"We need a sustainable agreement with the university that it'll be a consistent inflow every year so that we're not, every year, begging the university for more money," said Kanji.
On equity, Kanji said he would advocate for a larger number of scholarships and financial aid programs for continuing Black and Indigenous students.
He also discussed establishing a Black hiring committee responsible for hiring Black faculty and staff and increasing the number of seats on the Indigenous Strategic Plan Implementation Committee to further UBC's equity goals. He did not elaborate on how he would accomplish these two goals.
Kanji's platform only briefly mentions sexual violence prevention in regards to "sexual harm-reduction kits and workshops." When asked about this issue during debate, Kanji said he thinks that conversations on this issue should continue and that he is working on the review of the AMS's Sexualized Violence Policy (PC2) within the president's office.
Kanji said he admired a lot of the work this year’s VPAUA Dana Turdy accomplished but wanted to improve the timing of the budget submission to UBC.
Kanji explained that the VPAUA is able to submit a budget recommendation "to ensure that the student priorities are communicated to the university" when UBC is deciding how to allocate its budget for the year. Kanji said sending the submission after the process had begun in November "was a mistake."
A challenge Kanji believes he would face if elected is "the lack of faith students and student groups have in the AMS."
To tackle this, Kanji would host listening sessions to ensure he is "engaging in real and thoughtful consultations" with students and student groups.
"It's not uncommon for student groups to feel burned by the AMS, and it's important that the candidate for VP AUA is trying to rebuild the relationship and the trust with the groups that they're most directly engaging with."
Follow us at @UbysseyNews on Twitter and follow our election coverage starting February 27. This article is part of our 2023 AMS Elections coverage.