UBC’s Board of Governors (BoG) met on September 25 in the Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre to pass the president’s goals and hear presentations from student unions.
Here’s what you might’ve missed.
Student representatives discuss limited resources and divestment
Student union groups such as the Students' Union Okanagan, AMS and Graduate Student Socceity (GSS) presented their priorities to BoG.
SUO President Danial Asif said UBCO students are facing a lack of space on campus. Asif said the SUO is working on a student referendum to create a student-centred building like the AMS Nest at UBC.
Asif said the SUO is looking for UBC to provide funding support similar to what it provided to the AMS for the Nest’s construction.
AMS President Christian ‘CK’ Kyle and VP Academic and University Affairs Drédyn Fontana emphasized the importance of affordability on campus during their presentation.
According to the 2024 AMS Academic Experience Survey, 48 per cent of respondents reported facing financial hardship related to tuition and 51 per cent of respondents reported worrying about affording adequate groceries.
“We want to create a campus environment that promotes a culture of accessible and affordable education, food security and affordable cost of living,” said Fontana.
GSS President Firth MacKenzie McEachern said graduate student funding should be expanded beyond the four years UBC provides, something students have also previously advocated for.
According to UBC’s minimum funding policy for PhD students, all full-time students must receive a funding package of at least $24,000 per year for the first four years of their program.
McEachern also called on UBC to invest ethically and acknowledged the Palestinian solidarity protest outside the Alumni Centre.
“We talk a lot on campus about decolonization, inclusivity, diversity, etcetera, but when something absolutely spectacularly terrible or catastrophe goes on somewhere else, we hear crickets to some extent,” said McEachern.
In May, UBC President Beniot-Antoine Bacon said UBC’s endowment “does not directly own any stocks in the companies identified by [Palestinian solidarity protesters].” Instead, “capital is held in pooled funds and managed by external investment managers.”
Bacon also said, in May, UBC is a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment, a United Nations-supported framework of principles that set a responsible investing standard, and that the university's investment managers adjust their investment strategies based on environmental, social and governance principles.
Governors pass president’s goals
Bacon presented his goals for the year which included a “refresh” to UBC’s Strategic Plan.
UBC’s 10-year Strategic Plan was passed in 2018, outlining the university's “collective vision, purpose, goals and strategies for the years ahead,” reads the plan.
In a September 26 UBC Broadcast message, Bacon wrote “We are calling this process a ‘refresh’ because the intention is not to replace UBC’s strategic plan, but to define a series of priorities and actions focused on our core academic mission of teaching, learning and research.”
“This is a chance that we have to re-energize our community towards defining the next steps for UBC. I'm very excited about this.”
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