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skos:note """ theubysseymagazine
ThUj
BYSSEY
January 18th, 2008
8 FRIDAY
"Covering Religioi
Time: 12:30-2:00
Where: Room 104, Sin
Building
Cost: Free
M What: Former New York
£ reporter discusses the
ree yog
lime: 12-12:30pm
Where: Bargain Book Roo
the UBC Bookstore
Cost: Free
ns What: Mats provided.
I Admission first come.fir*
22 TUESO1
Socially Res
Investing Works
Time: 6:30pm-9:00pm
o" Where: SFU Harbour G
in What: Amnesty Interna
"S tells how to invest in socially
> responsible companies that f
19 SATURDAY
The Unruly Salon Series
Time: 7:30-10:30pm
Where: Great Hall, Green
College
Cost: Free
What: Performances by artists
J3 and/or scholars with disabilities.
23 WEDNESDA
Writing about V
Time: 12-30pm-2:30pm
Where: Main Lecture Room,
o1 Sing Tao Building
in What: UBC Creative Writing and
"S UBC Journalism present a panel
o ..
te discussion on war.
. US EVENTS AT FEEDBACK@UBYSSEY.BC.CA
20 SUNDAY
Dual Eclipse: Orchestras
of Two Worlds
Time: 7:30-9:30pm
Where: Chan Centre for the
0 Performing Arts
S Cost: students $17 adults $32
p ■
2 Balinese/Canadian fusion music
24 THURSDA
Masterpiece ii
Time: 7pm
Where: Museum of
Anthropology
^ What: Movie about a mud
! mason + talk by Dr.SusanVogel
th£Ij
BYSSEY
The Ubyssey
We want your ideas and input in your UBC paper.
coven mageiGoh iromoto
Letters
A letter to the Wreath
Underground
Dear Wreath Underground,
I am pleased to announce
your triumph in winning my
UBC Village Idiot(s) ofthe Year
award. I know this is premature, seeing as the semester
is not yet concluded, but trust
me, something profound will
have to happen to knock you
off the front-running for this
prestigious award. While originally planning to go to the
University government for
spending obscene amounts of
money so BC's fine tradespeople can go and play with their
truck-trucks on the boulevard,
you have burst through the
veil of obscurity for making
sure they spent even more.
Now, not only will my
money be going into this
travesty of a development
program, it'll be put to fine
use replacing pane glass windows. I fully support the use
of pane glass windows as a
sign of Vancouver architecture; their destruction brings
a great sadness into my heart.
Their shattered silica will be
a constant reminder of how
something so beautiful can be
also so fragile.
Take for instance Trek
Park. It's dead too. And while
I, and many a student, initially laughed at it and the people
who organized it, I came to
enjoy the pseudopark's mes
sage. Even though people
laughed at it, and that people
thought it was a waste of
space, it was our rights as
students and Canadian citizens at work. In retrospect,
it was one of the most subtle
peaceful protests I've read
about. All that determination
from Trek's organizers, in the
face of laughter, belittlement,
dismissal, and worst of all ignorance, didn't quite gain my
agreement, but it did get my
respect. The fact that it was
actually active while I was at
UBC makes me proud. And
its destruction, while tragic,
served greatly to enhance the
fact that someone thought it
was causing change.
Now the credibility that
any counter argument to the
bus loop had is gone. You,
Wreath Underground, made
sure of that. I'd go out and
protest Trek's destruction
tomorrow. That is, if I wasn't
scared of being added to an
RCMP watch list. Everyone
who opposes the bus loop or
even the university in general
is now a suspect of being a
part of your little game of a
resistance movement. You're
not the Maquis, the University is not an evil empire, and
your actions have damaged
the process of protest.
I hope you're happy.
Enthusiastically signed,
-Max Keller
Science 1
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January 18*, 2008
Vol. LXXXIX N°32
Editorial Board
coordinating editor
Champagne Choquer
COORDINATING@UBYSSEY.BC.CA
news editors brandon adams &
Boris Korby
NEWS@UBYSSEY.BC.CA
CULTURE EDITOR PAUL BUCCI
CULTURE@UBYSSEY. BC. CA
SPORTS EDITOR JORDAN CHITTLEY
SPORTS@UBYSSEY.BC.CA
features/national editor
Matthew Jewkes
FEATURES@UBYSSEY. BC.CA
PHOTO EDITOR OKER CHEN
PHOTOS@UBYSSEY.BC.CA
production manager
Kellan Higgins
PRODUCTION@UBYSSEY.BC.CA
copy/letters/research
Levi Barnett
FEEDBACK@UBYSSEY.BC.CA
volunteer coordinator
Stephanie Findlay
VOLUNTEERS@UBYSSEY.BC.CA
WEBMASTER JOE RAYMENT
WEBMASTER@UBYSSEY.BC.CA
cally run student organization, and all students are encouraged to
participate.
Editorials are chosen and written bythe Ubyssey staff. They are
the expressed opinion of the staff and do not necessarily reflect
iU~ ": 'The Ubyssey Publications Society or the University of
bia. All editorial content appearing in The Ubyssey is
the property of The Ubyssey Publications Society. Stories, opinions,
' herein cannot be reproduced
r , , ...ission of The Ubyssey Publications Society.
~ lemberofCanadianUniversityPress
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lust be under 300 words. Please include
e (notfor publication; di wen di youi ycdi diiu idcuny Willi diI MjunlissionS. ID will be
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The Ubyssey; otherwise verification will be done by phone/'Perspec-
*' J' 300 words but under 750 words and
eestyles"areopinion pieceswritten by
ibers. Priority will be given to letters and perspectives over freestyles unless the latter istimesensitive.Opinion pieces
will not be run until the identity ofthe writer has been verified. The
Ubyssey reserves the right to edit submissions for length and clar-
ust be received by 12 noon the day before intended
following issue unless then
matter deemed relevant by
lilsto publish an advertisement or if an error in the ad occursthe liability of the UPS will not be
' i the ad.The UPS shall not be respon-
,, ...., , ^graphical errorsthat do not lessen the
value orthe impact ofthe ad.
EDITORIAL OFFICE
Room 24, Student Union Building
6138 Student Union Boulevard
Vancouver, BCV6T lZl
tel: 604-822-2301
fax: 604-822-9279
web: www.ubyssey.bc.ca
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BUSINESS OFFICE
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advertising: 604-822-1654
business office: 604-822-6681
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e-mail: advertising@ubysseybc.ca
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InnHnn ah™c'hn.ie. Kellan Hig-
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., _.,_..d Justin McElory were at J-school, while Jordan
Chittley, Marie Burgoyne, and Matt Hayles lived it up in the Gallery. Goh Iro-
EDITORIAL GRAPHIC
Michael Bround
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University Number 0o40878022
Kress January 18th, 2008
thSIj
BYSSEY
theubysseymagazine
UBCPROFILES
Green Buildings
UBC's commitment to sustainability is evident
in the recent crop of green buildings on campus. These include the C.K. Choi Building for
the Institute of Asian Research, the Liu Centre
for the Study of Global Issues and the Life Sciences Centre.
CkChoi Building
The C.K. Choi Building, which opened in 1996,
was UBC's first environmentally sensitive
building project. Its merits include recycled
building materials, such as exterior bricks
salvaged from old Vancouver city streets and
heavy timber recovered from the Armouries.
A natural ventilation system circulates 100 per
cent fresh air throughout the building. Its claim
to fame, however, is its use of composting toilets, which save up to 1000 L of potable water
per day. C.K. Choi has won several awards,
including American Istitute of Architects' Top
Ten Earth Day 2000 Green Buildings.
Liu Centre
Located next to C.K. Choi, the Liu Centre utilises
the natural environment to enhance its green
credentials. It was built on the former site of
the Pan-Hellenic House, which reduced the impact on the surrounding forest. The Liu Centre
boasts high-volume fly ash concrete construction, which uses a waste product of coal power
generation instead of cement. According to the
UBC Sustainability Office's website, a reduction
in cement production represents a significant
decrease in greenhouse gas emissions.
Life Sciences Centre
Life Sciences Centre
The Life Sciences Centre (LSC) is UBC's latest
green building. It was recently awarded a gold
certification from Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) The building
has demonstrated a great ability to further environmental objectives, boasting a 1000-tonne
reduction in greenhouse gases, a 28 per cent
reduction in energy consumption, and a 50
per cent drop in water use. The LSC, like C.K.
Choi, was built using many recycled materials.
Low toxin-emitting paints and locally salvaged
building supplies were also utilised.
—BY STEPHANIE TAYLOR
PHOTOS BY GOH IROMOTO
AMS etECTloAjg
Getting more than 10 per cent involved
The AMS elections begin today,
and, if you are like 90 per cent
of the students at UBC, you
probably won't notice, vote, or care.
While the AMS is supposed to
represent UBC students to the administration, other organizations,
and the world at large, its mandate
is inevitably undermined when
year after year only 10 per cent
of students take the five minutes
necessary to vote.
As a part of the student press,
we moan about this "student apathy" year after year. We righteously
call for students to vote, and applaud when the AMS tries new techniques to encourage voter turnout.
Yet, a 10 per cent turnout seems
to be the norm. Across the country,
the numbers are all similar. For a
student election to garner a turnout
higher than 15 per cent requires
an extraordinary issue, such as a
sharp rise in tuition.
Perhaps apathy is simply
an inherent part of the modern
commuter-school, diploma-mill
institution. But, when you examine
the issue, this doesn't hold up.
U-Pass referendums over the past
decade generated drastically higher
participation rates. After all, the
issues of campus development, rising tuition, and campus-wide parties—three major issues the AMS
tackles—affect almost all students.
We at the Ubyssey think that
the issue isn't student apathy, nor
is it a lack of important causes.
Rather, it is the system itself, with
an generally elected executive and
a council elected by the undergraduate societies, that is broken.
Michael Byers, professor and
academic director at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, commented
after last year's election that one
reason for low voter turnout is that
youth today feel distanced from the
people in power. "Younger people
are increasingly frustrated by what
they see as an inability to influence
the course of politics, provincially,
nationally, and internationally," he
said.
It is representative democracy
that is at fault in this case.
Representative democracy is
instituted in situations where those
in power don't trust the masses
enough for direct action, or when
direct democracy is impossible due
to size, distance, or scale.
Today, we have neither of those
excuses. The Internet eliminates
distance, and computer databases
make size and scale easy to handle.
If the AMS is truly interested in being the representative organization
ofthe UBC student population, then
there is absolutely no reason that
it should not move toward direct
democracy. There are a number of
ways we could do this.
