All referenda — with the exception of the Clubs Benefit Fee — passed during this year’s AMS elections.
The four referenda consisted of three AMS fee increases — a $4 Clubs Benefit Fee, $3 Capital Projects Fee and $5 Student Services Fee — and a student-supported call for the AMS to send a letter to UBC’s Senate demanding it cut ties with Israeli academic institutions.
In order for a referendum to pass, it needs to get a majority of 'yes' votes, and eight per cent of the student body must vote 'yes.' 13,476 voters — 21.5 per cent of the student body — cast a ballot in this year’s election.
The Student Services Fee referendum passed with 7,628 votes in favour. The fee will fund the expansion of AMS offered services — such as Safewalk, the AMS Food Bank and Peer Support — and finance the increasing demand that these services have been facing.
The Capital Projects Fee passed with 6,205 votes in favour. This fee will go toward improvements to the AMS Nest, with added seating, study, social and club spaces, and technological improvements.
The Clubs Benefit Fee did not pass, with 5,364 votes against. The AMS supports 350 student clubs — at the AMS Council meeting where this fee increase was presented, VP Finance Gagan Parmar said this was an unsustainable endeavour unless monetary support increased. This increase was the only proposed fee that was able to be opted out of.
When the referendum results were announced, Parmar said that he is “grateful to the student body for trusting us,” and although the Clubs Benefit Fee was not passed, he said the AMS will “make sure that the promises we made are kept.”
The referendum to cut ties with Israeli universities that uphold apartheid passed with 8,894 in favour — the highest voter turnout for any referendum item this election.
Nathan Herrington, a UBC employee and advocate for Palestinian and humanitarian rights, said that the passed referendum made him feel “hopeful for the first time in a while … the AMS and the UBC student body have shown where they stand.” Herrington followed up with a chant often heard in pro-Palestinian protests: “the students, united, will never be defeated.”
With three referendum items passed, the AMS is now responsible for penning a letter to the Senate and students can expect to see an $8 student fee increase beginning in September.
