Every few weeks, your student government spends a Wednesday night to talk about a bunch of things. In most cases, what we talk about wonʼt affect a students’ day to day activity, but there are always a few tidbits that might interest you. Hereʼs what to watch out for in the upcoming AMS Council meeting on October 28, 2015.
International tuition increases
If you haven’t heard, UBC announced that it is planning to increase both undergraduate and graduate international student tuition. There will be a presentation by the Social Justice Centre and then a discussion session amongst AMS Councillors on what to do. As of right now, I’m in favour of any motion that condemns the tuition increases.
Alliance of BC students (again)
In the last AMS Decoded, I talked about how the decision to leave ABCS was coming soon to Council. The motion, after some debate, was postponed until further review can be done. In this council meeting, the motion is coming back and we also have a presentation about ABCS by Alex McGowan, a director of the ABCS and an executive at the Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s student union.
Important Code Changes
The AMS's businesses range from the used-to-be-cheap beer in the Pit, to the oh-god-who-would-eat-there-expensive food at Perch. Surprisingly, elected student leaders are not experts when it comes to running a multi-million dollar business. A few years back, the AMS Council created the Business Administration Governance Board (BAGB) to run our businesses. This body had alumni representatives as well as member-at-large representatives and was created so that people with business experience will be in charge of making money. Now, the Legislative Procedures Committee is recommending changes to BAGB — first to change its name to Advisory Board for Business Administration (ABBA) and then to put two AMS Councillors on the committee as voting members. We also have a presentation from BAGB reporting on our financial status.
TransLink Changes
TransLink recently started seeking public feedback about its proposed changes. On the whole, many of these changes won’t affect people who commute to UBC everyday and for the lines that do, they are positive changes. However, one of the proposed changes include discontinuing the 258 line which connects West Vancouver and UBC directly. Many students depend on this bus line to go to school everyday and there is a motion on this week’s agenda for the AMS to take a stance against this proposed service elimination.
Viet Vu is a fifth-year economics major and AMS Councillor. His views are his own and do not necessarily represent those of the Alma Mater Society or the Vancouver School of Economics Undergraduate Society.