"Direct online agenda proposal"
is one option. Students who wish
to see a proposal passed by the
AMS could write a petition, have a
significant number of students sign
it, and have it automatically put
forward at the next AMS Council
meeting.
Alternatively, the council,
instead of being appointed from
every faculty and interest group,
could be composed of any student
who can gather 1000 signatures of
support.
Hell, UBC has a student population of 40 000: roughly that of
Ancient Athens.
Why not maintain the Executive
and the Council, but have meetings
be open in ancient Athenian style,
with any UBC student welcome to
participate directly in the decisionmaking process? It worked in Athens for 170 years, until Alexander
violently overthrew it. Are we now
less capable?
We are not saying, of course,
that any of these proposals are
perfect, but with such a small turnout we need to do something. The
AMS's investments could easily be
protected by super-majority constitutional clauses, and the AMS's full-
time employees are all unionized
with contractual protection. Think
about it: the worst that could happen is a single year's student fees
being squandered.
And the potential?
Not only could we empower
students in a way that we haven't
seen in North America for decades,
but the AMS itself would become
a more powerful, effective force.
With only 10 per cent of the student body behind it, it is easy for
a large institution to dismiss the
AMS. But if the AMS itself were a
movement with the direct backing
of the student body, it would be far
harder to ignore.
Consider, those of you who win
the election this year, if there is
any reason why we shouldn't at
least try implementing direct student action now that all of the tools
are readily available? vl
Streeters is a twice weekly column
in which students are asked a
question pertinent to UBC.
See their full comments online at www.ubyssey.ca
Why is voter turnout usually so low and how would you increase it?
"I don't actually
recall any student
candidate or speaker
coming to my class
broadcasting it, so
advertising could really help increase the
polling number."
"The candidates
haven't really reached
out in too many
ways besides a few
coming to the beginning ofthe classes...
If people really
wanted to find a way
they would, like I
have done."
"If the results of
my vote were more
visible on campus
then I would be
more interested in it.
I'll vote for someone
don't see their efforts
changing anything
on campus."
"It's one ofthe
largest universities in
Canada. How are you
going to construct
an identity where
people feel part of
that organization.
The more that feel
engaged with that the
more likely they are
to get involved."
"It makes a difference if your friends
are voting and it
makes a difference
if you hear people
And unfortunately
it doesn't seem like
there is enough conversation about it."
-Coordinated by Jordan Chittley, Eric Szeto & Amanda Stutt theubysseymagazine
The Ubyssey
January 18th, 2008
theubysseymagazine
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THfifcJBYSSEY
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production@ubyssey.bc.ca
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Athabasca University^
CANADA'S OPEN UNIVERSITY
UBC and the challenge of recognizing Musqueam claims
The rocky road to recognition
by Amanda Stutt
While the morning mist hovered above the frost, a small procession of elders came walking
down the road on the Musqueam
reservation. One was dressed in
long black ceremonial robes with
intricate beading that reached to
the ground and dragged behind
him. He wore an elaborately-decorated black and white headdress
that looked like it was made of intertwining tree branches. His face
was painted black. It was a magnificent sight—scary and beautiful.
The road leads towards the
Council Chambers, Where I meet
Chief Ernie Campbell. He embodies all the characteristics of a
venerable leader. A slightly gruff
exterior is offset by the unmistakable warmth in his eyes. He
doesn't answer questions until he
has thought his answer through
and his responses are measured
and articulate. We meet in order to
discuss the relationship between
UBC and the Musqueam Nation.
Over the past few years, a number
of historic agreements regarding
Point Grey land have been formed
between UBC's administration, the
provincial government, and the
Musqueam Nation. But while UBC
and the government are both moving towards agreements with the
Musqueam, gaining acceptance
amongst the broader public has
been more difficult.
Two years in the
making
In September of 2006, UBC and
the Musqueam First Nation signed
a historic "Memorandum of Affiliation," which lays out guidelines for
a "process to expand and create
programs that encourage Aboriginal youth to pursue post-secondary education while enhancing
the relationship between the UBC
and Musqueam communities."
UBC President Stephen Toope
says the Memorandum of Affiliation "is a significant step forward
in strengthening a relationship of
mutual trust and respect that we
have been developing with the
Musqueam people."
In February 2007, Mariana
Payet, President of the Indigenous
Students' Association, brought
forth a motion to AMS Council
proposing "that the Alma Mater
Society officially recognize the
Musqueam people's title over this
land."
Meant as a gesture of respect
and support of Musqueam traditional title, the motion coincided
with negotiations between Musqueam and the provincial government over development rights to
the UBC golf course and Endowment Lands. UBC had purchased
the golf course from the province
for $11 million in 2005. This
agreement spurned the Musqueam
Nation to assert their legal rights to
the golf course. Their "traditional
claim" was immediately accepted,
but it would take two years of judicial hearings to validate their legal
claim.
The land-transfer concession
permanently gave parts of Pacific
Spirit Regional Park and rights to
the golf course (with a stipulation
that it must remain land for golf
use until 2083) to the Musqueam.
The decision was met with
protest by environmental groups.
A "save the golf-course" movement
was formed, headed by Vancouver
Non Partisan Association Park
commissioner Marty Zlotnik.
This highlights a recurring
theme in land claims. First Nations peoples had their land taken
unfairly and unlawfully in a savage
manner. But when faced with the
prospect of returning even titular
claims to land, there is resistance.
Knocked down by
the AMS
AMS President Jeff Friedrich
asserted the importance of addressing the issue, given that the
University had already signed the
Memorandum, but the motion
nevertheless met a divided council. Concerns over the legal implications of title recognition led to
the motion being tabled.
"[The point of the motion] was
just [to] recognize that we are on
Musqueam territory, AMS VP
Academic Brendon Goodmurphy
explained at the time. He was not,
however, surprised that the motion was tabled.
"I think there are a lot of misconceptions in our society around
indigenous issues. I think a lot of
people aren't sure when we say
'recognition' that this is indigenous land...that they're not sure
what it means," he says.
"There are concerns from
council about what it would mean
and what some of the consequences would be and instead of going
to vote on it and having it turned
down, we would really make sure
that we were getting the wording
right and also send out more information to Council."
Goodmurphy said that he is
comfortable with the topic, but
believes "there are a lot of people
that aren't on Council, and I would
say in general."
Goodmurphy was also concerned about relations between
the UBC administration and the
Musqueam Nation.
"When the executive met with
President Toope [we asked] how
he felt about having Musqueam
issues incorporated into the main
campus plan," he said.
"I personally wasn't very satisfied with his answer. I think there's
more room to look critically at how
we as a community...of higher
education build relationships with
the Musqueam people and First
Nations people in BC...I think we
can keep trying harder and a great
way of doing that is by incorporating these issues into the campus
plan."
Goodmurphy explains that the
campus plan utilises land that
is currently under dispute, and
"that's the nature of not having
treaties."
After the meeting, Freidrich began working with AMS policy ana
lyst David Wells in order to revise
the semantics of the language and
explore the motion's legal implications. In an August 2007 Council
meeting, Friedrich and Wells returned to Council with a carefully
revised draft ofthe motion. Motion
19, as itwas called, was moved by
Friedrich and seconded by Nathan
Crompton. It outlined:
"Whereas the UBC Point Grey
Campus is located in the Musqueam people's traditional territory that was never ceded to the
Crown; and whereas historical information provided by University
information sources indicates that
this land was traditionally used by
the Musqueam for educational and
defensive purposes; and whereas
the Musqueam are currently with
the province in a treaty negotiation
process regarding the territory in
question; and whereas recent court
rulings suggest that the Musqueam
have a strong prima facie case for
Aboriginal Title...and the AMS support a negotiated resolution..."
The motion was again received
by a divided Council. Many AMS
Councillors believed that Musqueam ownership of the land
would lead to further private condominium development.
"...If the land goes to Musqueam
it will become a development area.
We object to U-Town. Why should
we support this?" asked Education
rep. Craig Wrotniak.
Sarah Naiman, VP Administration, countered, "to the majority of
students, this isn't a big issue. They
don't really care. To a small group,
its a major issue, and it's our duty
to stand behind them."
AMS Council ultimately rejected the motion despite appeals
from other executives and the AMS
Ombudsperson.
Take a stand, already!
When classes resumed last
September, Payet expressed her
disappointment that the motion
failed.
"It's important to position oneself in discussions around Aboriginal rights and land claims," she
says. "I think [of myself] as an ally,
supporting what Aboriginal people
are doing."
She believes UBC should have
consulted with Musqueam about
campus development: "We never
consulted or asked the original
owners of the land what they felt
was appropriate when it came to
the use of it."
She says is important "to have
a student voice on campus around
development. We recognize that
this is all being played out within
a colonial context, where this
land doesn't belong to UBC, and it
doesn't belong to the students and
at the end of the day it belongs to
Musqueam and there's never been
a treaty, the land has never been
bought, this land was basically
taken from them and nothing has
been given in return. On the contrary, they've been pushed onto
this tiny reserve where there isn't
even enough housing."
Jeff Friedrich also discussed
the failed motion.
"We did a lot of work to reach a
and I
was pretty
confident in
the language
we came up with,
but some people had...
whatever level of discomfort," he says.
Friedrich added that Council "missed an opportunity to say
something about an important on-
campus issue. I was disappointed,
because we put so much time in
to find a compromise," he says.
"There is an important issue and
debate that's going on right now
that maybe not everyone's aware
of."
Richard Vedan, senior advisor
to President Toope on aboriginal
affairs and director of the First
Nations House of Learning said,
"the moral consequences of [the]
motion are not insignificant."
"The executives ofthe AMS are
not only our student leaders, they
are our future leaders. What does
that represent?"
"UBC is endeavouring to make
the vast resources of the University more accessible to First Nations students and communities.
That accessibility means—is it a
welcoming place, a safe place?"
Vedan believes that many Canadians "don't know their history,"
and stated, "part of the reason is
that Canadian school systems at
the secondary and post-secondary
levels are not providing students
with the realities of Canada's colonial history."
He worries about the consequences of "people were making
decisions about which they have
no information." He says people
asking questions about land claims
and treaty negotiations such as
'why are we doing this now' reflects
a gap in historical knowledge.
"Less than four tenths of one per
cent of the land in BC [has been set
aside for reserves], and if you look
at the quality of that land—you will
see it is under bridges, beside railroad tracks, and in semi-industrial
areas," said Vedan, noting spatial
and geographical shortcomings of
crown reserve land.
"It's an issue with regard to the
Musqueam golf course situation...
people think of land claims in the
distant, the abstract, but when it's
in your own backyard, ittakes on a
whole new meaning...Certainly for
the Musqueam people it's never
been abstract."
"All of greater Vancouver is their
traditional territory, and there's
never been [any] restitution made,"
he says. "People don't realize that
their position of privilege isn't
serendipitous. They are benefiting
MUSQUEAM
ADMINISTRATION
from...
what they
may have inherited from their ancestors, and it is at the expense of
what First Nations people have inherited, being dispossessed from
their lands."
Only atVedan's request was the
Ubyssey able to obtain a copy ofthe
UBC and Musqueam's Memorandum of Affiliation. UBC's public
affairs department had previously
been unwilling to release the document, and neither the AMS nor any
other interested party had been
able to directly see the document.
The Memorandum states Musqueam's intent to "...build a stronger relationship with, and [have]
more visible presence at UBC."
It also reiterates the University's "respect for the people of
the Musqueam Nation and their
interest in the protection and enhancement of their culture and
language... and recognition that
UBC Vancouver is on the traditional and ancestral territory ofthe
Musqueam people."
The Memorandum, like the
motion, is not legally binding.
The Musqueam
reserve, January
2008.
With the formal Pacific Spirit
Regional Park dispute settled,
Musqueam chief Ernie Campbell
speaks out about misconceptions
and misunderstandings around
First Nations land claims.
He maintains that all UBC
endowment lands including the
golf course are on traditional Musqueam territory, and that most
people recognize that.
"The problem isn't with
recognizing...[it is] this fear of
'giving the land to the Indians.'
They're not giving us anything.
We're just getting back a small portion of what was taken.
"We've been monitoring and
protesting the government selling
off the land since 19 73...only about
one per cent of our land is left. And
just because you have Aboriginal
title doesn't mean you're going to
get anything."
Campbell says Musqueam gaining rights to the golf
course has a positive impact on the
Musqueam community. "It doesn't
mean we're going to bulldoze...and
kick everybody out."
"It's a major issue [that] we're
getting our land back. Our top
priority is housing...and not relying on government handouts. This
brings economic opportunity to
our community...We're becoming
more self-sufficient."
Campbell smiles when he talks
about the golf course/Pacific Spirit
Park debate. "All they're concerned
about is where they can play golf. I
wish that was by biggest problem.
"Most of my people can't afford
to golf there."
Campbell believes most people
aren't up to speed on First Nations
issues. He remembers a city councilman he once met who didn't
even know there was a Musqueam
reservation in Vancouver.
Campbell says most people are
also unaware ofthe treaty process.
The First Nations approach the
table as a self-governing entity.
"We meet nation to nation, government to government. There's some
major issues...around taxation. I
don't know of any government in
the world that would pay tax to
another government."
"'Endowment lands' is an obsolete term," he says. "When the land
was transferred to the GVRD, (now
Metro Vancouver) we protested
that. What they're doing is creating parks. Once you create a park,
it's off the table. I think that was a
strategy to get those lands off the
negotiating table."
In addition, private development introduces "third party
interest." Once private citizens
purchase homes on endowment
lands, their interests are protected
by the law. Any land that may be
under dispute or subject to historical grievance will be automatically alienated from First Nations'
land claims and Aboriginal title
assertions because of third party
interest.
"The main problem
is with development. [UBC] never
consulted with Musqueam about
it...[and] if you develop those lands
it gets [the land] off the table.
Campbell says relations with UBC
'aren't that bad.' We try to be good
neighbours."
Campbell is surprised that the
AMS motion failed, and disappointed. "Student support would
have been great. It's a harmless
resolution—but it sets the tone."
He says that in order to conquer misconceptions in society
about Aboriginal issues we need
to ensure "the true history of
First Nations people be taught in
schools."
The reality is that most students
are misinformed, and still believe
Columbus 'discovered' America.
Chief Campbell is a residential
school survivor. He remembers
the brutal tactics that were used to
separate families and strip Aboriginal children of their language and
culture. "If you were caught speaking your language, you had to wear
a dunce cap...The only way to... get
it off was to tell on someone else
for speaking their language. They
used the divide and conquer strategy. They still do that."
Musqueam's language and
culture survived colonization.
Many did not. There are literally
hundreds of extinct First Nations
languages in Canada. Some of the
languages that did survive are
currently being taught in the UBC
First Nations languages program.
Musqueam traditions are still
alive and well, and being practiced
as a part of daily life. I ask Campbell about the elder I saw on the
road in the black robes and headdress. He explains that there had
been a ceremonial winter dance
with the aim of "bringing out the
spirits."
"You can't take the Indian out
ofthe Indian," he says. "They tried
that. It didn't work." "21 theubysseymagazine
ThUj
BYSSEY
January 15th, 2008
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COURTSIDE COMMENT
mm
by Justin McElroy
After starting the season with one loss in the first 10 games, the T-Birds
have gone 3-3 in their last six. (big logo denote wins)
Mens B-ball team seems rather
average without Dyck; top spot in
division is disappearing
Holmes (who combined for 40
points and 22 rebounds) exposed
the lack of options at the post position for coach Kevin Hanson.
This slide has left UBC in an
unenviable position. With their
backs against the wall, and their
confidence waning, they must
win tonight against UVic on the
road, or lose first place in the
Pacific Division, and all that entails—namely, avoiding a white-
hot SFU team in the first round
of the playoffs. The Thunderbirds know this, and they know
they must turn around their play
quickly. But how?
Call me naive, but I think
most of this has to do with focus,
and getting back to basics. Take
free throw shooting. It's all about
routine and concentration. And
on a team chalk full of shooters, it should be a strength. But
in the past three games, they're
shooting a combined 54.7 per
cent from the line, turning into
a team full of white Shaquille
O'Neal's.
Another example would be
fouls. Simply put, you get most
of them by playing lazy, sloppy
defense. In the past four games,
the T-Birds have accumulated
115 fouls in 165 minutes, and
have had a player foul out eight
different times—numbers indicative of a team that is caught out
of position far too often.
This team needs to get some
extra motivation, and fast, otherwise they'll be facing an uphill
climb to reach the CIS championships in March.
It was probably at some point
in the third quarter of Tuesday's
game, when the T-Birds threw
everything they could at SFU,
only to outscore the Clan by three
points, that it became glaringly
obvious: without Chris Dyck, this
is currently an average basketball team. A small team. A team
without a take-charge player. A
team that relies far too much on
the jump shot to win games.
But of course, that's without
Dyck in the lineup. With him,
well, we're just going to have to
wait until he gets healthy to see
whether the team that won ten of
its first 11 games returns in time
for the playoffs, won't we? vl
I noticed it during the second
quarter of Tuesday night's clash
between the UBC and SFU men's
basketball teams.
One school showed why it has
been on a tear since mid-November, winning game after game,
and proceeded to pull away from
its competition with ease, turning the game into a rout. Unfortunately for Thunderbird fans,
that team was SFU.
Yes, the 88-73 spanking delivered to the Thunderbirds may
have been just one game—but
it was another game in the past
few weeks that demonstrate
why elite may not be a word to
describe this team.
Now, one could look at this
team's recent struggles, and
chalk up their middling play as
of late to the absence of Chris
Dyck, who has been sidelined
with tendonitis in his knee. It's
hard to replace 27.9 minutes
and 18.4 points each night. But
this team's strength is supposed
to be its depth. UBC has nine
or ten guys who can step up on
any given night and cause havoc
for the other team. However,
they haven't been doing nearly
enough of that this year.
Their record, and their stats,
show that. Against teams with a
better than .500 record, UBC now
stands with a 3-4 record. They
haven't beaten a team ranked
in the CIS top ten yet this year.
And for a team that's supposed
to be stocked with good shooters, they're 10th in free-throw
percentage and ninth in three-
point percentage in the 14-team
Canada West Conference.
More critically, each of their
last three losses have exposed
a different weakness with this
group, a facet of the game in
which the T-Birds were clearly
outpaced. Against UVic before
exams, they just didn't play the
same tenacious defense that the
Vikes did. With Brandon last
weekend, they couldn't match
the Bobcats' aggressiveness and
quickness around the court. And
on Tuesday, the twin tower tandem of Greg Wallis and Nolan January 15th, 2008
thSIj
BYSSEY
theubysseymagazine
PHOTOS BY ANDREW ELGAR AND JORDAN CHITTLEY / THE
UBYSSEY
Above: Our accomodations for the night. Hotel
Snowdrift a.k.a. the Ice Palace is cool and cheap.
There is the slight side effect of suffocation when
too much snow falls forcing the tarps to collapse,
which prevents air exchange.
LeftWriter Jordan Chittley eyes the non-surviv-
able cliff before deciding to ski down the trail and
Skiing, camping adventures at Mount Baker
A non-winter tent, no snow
tires and lots of snow leads to
unexpected fun
by Justin McElroy
We never actually intended to
sleep in the tent practically buried in snow, or wake up panting
because of a lack of oxygen, but
we also didn't expect to see some
of the best skiing I've ever seen
in the world.
My friend Andrew Elgar and
I packed his tiny Mazda on the
morning of December 29, leaving Vancouver a bit after 7am. As
a nice treat it wasn't raining, but
the ominous clouds above were
keeping everything dark.
We had no map, little money,
and even less of a plan other
than to ski and see what would
happen.
We set out looking for fresh
tracks and to explore a new
mountain, but what we would
find is an absolute hidden gem
ofthe skiing world.
The mountain is a place
called Mount Baker in northern
Washington. It is about the same
distance from Vancouver as
Whistler, but with border delays
it may take just a little longer.
That is pretty much where the
comparisons to Whistler end.
A day pass is roughly half the
price and a season pass goes for
roughly a third the cost. While we
both have passes to Whistler, the
four blackout days on the pass
between Dec. 27 and 30 sparked
the idea for the trip.
Mount Baker has no highspeed lifts, no hotels near the
hill, next to no apres scene and
no glitzy, expensive stores. It is
a place all about the skiing. It's
a refreshing thought after skiing
at Whistler where this isn't usually the case. One of the locals
said the two days we skied were
some of the most crowded days
he's seen, and I don't remember
more than 30 people in a line.
After finally getting through
the Huntingdon US border crossing relatively problem-free, we
began following signs toward
East 542 or Mount Baker. East
542 is a one-lane highway that
twists and turns through a couple of small towns before rapidly
gaining altitude up toward the
base of Mount Baker.
It was originally designed
and still is a highway built just
to access the skiing and other
outdoor activities. As we began
the ascent it began to snow and
the snow was compacting on the
road.
There are three signs in the
space of about ten miles indicating that all cars must carry chains
during the winter months.
We started the drive with no
chains and as Elgar said after the
final sign, "unfortunately there
was nowhere to purchase chains
between the last sign and that
one so we still don't have them."
While the tires spun over
the ice and compact snow a few
times, we finally made it to the
quickly filling parking lot. After
hastily getting ready, we purchased our day tickets and lined
up in what is probably the shortest lift line I've seen for years.
It was maybe ten people. The
forecast said 9 inches or 27 cm
of new snow overnight, which
was enough to put a smile on our
faces.
Floating through the softer
snow that comes with being further from the ocean sealed that
smile in place. While the skiing
was great, the light was fading,
the snow was still dumping and
we had no place to sleep. Luckily
we had a couple sleeping bags
and a three-season tent. So we
did the only sensible thing.
We went to the bar and had
a few before it closed at 5:30pm.
When it was just us in the bar
talking to some employees vacuuming the floors we realized it
may be time to leave. However,
when we told people we were
camping, we still thought someone would offer us a floor. No on
did, so we did some donuts in
the dark snow-covered parking
lot and drove to a nearby parking lot that we heard allowed
campers.
Earlier in the day we considered hiking for a while to find
a spot for our tent, but after a
few drinks we decided to find a
place that could be lit by the car
headlights to aid in our digging
and tent set-up. We found a snow
bank that was about ten feet
high, dusted off the soft snow on
top and began digging out a half
snow cave with an avalanche
shovel.
Good thing we were prepared.
While the cold didn't seem to
be a problem, it was dumping
when we got in the tent and as
we kicked the snow off the top, it
slid down the side packing in the
small gap between what we had
dug out of the snow bank and our
tent until it was about two feet
high around the tent. The snow
packed down the tarp effectively
allowing no air into the tent.
Elgar and I both woke up
panting at 5:45am after a horrible sleep. I thought that I
must be cold so I tried to slow
my breathing, but I wasn't cold.
However, getting out of the tent
was going to be cold so I lay there
panting for another hour and a
half before we dug our way out
from the inside.
That day they reported another nine inches of new snow and
we were some ofthe first few on
the lifts for a great day of skiing.
While I don't think I'd recommend using a three-season tent
in a parking lot at the bottom of a
ski hill at the end of December, it
certainly is a trip I'll remember
for a long time. \\a
and Directed by James Fagan Tait
ind Directed by Joelysa Pankanea
Western Gold Theatre and Theatre at UBC present director James Fagan January 17-26 7:30pm
Tait's stage adaptation of Honore de Balzac's utterly gripping TELUS Studio Theatre
masterpiece OldGoriot. Original music by collaborator Joelysa Pankanea Chan Centre, UBC
deftly illuminates this poignant tale in which Balzac shows the excessive
parental love of a retired vermicelli merchant to be a tragedy as TlCKfitS: $25/$20/$15
devastating as King tear. This new play builds on the success of Tait and Call: 604.822.2678
Pankanea's unforgettable award winning adaptations of Crime and WWW.theatre.llbC.Ca
Punishment and A Christmas Carol.
PuSh
THE/VTRE
Ubyssey Publications Society
2008 Board of Directors Election
The Ubyssey Publications Society is the organization
responsible for publishing UBC's official student newspaper.
The Ubyssey. It's membership consists of all UBC students
who have not opted out of membership by completing an
opt-out form. Members are eligible to run for, and vote in,
Board Elections.
The Board of Directors oversees the administrative
and business aspects ofthe paper including advertising,
marketing, distribution, the budget and the finances,
meetings ofthe Society, and management of employees.
The Board is not, however, involved in any editorial aspefefe
ofthe paper. The positions open are for 5 Members at Large
and 1 President.
Term is February 2008 to February 2009. Directors attend
approximately 20 Board Meetings through the year in
addition to serving on Board Committees. No previous
experience with newspapers or the UPS is required.
Elections will be held in conjunction with the AMS
Elections January 18th to 22nd, 2008.
For more information, contact Fernie Pereira at 822-6681.
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For all that is happening on
campus and cool videos theubysseymagazine
ThUj
BYSSEY
January 18th, 2008
Who's really supporting Matthew Naylor?
by Jesse Ferreras
Who in the AMS is standing up for Matthew Naylor?
Up until now you could be forgiven for
thinking the current AMS VP External is
the front-runner in the race for the student
society's presidency. He has a prominent
campaign replete with cartoon caricatures
of himself on shirt buttons and greenpost-
ers, as well as endorsements from various
heads of clubs and student societies. He
promises a new Student Union Building,
better quality education, a "more effective
council" and provincial lobbying partnerships. He touts his insider experience
with the AMS as his greatest advantage
over Michael Duncan, the other perceived
front-runner for the presidency.
In fact, all seems well and good with
/ want to change directions
in the AMS and my desire to
change directions is an effective
non-endorsement of the policies
that they have brought forward."
Naylor until you look at how few endorsements he's getting from the upper ranks
of the AMS.
Rival candidate Duncan is a popular
student best known for his patented pink
cowboy hat and two terms as president
of the Science Undergraduate Society. He
also sat in regularly as a science councillor at AMS council meetings since 2005.
Already Duncan has courted the endorsements of Spencer Keys and Kevin
Keystone, two consecutive AMS presidents, but not one of the current executives has raised a hand in Naylor's favour.
Brendon Goodmurphy, current VP Academic, yesterday extolled his support for
Duncan. AMS insiders have said that VP
Finance Brittany Tyson is supporting him
as well. AMS President Jeff Friedrich was
mum about endorsing anyone publicly
- that might be more believable if Duncan
hadn't already outed him as one of his
supporters.
It's a bad sign for any political candidate when the executive you've worked
with for almost a year won't support you.
When asked about it at Thursday's debate,
Naylor brushed off the question as to why
his colleagues haven't rallied to his side.
"Among other reasons, it's because I
haven't asked," he said. "I want to change
directions in the AMS and my desire to
change directions is an effective non-endorsement of the policies that they have
brought forward."
Except that he is endorsing things
that his fellow executives have brought
forward. "A new Student Union Building" is the top priority he touts on his
campaign posters. It's not really his idea
- Sarah Naiman put plans in motion last
summer towards either a SUB expansion
or an outright reconstruction. A new SUB
might be too expensive an option—it's
hubris for Naylor to promise one. I doubt
Naiman would appreciate him co-opting
her project.
Naylor's status among his compatriots
in the executive is probably summed up
best by Duncan in yesterday's debate:
"The endorsements I have managed to
acquire span all areas of campus...I have
also acquired endorsements from the
current AMS Executive. That leads me to
wonder about Matt's ability to work as a
team."
High-quality endorsements don't guarantee you the win in the AMS elections,
but they're extremely helpful. And in this
year's race, they make Matthew Naylor
look very much like an outsider looking
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BYSSEY
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AMSPresident
1. What three campus issues stood out to you the most this year? What, if anything, do you plan to do about them?
2. What were the three biggest failings ofthe incumbent executive? Do you plan to address these failings in the future? If so, how?
3. What were the three biggest successes ofthe incumbent executive? What are your plans to bolster or further these successes?
Rodrigo
Ferrari-Nunes
Matthew
Naylor
I
Graduate Anthropology
1. The U-Blvd project consultation fiasco and the "transient
non-expert population" label
attributed to UBC undergrad
students by President Toope in
the historical Board of Governors
meeting (not attended by any of
my adversaries).
The first issue is the hardest to
solve: construction is underway
and looming towards the SUB
after the destruction of the Trek
Park carried out by the administration without any warning.
They arbitrarily destroyed a
peaceful student protest officially
endorsed by 'our own' David
Suzuki.
For student childcare, I hope to
extend the AMS resolution to help
build new childcare facilities. We
will gather individual student
opinions and come up with a referendum. Then we could demand
from the administration a single
AMS institute that will rival the
investment spent at the Sauder
School of Business and that will
be devoted entirely to childcare,
multidisciplinary research, and a
learning institute that will provide
jobs and research opportunities.
The jam spaces collective came
as I was hanging out with international 1st & 2nd year students
in Vanier residence. There are
plenty of students with musical abilities and no student-run
space for them to share their
music in a public setting in the
SUB. With the help of CiTR radio,
we were able to set up a cultural
all-inclusive musical space every
Friday during the day at the SUB
conversation pit.
2. I) Utter lack of transparency
in governing structures, agenda
setting procedures, committees—you name it!
II) Motion proposals we forwarded to the exec were always
turned down with little or no
explanation.
III) Unwavering and courageous commitment to transparency could rectify this.
3. The only true success I experienced this year was the drafting
of a housing motion brought forward by Brendon Goodmurphy.
This was a document that would
allow for him to lobby strongly
for many student concerns with
housing. Curiously enough, it
was tabled at the AMS Council by
Matt Naylor and his AUS associates, even with the plea for urgency by both Jeff Friedrich and
Brendon Goodmurphy. My name
went to the minutes as the ONLY
person who spoke on behalf of
approving this motion at that moment, and I even made a point of
complimenting.
4th Year Arts
1. Transit is something that I
have worked closely on this past
year. TransLink is now not controlled by elected officials, and
while there is elected oversight,
we need, as a university, a representative. I will work to get the
act amended to get our issues
represented on the board.
Student engagement is a perennial issue, but the scores from
NSSE show quality of education
at UBC has dropped by over 30
per cent. We need to improve
AMS Connect, and make better
social gathering spaces. I will be
a strong advocate, because we
need to make the University and
the government do something
about it.
The demolition of Trek Park
is shameful, a blatant violation
of our rights. We need to tell the
UNA and the RCMP that we have
a right to be on this campus.
2. The AMS Exec lacked unity
and cohesion last year. Each exec
existed in their little silo. There
were consistent breakdowns in
communication, and the things
that we tried to do suffered as a
result. We had separate groups
working on the RCMP issue. As
president, I will make sure we
are all informed.
AMS Link was a disaster of
magnificent proportions. While
this type of system is needed, we
need to make sure that our clubs
have input into what will make
students use it.
Council accountability is the
biggest failing. There was a
consistent attitude that council
did not matter, which needs to
change.
3. Transit is the biggest success
story for this past year. We will
be going into contract negotiations this next year, and we have
managed to keep the cost down,
and explore new opportunities
for funding the U-Pass structure
through a wide ranging transit
consultation.
The housing report was a great
first step in determining what we
need to develop institutionally in
order to provide students with
adequate housing on campus. I
want to continue lobbying on this
report.
The Provincial Lobbying Group
is probably one ofthe biggest successes that we have had this year.
I was proud when we were able to
bring five schools together to an
agreement on how we lobby, and
created a group that will ensure
us good representation for years
into the future.
Michael
Duncan
"Che"
Allison
1. The campus issues which stood
out for me the most were those
which are emblematic of the
War on Fun being waged against
students.
The cancellation of ACF marks
a tragic end of an era of beery
awesomeness. As a former ACF
staffer I know there are many
complicated and valid reasons
for the cancellation. But the key
determining factor was the Axis
of Boring — the Campus Cowboys,
the UBC Admin, and the UNA and
the demands and restrictions
they placed on ACF. My solution
—resurrect ACF using the healing power of Reiki! Failing that,
a new, cross-faculty student-run
rock concert might also fill the giant hole ACF has left in my beer-
drenched heart.
The RCMP's crackdown on
bzzr gardens represents more
than just the fuzz cramping our
style. We can't advertise the word
"BZZR" anymore! The problem
is in part the UNA's complaints
about how we drunken students
are acting like, well, drunken students around their million-dollar
condos. But the real problem is
that the liquor laws are draco-
nian and paternalistic. We must
do something before this campus
becomes terrifyingly dry.
Although an underground bus
loop is idiotic, I think U-Blvd is
a good idea—the heart of our
campus needs revitalizing. The
problem is a lack of consensus
about what U-Blvd should look
like. The AMS should stand up for
what most students actually want
there—a brewery.
2. The new logo launch, AMS Link,
and many of their initiatives suffered from the "too little too late
problem" as well as a lack of big
drunken celebratory parties.
They are very professional and
polite but when it comes to big
issues the AMS should have been
more of a shit-disturber. It's a
bummer when the AMS exec take
themselves too seriously to show
up to work drunk.
3. Despite their bearing the black-
mark of sobriety I have enormous
respect for the incumbents. They
renovated The Pit, an achievement for beer-drinkers and meat-
marketers everywhere. They
brought Bedouin Soundclash out
for one of the most rockin' Welcome Back BBQ's ever. And they
schooled the dunces over at BoG
and Campus Development when
it comes to student consultation
with the SUB RENEW process.
4th Year Science
1. One ofthe biggest issues these
past few years has been the development around U-Blvd. I will
ensure that consultation for the
U-Blvd area is a priority and that
we will work together with Campus and Community Planning.
UBC remains one of the few
universities that does not offer
a free gym. UBC has absurdly
high intramural fees. I will fight
to reduce the fees and to ensure
that staying healthy and active
remains in the student budget.
Student groups all over campus
are having increased difficulties
with the RCMP. I will ensure that
our representation on a newly
created committee that meets
with the RCMP brings up the important issues of all our campus
groups.
2. One of the biggest failures ofthe
current executive team revolves
around the hiring process. Many
of the important positions took
too long to be hired for. I believe
it is essential to hire an HR staff
member who can coordinate all
the hiring processes and ensure
that they are done effectively and
on time.
The current executive have had
difficulties within their team. I
have had a lot of experience with
many different teams in many
different areas of involvement
and will use this experience to
ensure that the next year's executive works together effectively.
SA Link has been riddled with
problems. I do believe that it
could be a very effective tool but
we need to flush out all the problems with it before we promote it
to our clubs.
3. While the U-Blvd project has
been inundated with poor consultation, the SUB Renew project is
exactly the opposite. I am fully behind this process and will ensure
that even more consultation is
done. I will use unique methods
to create a hype about this project
and to garner as much support as
possible.
Another amazing success is the
childcare initiative. The childcare
project is a long term project that
still needs support and I will offer
that support.
AMS businesses are used to
support so many of the services
and events that we run. I will ensure that we engage students, let
them know how student run businesses affect them and encourage
them to support businesses that
support them.
3rd Year Arts
1. Democracy.
The AMS is elected by students.
This is a horrible way of doing
things. When elected, I will abolish the existing council structure
and elections altogether. This will
result in less bureaucracy, more
efficient government and better
life for all (or else).
Lack of Fun.
R.I.P. ACF. Special Occasion
Licenses are harder to get than
ever. The UNA blows. Students
are feeling bored out of their
minds without anything to do.
There are events being run but
students don't attend because
they're all emo about having nothing to do. This is stupid. There
will be state-run parties that will
be attendance mandatory and
they will be thrown down hard.
Popped Collars.
They look fucking stupid.
2. They allowed for elections, let
sexy get away so that JT had to
bring it back, and they were in
charge when the UBC Reiki Club
went MIA. I'll imprison sexy in
Gulag 1 (UBC Farm) so it cannot
escape when we're not watching,
I won't let people vote, and I'll
find the Reiki people using Plant
Ops, after they've been made into _
a secret police force. Seriously,
they're already halfway there, '
driving around too slow to be doing anything constructive except
when trying to run over random
students. Cross out random students, replace it with political
malcontents, and then add random students at the end and
that's better than the KGB.
3. The biggest success was laying
the groundwork for me to incite
the Revolution™ on campus.
Other than that, they bombed
pretty hard. I mean, they didn't
embezzle any funds AND they allowed for free elections. D'uh.
elec
tiotis th£Ij
BYSSEY
ElectionsSupplement
3
ti
VP Academic
1. How do you plan to give students a greater voice at UBC?
2. If you were to choose only three issues as the focus of your tenure as VP Academic, what would they be and why?
3. Name one major failing ofthe incumbent VP Academic's policies. How would you do things differently? Which ofthe incumbent VP
Academic's policies do you consider a success? How will you build upon this policy?
RobMcLean
AlexLougheed
NateCrompton
Fire HydrantPeets
4th Year Science
1. To gather a true voice of the needs of
UBC students, I would dedicate myself
to getting as involved as possible in all
events. From varsity games, UBC REC
events and bzzr gardens to fundraisers and concerts, I would endeavour to
engage all demographics of students.
I would reserve specific days to walk
around the SUB and campus just to connect with other students.
With this voice, I would lobby the UNA,
development committees, and police
to increase student representation and
rights. Through Senate, I would hope to
empower the student caucus to be on top
of all current issues and to represent the
needs of campus fully.
Against the faculty I would work to
revamp the teacher evaluation system to
make it more accurate and transparent.
2. Development: increased student representation in all matters of campus development and the switching of the student
role from an advisory position to one of
idea conception. Through this, I would
push for more Fraser Halls and no more
Chaucer Halls.
Evaluations: reinstituting the AMS
Yardstick while working to develop an accurate, meaningful, and transparent form
of teacher evaluation with results open to
the student body.
Student life: preserving historic campus
events and traditions (and their spaces)
and increasing 24-hour spaces and services on campus.
3. The AMS Yardstick was unable to
launch last year due to problems with
staff and financing. The idea of bringing
it to actuality in a meaningful way was a
great point. I would pick up where Bren-
don left off and find dedicated students to
work for it.
3rd Year Science
1. The disconnect between the student
body and their representatives has always
been a concern of mine. This is why I have
been a long time supporter of AMS initiatives to fix the problem, such as the creation of a students' assembly. We cannot
always rely on the administration to hold
'meaningful consultations' with us, when
there is little incentive for them to do so.
As such, I propose we get students on to
boards and committees so we're involved
with the decision creating process.
I will also push that the AMS make well
known its services that increase student
voice, such as the Advocacy Office. I will
lobby the University to get its proposed
ombuds office up and running quickly, as
they could serve as a huge resource in airing student grievances with UBC.
2. Most basic problems on this campus
can be solved with a long-term plan on
governance review. The UBC administration currently is our government, which
has led this campus to become a developer's sandbox. Problems surrounding
University Boulevard, the cancellation of
Arts County Fair, and the sense that UBC
has turned in to a degree factory can all
be resolved by having a meaningful,
representative government who has the
people, instead of the endowment, as
their first priority.
UBC has been proven to be consistently
poor on academics when rated against its
peers through surveys like NSSE. To fix
this, I will implement an academic grievances database for all students to submit
their qualms with course content, course
size, teaching quality, advising, and the
calendar, for other students to comment
and peer review, and for senators and
constituencies to act upon.
Lastly, I would focus on student housing
at UBC. The Official Community Plan's
targets for housing are naive, and don't
reflect current demographics. We need
more student housing, affordable student
housing, more daycare spaces, and a fair
process for establishing changes in housing policies like the contract and rate
increases.
3. One of Brendon's best works was onhis
housing report. In it, it mentions some
flaws with the state of housing at UBC,
and makes some recommendations for
improvement. I do not believe it goes far
enough to address democratic concerns
in the system. It also doesn't go in to substantial length around the contract itself,
which has been proven to be unfair, and
unfit for young adults.
4th Year Political Science
1. Since my time at UBC, I have been fighting to change the University so that students' voices matter on campus, including as a representative on AMS council
for the past year. In the spring, I co-wrote
the University Boulevard petition, which
led into a full-scale movement on campus
—not only Trek Park but the whole reawakening of campus through a dozen or
so different groups. The U-Blvd Petition
has been very effective in changing the
direction ofthe entire University, not only
with regards to the U-Square project.
Student power and the student voice is
about the belief that people's voices matter in their own community. Everyone
knows that the major decisions in the UBC
community are made through committees and boards that are pretty strongly
anti-student, like BoG and UBCPT, but this
is not because we are too friendly or too
unfriendly. It is because the current goals
and imperatives of the University Administration, as it becomes a land developer
and a commercial research institution in
the 21st century, are contrary to the goals
and needs of the majority of students.
This means that the role of the VP Academic is to work strongly with students,
faculty, and staff against the tendency in
the administration towards the de-democratization of the University.
2.University Boulevard Project: "Respect
the Petition!"—no more tunnel construction until consultations for the whole
project, including the tunnel. Because of
recent developments, especially the province's decision to bring a SkyTrain line to
UBC, the bus loop has become obsolete.
We need to find out what students want
at U-Blvd before building the $40 million
dollar tunnel.
Academic Policy: I) Implementation
of class-size targets—at a research university, the student-to-teacher ratio is a
meaningless measure of academic quality. II) Re-establish the Yardstick project
for student teaching evaluations.
Childcare: finding student solutions,
through the Campus for Childcare Coalition, to the childcare crisis on campus.
There are currently 1300 care spaces
in demand that do not exist on campus.
Meanwhile, the University is spending
$30 million from the childcare fund on
the $40 million tunnel at U-Blvd.
3.Brendon Goodmurphy fought for students, but there are many cases in which
he did less than he could have. In only
one example: before his term, the AMS
won a seat on the Development Permits
Board. Once elected, the University easily
I convinced Brendon to give up the AMS'
control over the seat. This is not acceptable—the AMS should never give up its
chance to participate in the community,
there are too many exciting things going
1 on for that!
29 th Year Fluid Mechanics
1. I'm obvious and hard to ignore. I'm an
immovable object, and I'm not afraid to
step on administrators' toes. (I'm 94.6kg,
so they'll feel it.) Electing me will send a
very strong message (actual message to
be determined), ultimately resulting in a
much greater voice for students. Failing
that, students could commandeer the
clock tower and hook up a microphone.
I'm told you can hear it from North
Vancouver at full volume. Now THAT'S a
greater voice for students.
2. Governance. We need some. I want
us to become the Mountain Resort Municipality of Quadra. If we pile some dirt
against a parkade and run a short ski
lift, we qualify. Being a Mountain Resort
Municipality ensures that we can prevent
non-university residents from interfering with parrying, liquor licenses, noise,
or academicky things like fumehoods or
storage of radioactive stuff. We'd have a
seat on TransLink's Council of Mayors
too. Name-wise, the federal riding of Vancouver-Quadra doesn't contain a Quadra,
and I think it should. The lack of governance causes our other problems.
Dogs are a huge issue in this portfolio.
Without a municipality, we can't pass
bylaws, which means we can't ban dogs.
We can't even restrict them! Dogs are
pure evil, and their reign of terror on this
campus must be stopped. They really piss
me off. In the absence of bylaws, the only
thing we can do is electrify campus fire
hydrants to fight water with fire. Which
I would push for as an interim measure
until we get our municipality.
Everyone else will tell you University
Boulevard is a big issue. I suppose it is. It
would probably be good if the new bus terminal were redesigned to a) work, b) be
large enough, and c) anticipate the newly-
announced SkyTrain line. It would also be
good if UBC weren't paying for it. Again,
you need an immovable object who can
rule with a cast-iron fist.
3. Brendon's big project was a comprehensive housing policy, asking for more
and different student housing and to have
the luxury condos and student housing
(run and built under different branches of
UBC's administration) work together. This
document and its presentation to the admin are significant successes, but there's
no implementation mechanism. Student
housing's expensive to build compared
to the rent it generates, so innovative approaches are required. I'd build a student
residence on wheels. It would offer a new
perspective every morning, could escape
campus security during parties, and
would be cheaper if the building inspectors couldn't find it! It could sail around
campus as a pirate dorm, attacking and
ransacking luxury condo developments
and reclaiming them as student residences. All for almost free! (Some catapults
and watermelons would be needed'
<^>.
^s^ 4
ElectionsSupplement
ThSJu:
BYSSEY
VPAd ministration
1. Some have argued that the VP Administration position should be eliminated and the responsibilities divvied up
among others in the AMS. Please give your reasons why the VP Administration position should (or should not) remain
apart ofthe Executive.
2. What is your vision for the Student Union Building? What are your plans for SUB Renew?
3. Name one major failing ofthe incumbent VP Administration's policies. Which were a success?
Yian
Messoloras
3rd Year Political Science
1. Organizing clubs, AMS businesses, events, and meetings in
the Student Union Building is a
massive responsibility. What is
considerably more time consuming and significantly more important is this coming year's SUB
Renew project. The position of VP
Admin has virtually never been
more important than it is right
now, and the elected candidate
will make some of the most important and influential decisions
regarding the level of construction and the future landscape
of the most frequented space
on UBC's campus—the Student
Union Building.
2. Sustainability and efficient
growth without overstretching
the budget that will be decided
on early this year is one of my
foremost concerns. Thanks to
my background in construction
and my experience with project
management and design garnered through complete home
restorations, I possess the essential elements required to lead the
SUB Renew project in the most
efficient manner. There have recently been many over-expenditures on the numerous construction projects taking place all over
campus. That's why it is more
important than ever to have the
right person with the right skills
spearheading a project of this
scale and importance which will
ultimately affect almost every
single future UBC student.
3. I applaud the previous VP Admin's work of bringing this issue
to the table; however, I question
her experience, knowledge, and
subsequent ability to successfully
and responsibly lead a project of
this style and scale. I can make
specific reference to tens if not
hundreds of thousands of dollars that were essentially wasted
by Ms. Naiman on architectural
consultations from many firms
across North America which produced nothing but overly complex and financially unattainable
designs.
Given the appropriate direction, one consultation from a
thoroughly researched firm
should easily satisfy the demands
of this and many future generations of UBC students. My experience is the driving force behind
my decision to run for this
position because I feel confident
that I possess all the skills and
knowledge necessary to manage
and supervise the renovations
and possible additions that will
be made to the SUB.
Sarah
Naiman
4th Year Arts
1. I think that with the SUB renewal project this has become
a non-issue. Even before SUB
renewal, I also felt that there was
more than enough to keep the
VP Admin busy. 300 clubs and
a building that is falling apart but
still has to serve 45,000 students
is definitely enough to keep one
person busy. But I do recognize
that at time there is a lot of overlap between the VP Admin and VP
Finance, if a person wanted to reduce the amount of bureaucracy.
2. My vision for a new SUB
is a LEED Platinum or leading
edge sustainable building that
students can be proud of and feel
welcome in. It must have more
student social, study, and club
space that is flexible and usable.
It should be more open and welcoming with increased natural
light and a design that highlights
the services, businesses, and
clubs. As students, we have the
ability to take chances and try
something new. What I mean by
that is that I hope the building is
daring, be it by using alternative
energy sources or having a green
roof or something that hasn't
been thought of yet. My plan for
the project is to continue with the
meaningful consultation that has
been the basis for every decision
and to follow the project through
to referendum—the ultimate consultation. As well, I want to ensure that the University and the
province are both contributing
to the financials of the building
so that the entire costs do not fall
upon the students.
3. My greatest self-criticism for
the past year was as the chair of
SAC. As a result of SUB renewal
and other initiatives, I wasn't able
to put as much time into running
SAC as previous VP Admins have
chosen to do. I was fortunate to
have an extremely strong vice-
chair and fantastic commissioners which allowed me to focus on
the rest of the portfolio.
I bet that if you ask me this
question again in a month from
now or after I am able to step out
of the position I will have many
more self-criticisms but while I
am so involved, it is really hard to
step out and be more critical. To
be perfectly honest, I am proud
of what I have done this past year
and feel that I can stand behind
all my decisions, even the ones
that were not as successful as I
had hoped.
"Scary" Mike
"The Rabbi" Kushnir
y
5 th Year Geography
1. People have argued eliminating this position? I demand to
know WHO! Someone's head will
roll—don't they know that I'm ENTITLED to this position? I mean,
come on! All those years of being runner-up in the Mean Teen
Beauty Queen pageant weren't
for nothing. I know I'm a winner...! KNOW IT!
2. My one big plan for the SUB is
to convert it into a giant, 24-hour
discotheque playing nothing but
the best hits from the 70s, 80s,
and early 90s. I'll make sure to
hire Buzz Bishop and Tarzan Dan
as resident DJs. There will be
a huge roller-derby around the
dance floor, Irene Cara and John
Travolta will be go-go dancers
and, Mike Myers (reprising his
role as Steve Rubell from 54) will
be the new SUB manager.
3. I have never eaten babies for
breakfast, nor have I ever caused
disturbances on an airplane by
proclaiming the Rapture mid-
flight. I have, however, made sure
to travel the world, seeing what
UBC's campus spirit COULD be,
and will work hard to achieve this
once elected to office! I SWEAR to
FIGHT for your right to have fun,
contrary to what the Axis of Evil
(University Neighbourhood Association, RCMP, university administration) would have you do: sit
at home and stay sober. We must
STAND UP and make our voice
heard. The authorities are steering us toward a dry campus; it's
up to us to let them know that this
is a university, NOT a retirement
community.
VPExternal
1. What qualifies you for the VP External position? What political experience
have you had outside the UBC community?
2. If you were to choose only three issues as the focus of your tenure as VP
External, what would they be and why?
3. Name one major failing ofthe incumbent VP External's policies.
Freeman
Poritz
3rd Year History
1. My experience as a journalist has led me to conclude that I
will make an excellent lobbyist.
I know how to ask questions
and I know how to get answers.
I know how to inquire and I know
when to push. Lobbying is the
most important part of the VP
External portfolio and I plan to
get what students need on the
government's agenda.
I hold a fellowship position with
CJPAC (Canadian Jewish Political
Affairs Committee), a multi-partisan organization which supports
increased political engagement.
Through CJPAC I flew to Ottawa
this past November and received
a crash course in federal government operation. I had the honour
to meet with Conservative Minister of Public Safety Stockwell
Day, Conservative Minister of the
Environment John Baird, Liberal
MP Scott Brison, and NDP MP
Pat Martin. I also went door to
door in support of BC-STV in May
2005.
2. a) The U-Pass. Because of its
universality. It affects all UBC students and provides a reasonable,
environmentally friendly, means
of transportation.
b) Strong UBC-CASA (Canadian
Alliance of Student Associations)
relations. CASA provides UBC
with a credible and effective federal lobbying organization for the
price of slightly more than $3/
student. Through CASA, UBC's
needs will be taken seriously.
c) University affordability.
Because UBC needs to be kept affordable for students. I will lobby
for increased student access to
scholarships, grants, bursaries,
and loans.
3. It appears that the current
VP External mismanaged this
year's VFM (Voter Funded Media)
competition as chair of the external commission. I would have
ensured that the competition was
better organized, or I would have
scrapped it.
The current VP External
started an initiative for work on
a provincial branch of CASA to
more effectively lobby the provincial government for the needs
of students in British Columbia. I
would like to explore how we can
take this initiative further and
how it will benefit UBC students.
www.putafreemaninoffice.com
Stefanie
Ratjen
4th Year Political Science
1. I think one of the important
things with the VP External position is to first have experience
within the UBC community. From
the AMS SEC to the SDS, I've been
in involved with student issues
at UBC for quite some time. I've
already been standing up for student voices with the ongoing Trek
Park initiative, which has played
a prominent role in ensuring that
student voices are listened to in
the U-Blvd project.
2. Education is a right, not a
privilege. Restructuring and increasing government funding for
education that goes beyond individual grants and loans is one of
my top priorities.
Public transit should be public.
The U-Pass contract is up for
renewal. It needs to stay affordable and should be expanded. We
need a serious inquiry into how
the public to private switch affects students.
This is a university. We need to
ensure that student interests are
prioritized at all levels of decisionmaking. I will work with other
schools in British Columbia to establish a well-organized coalition
to advocate for students, pushing
for the necessary governance and
funding changes through detailed
recommendations.
3. I feel the AMS could have
been more vocal about the
structural changes at TransLink,
before and as they were happening, and especially in relation
to how they affect students. If
fare increases continue, as they
have under the new governing
changes, we need to act now to
ensure that the U-Pass stays, and
remains affordable.
On a more positive note, it's
the provincial level that has the
most influence regarding decision making structures and funding programs for post-secondary
education. This is where students
need a stronger voice. Outgoing
VP External Matthew Naylor, has
already been working with this
idea, and has established relationships with some of the other
post-secondary education institutions in BC. I plan on building
on this idea to work with other
schools in British Columbia to establish a well-organized coalition
to advocate for students, pushing
for the necessary governance and
funding changes through detailed
recommendations. thSJu
BYSSEY
ElectionsSupplement
5
n
VPFinance
l.What qualifies you fortheVP Finance position?
2. What are your fiscal plans for the AMS in 2007 & 2008? What do you plan to change about the AMS's current direction?
3. Name one major failing ofthe incumbent VP Finance's policies. Which do you consider a success? How will you build upon?
"Irish Courage"Bylicki
316th Year Beerology
1. What qualifies me for this position is my deep knowledge of the mystical things that the AMS has been ignoring. "Don't steal meeee lucky charms" applies to what's
happening here at UBC. Parties and bzzr gardens, the
pinnacles of student engagement and fun, are being
pushed off of the grounds of UBC. Groups like www.bzz-
rgardens.com are fighting furiously to keep them alive,
and the battle looked lost, until I came along. Not only
do I want to stop the removal of the last magical thing
on campus—beer—but I want to reinstate those magical
things that would make life at UBC easier and a lot more
fun: rainbows for money, centaurs for protection, beer
for fun.
2. It disgusts me that this has not been thought of. Think
about it: money, gold, and treasure can always be found at
the end of the rainbow. Therefore, I'm going to purchase
the sole rights to all rainbows on earth using a personal
loan from Bill Gates, and utilizing my endorsement from
God and Bono. Unlimited rainbows at my command
means unlimited gold, means unlimited money for UBC.
This means that all student fees will be abolished, and
anything students want will be heard and put into action.
Of course, the gold will be released into the market slowly
to prevent flooding. This is where my superior financial
management qualities come into play.
3. Student engagement in events on campus is ridiculously sparse when there is no alcohol at the event. Lectures, speeches, discussions, recitals, and dry events
organized by your students are rarely attended, but bzzr
gardens and Pit Night attract scores of people, and now
even these are being pushed away. The RCMP is cold to
licensing, and enforcement is unnecessarily high. People
are condoning disengaged students. My solution to this
is to provide beer to all events, rooms and facilities on
campus: lectures, classes, events, and washrooms. In
addition to this, I propose to build a unicorn pasture in
front of the RCMP office so that the cops lighten up and
let us be.
I encourage you to vote, even though you don't get
booze for it, and I will make you verrry happy.
AndrewForshner
rT^Hftl
v1
__
rilK
5 th Year Arts
<
1. I have quite extensive experience with financial accounting and budget management, from working on a
minor in economics to serving as treasurer for the Alpha
Delta Phi Fraternity and several large debate tournaments on campus. I also embody the leadership experience necessary to be an effective AMS executive. I have
been vice-president of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity as
well as a long-serving member ofthe UBC Debate Society
executive. Most importantly though, I have served as
a dedicated member of AMS Council for the past year,
sitting on five committees responsible for making the
AMS work better for students, from campaigning for referenda to save the UBC Farm, to allocating over $54,000
for student initiatives.
2. The top priority of AMS businesses is in achieving a
competitive edge against new business developments on
campus. To achieve this, AMS businesses need to change
their practices in order to appeal to more UBC students.
Students are the main concern of the AMS, and as VP
Finance I will endeavour to enhance the appeal of AMS
businesses through more renovations (Gallery), making
them more sustainable (eliminating Styrofoam) and by
increasing awareness and use of student services, so that
students will have more of a reason to pay extra at AMS
businesses to help support our services, like Safewalk.
3. A major shortcoming in the previous year has been
the failure to make AMS Link work for students, their
clubs, and their constituencies. While AMS Link has
greatly helped streamline the operations of FinCom and
SAC, it needs to reflect more of what students want from
the service. As VP Finance, I will consult with the various
stakeholder groups on campus so that AMS Link can be
less of a bureaucratic barrier and more of a tool of students. A major success was Brittany's efforts in making
Sprouts a successful student initiative. Before her term,
Sprouts was a faltering student project within the SUB
and kept running up major debts, paid for by loans from
the AMS. Brittany helped re-work their business model,
so that since its reopening this term the cafe is busier
than I have ever seen it. I believe that this success is due
to Sprouts's increased appeal to students as a cafe where
anyone can walk in and get amazing fresh, organic food
at low prices, not to mention the cheapest coffee on campus. I want to continue on supporting and promoting
Sprouts.
ChrisDiplock
2nd Year Arts
1. My experience with budgeting coming into this year
was as a house treasurer with the PVRA in 2006/07.
However, since then I have taken the initiative to do extensive research on the AMS budget. After much discussion with Brittany Tyson and review of current and past
budgets, I feel I have gained knowledge that gives me
the necessary understanding to create achievable budget
initiatives.
With an interest in commerce, I have the ability to understand the distinct and complex operations ofthe AMS
businesses. The AMS business revenue is expected to be
more than $820,000 this year. This makes up a large
proportion of our discretionary income and is vital for
the growth of our AMS services.
The Financial Commission involves a large amount of
diplomacy and ability to work with others. Throughout
the last two years, I have been working on Council and
committees effectively and cooperatively for progress.
Finally, the Sponsorship Committee is a sensitive issue, and with my background of economic and political
knowledge, I aim to work toward a university in which
the welfare of its students will always come before the
needs and wants of our sponsors.
2. Our revenue is the main focus of my fiscal plans. We
must understand that the AMS's ability to expand into
students' lives and the University community directly
rely on the AMS's revenue. Once we understand this, it is
easy to understand my platform to increase our revenue
through:
I. Business revenue from investment in technical and
managerial operations
II. Sponsorship revenue from bringing in ethical, responsible, and diverse sponsors
3. Overall I was very impressed with current VP Finance,
Brittany Tyson's, work this year. To my understanding
the Business Operations Committee spent a large part
of the year searching for new occupants for the Snack
Attack. Although there were some good initiatives (silent
shopping), I feel that there should have been more investment in the operations of our AMS businesses.
Focusing on positive aspects of Brittany Tyson's term
as VP Finance, one initiative that really caught my eye
and that I would like to continue is a rubric which was
created to review the compensation offered to AMS staff.
Lastyear we spent a sum around $680,000 on running
this student government and some student salaries were
very arbitrary. Such a large chunk of our discretionary
income should be well organized and accountable to
qualifications and research. 6
ElectionsSupplement
ThSJu:
BYSSEY
J
BoardofGovernors
1. How would you represent the concerns of students regarding University development if you were to sit on the Board of Governors?
2. If you were to choose only three issues as the focus of your tenure as Board of Governors, what would they be and why?
Bijan
Ahmadian
Cris
Marincat
Rodrigo
Ferrari-Nunes
Andrew
Carne
Graduate Forestry
1. The Main Campus Plan is coming to a close and this year the
Board will be providing direction
for more detailed planning of
South Campus, Totem Field, and
several green spaces on campus.
The UBC Farm has yet to be explicitly included in the planning
exercise, nor have student consultations been adequate. In the
past UBC would make a plan and
the consultation would involve
presenting and defending the
plan. I understand the current
governance issue facing the BoG
and will work hard to achieve a
win-win situation. As students we
often need to form alliances and
I already have strong community
connections with the University
Neighbourhood Association
(UNA), the Friends of Pacific Spirit Park, and Nature Vancouver,
with whom UBC students share
common goals.
2. The three issues in which I
could realistically make a difference are I. improving student
consultations for future developments, II. setting and achieving
sustainable community goals,
and III. ensuring new developments are appropriate for student use.
True consultation involves
inclusion of students at the beginning. Consultation questions
should be specific, or if they are
vague then adequate explanation
should be provided for clarification, and student responses
should publicly tracked so future
students can easily understand
how 'the plan' evolved from the
input of past students. I would
use my voice to ensure that the
mistakes made in planning the
University Boulevard and the
problems with the consultations
of the 1997 Official Community
Plan and the 2000 Campus Community Plan are not repeated.
I would also apply my knowledge and experience in sustainable community planning and
sustainable building construction
to help set the next set of goals for
campus sustainability and help
UBC to achieve them. An example of this would be the current
review of UBCs Integrated Stormwater Management Plan where
we have the opportunity to clean
up construction sites, protect the
salt-water marsh along the Fraser
River, and be continent leaders in
urban watershed management.
The south campus development is
also a chance to rectify the severe
on-campus daycare shortage and
help ensure new market housing
is appropriate for student use
(whether they be new residences
or market housing intended for
rental to students).
1st Year Law
1. Students are a significant
stakeholder in campus development. They care about affordable
housing. They want buildings
that use energy efficiently and
are environmentally friendly.
Students need affordable access
to suitable space for project work,
conferences, meetings, studying,
socializing, and for running licensed events.
Students also have their differences on the campus plan
should look like. Issues such as
the amount of green space, the
presence of retailers and development of the endowment lands
have been sources of differences
for many students.
Issues around the campus plan
are complex and involve many
stakeholders. As a recognized
leader with a track record for
reconciling competing demands,
I am committed to ensuring that
students' diverse opinions are
sought and taken into account by
the Board.
2. I. Empowering students:
Students need a representative
that can influence the Board to
take into account students' input
when making decisions. As a student senator, I have a successful
record of making progress with
the University administration.
As a senator, I negotiated policies with deans and worked on
implementing them with associate deans and department heads.
I put a great emphasis on effective consultation. I have been
known as the guy with a knack
for problem solving among those
who needed help resolve conflicts
with the University. For example,
students' complaints were the
main force behind my successful lobbying for a new policy on
viewing marked work, passed
lastyear by UBC Senate.
Starting this year, as the representative of the first year Law
class, I launched my personal
website and forum, to further
stay accessible to students.
II. Community Building: The
large population of UBC makes it
challenging to develop a sense of
community. Smaller groups have
shown to play a very effective
role in engaging students and in
giving them a sense of belonging
while contributing to the larger
community on and off campus.
As a seasoned student leader,
I have engaged with many of
these communities. I have demonstrated a solid commitment to
helping these communities get
the resources and recognition
that they deserve.
III. Campus development: see
question one or www.bijan.ca for
more information.
^ "^X
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5 th Year Commerce
My greatest contribution to the
Board will be to ensure that
student voices are respected.
It seems as if many decisions
are made without proper consideration given to different
perspectives, especially minority
groups. I am running for Board
to ensure that our perspective is
considered in the decision making process. As current students
we are the most important asset
of the university. If we have a
great experience, go on to get
awesome jobs, and live our ideal
lives, we are much more likely to
support our university in much
greater quantities than the potential profit from an increase in
tuition or selling some property.
On this note, the University space
is meant for everyone and it is
not meant to be cleared to ensure
the maximization of profit. Some
things are already finalized, but
we need to put a better structure
in place for future development.
As students we need to have a
common voice in asking all Board
members to consider the results
of over development of campus.
To choose three issues as the
focus of my tenure at Board is
rather short sighted. My goal
is not to change three specific
things, but rather to ensure that
we are heard and understood
as students on much more than
three issues. The best way to get
that is to first seek to understand
other people and then seek to be
understood. With this I know I will
capture the respect of the other
Board members and have a voice
within discussions. I intend to
ask the right questions and move
the discussion toward finding the
best solution for everyone. Rather
than compromising, manipulating, convincing, or playing these
other 'political' games, I intend
on being open and finding win-
win solutions. I will be giving
extra attention on development
as mentioned above.
I think it is also very important
to discuss budgetary constraints
that prevent us from hiring the
best professors from all over the
world. Great professors enhance
our experience by inspiring us to
learn more and find better jobs.
Great professors give our university a better reputation and actually make classes enjoyable. The
better jobs should than result in
more money, more fun at and after work, all the merrier for UBC
when it comes to support.
1. Firstly I would conduct, in orchestration with the AMS Council, an extensive and dynamic
consultation period. Students will
be free to write as much as they
want about University development, and to voice their grievances and suggest whatever changes
they might envision through an
AMS blog and by paper submissions. In addition, those students
involved and passionate about
ensuring meaningful dynamic
consultation, and who desire an
opportunity to present the results
of their own investigations on
campus matters, will be given
this opportunity at an international conference centered on the
issue of campus development.
Through participatory engagement, I have approached a wide
variety of students and consulted
them about their issues. I did not
come with particular questions
set up, but got to know them,
each individually, listened closely
to their stories, to their concerns,
their hopes for the future. I am
devoted to catering to first year
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS,
who are usually left unheard and
who pay exorbitant fees. Unlike
the other candidates I am 'facing', I do NOT tell people what to
do, nor have I ever bossed people
around. I also do not wish to
simply please 'the man'. On the
contrary, I am a 'server' to student voices without restrictions,
and the ideas that come through
me are not just the product of
my experiences, but the fruits of
grass-roots involvement and consultation both in academic and
extra-curricular activities.
2. I. NO MORE 'development'
without MEANINGFUL, DYNAMIC, AND RESPONSIBLE CONSULTATION (such as underground
diesel bus loop)!
II. The construction of a state-
of-the-art EDUCATIONAL CHILDCARE facility that is multi-functional: it would provide a venue
for pro-bono research, student
jobs and volunteering, and established primarily with STUDENT
PARENTS in mind!
III. The establishment of INTERNATIONAL LINES OF COMMUNICATION with student associations and media around the
world, to share our grievances
with other university students
and to also hear their opinions
on the issues we are currently
facing.
3rd Year Engineering
1. I plan on making myself very
available to students by e-mail,
phone, and by holding feedback
sessions prior to board meetings.
This would give students an opportunity to tell me their thoughts
on current issues at Board, as
well as allow me to pass on information I have learned through
my interactions with the Board. I
intend to carefully research each
and every topic brought before
Board so that I have the necessary background knowledge to
support student concerns in an
effective and persuasive manner.
I would communicate student
concerns to the Board both by
speaking out at meetings and by
engaging Board members in one-
on-one discussions prior to the
meeting. I feel that one-on-one
interaction will provide a much
more useful environment to
bring across concerns, as Board
meetings proceed quite quickly
and I suspect many members already have their minds made up
by the day of the meeting.
2. I don't fully agree with the
premise of this question, as I
feel the student representatives
should not go to Board with a preset agenda. The student representatives need to be able to handle
each and every issue brought
before the Board, not just issues
pertaining to their main focuses.
I fully intend to examine every issue in detail to ensure everything
is in accordance with student
opinion.
With that in mind, my three
biggest issues are communication, campus development, and
the structure of Board. I feel that
communicationbetween students
and Board needs to be vastly improved, and it is a difficult task
with only two student representatives from UBC-Vancouver. This
ties into my third point, in that
I feel the composition of Board
is not very representative of the
University. It does not make
sense to have such a large part of
the Board made up of provincial
appointees who do not necessarily have much of an interest in the
affairs of the University. Finally, I
also want to investigate in detail
not only the University Boulevard
and South Campus development
projects, but general campus
development plans for the long-
term as well.
elec
tiotis th£Ij
BYSSEY
ElectionsSupplement
7
ti
BoG
"Fiddler Crab"
Finlay
2nd Year Mining Engineering
1. Depending on your level of
interest in student government,
I would either represent your
concerns very well (if you don't
give a crap and just want to see
random cherub fountains), very
poorly (if you have decided on
behalf of everyone who doesn't
give a crap what they should give
a crap about, without asking their
permission), or not at all (if you
think I'm ugly, which is most).
2. For my tenure in the BoG, I
would concentrate on two main
issues. Firstly, I would pursue my
ridiculous policy goals, as outlined in my online profile, which
include plagiarism being punishable by stoning and the hiring
of the MythBusters. Secondly, I
would dedicate my time to making student government more
relevant to the students it claims
to represent. I personally believe
that our abysmal voter turnout
is completely laughable and
unacceptable. The government
does have a responsibility to
take action on important issues,
however, it has an even greater
responsibility to be relevant to
those it represents, which in turn
gives the government the power,
right, and authority to act in students' best interests. I do not care
what you, our constituents, want
us to do—just that you want us to
do it. I cannot claim to know what
you ACTUALLY want student
government to accomplish. However, I do know that so long as the
same closed-minded 10 per cent
continue to be the only voters, the
current focus and system of our
student government will never
change.
UBCSenate
1. What are three important issues you plan to bring before the University's Senat
—Grade transparency is an issue
that students seem to discuss. If
elected, I would advocate for the
mandatory release of a simple set
of statistics, including average
and standard distribution, for
each exam. In addition, I would
also like to see a deadline set for
exam mark release.
—The issue of extended library
hours is especially important in
light of the dramatic budget cuts
that resulted in the closure of two
libraries this past year. Although
I would ultimately like to see
the creation of a 24-hour study
space that operates through the
academic year, I think that the
proposal to keep libraries open
24 hours during the exam period
is an excellent place to start.
—Senate also determines admissions policies. Recently, they
declined to pass a proposal that
would have made BC Grade 12
Provincial Exams optional for admission to UBC, unless required
for graduation. Instead, they sent
it for further review, with a new
proposal to be given in December 2008. Most out-of-province,
students, however, don't have to
write these exams—why should
BC students? If elected, I would
advocate for the passing of this
proposal to ensure that UBC
remains competitive with other
universities.
Philip
Edgcumbe
2nd Year Engineering Physics
I am a second year Engineering
Physics student, a UBC Varsity
athlete, and the president of the
AMS Science One Survivors club.
I am eight months into my research project with the Carl Wie-
man Science Education Initiative
which has given me a great awareness of academic issues. I was a
GALA group leader and Imagine
volunteer. I am responsible for
organizing tours to UBC labs for
over 300 high school students
in partnership with the Science
dean's office. Due to my wide
variety of campus experiences
I am well aware of the different
issues which will make me a good
student Senator.
If elected, I will:
—Spearhead initiative to record
classroom lectures and post them
online.
—Organize two information/
feedback sessions to increase
awareness of Senate issues and
hear your concerns
I support policies such as:
—Extending reading break to
two weeks for 2010 Olympics.
—Allowing incoming students
an additional year to complete
English requirements.
Visit www.votephilip.com for
my positions on:
Challenging exams, teaching
evaluations, 24-hour study space,
library hours, undergraduate
research, provincial exams, UBC
Okanagan transfer credits, UBC's
structural deficit, investment of
endowment fund and professor
mandatory retirement.
Put the EDGE in Senate, vote
Philip Edgcumbe.
Blake
Frederick
3rd Year Philosophy
—Teaching evaluations. Currently, students do not have access to
the results of their student evaluations on teaching. These results
are critical for holding professors
accountable to their quality of
teaching. In my role as AMS associate vice-president, university
affairs this year, I have worked
to publish these results in The
Yardstick. This semester, the University has agreed to standardize
these evaluations and publish
them. If elected to Senate, I will
pressure the University to ensure
that they will follow through with
their commitment and I will push
to have these results available on
the course registration website.
After 10 years, the University is
finally taking the initiative and it
is going to take an experienced
voice on Senate to sustain the
pressure.
—Mandatory paid TA training.
According to the 2006 NSSE
(National Survey on Student
Engagement), students feel that
TAs contribute very little to their
academic experience. As well,
many TAs have commented that
they lack the institutional support
required to know what is expected of them. I will work to make
sure that the University institutes
mandatory paid TA training to
benefit both TAs and students.
—Exam schedule. The exam
schedule needs to change. Too
many students suffer exam hardship each semester. I propose
that UBC publishes the exams
schedule at the time of course
registration so that students can
anticipate scheduling conflicts
before they enroll. I have already
been in discussion with Justin
Marples, director of classroom
services, regarding this issue
and I look forward to pursuing
it further and soliciting student
feedback.
Visit www.BlakeFrederick.com
to view my full platform. Thanks!
^ J
Alfie
Lee
2nd Year Science
—Lobby the University for increasing the amount of 24-hour
quiet study space. If I am elected,
I will be completing a proposal
and negotiating with UBC Food
Services to open up the Pacific
Spirit Cafe within the SUB for
24 hours. I will also continue to
advocate for a section in the new
Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
to open up for 24 hours. I have
talked to the University Librarian
pro tern [for the time being]and
he is positive about the idea.
—Rectify the current exam
hardship policy. I advocate for
a policy that allows students to
have the exam schedules upon
registration so that one can have
a greater control over his/her
formal assessment. One can also
plan his/her vacation at ease as
they know when to book their
flight ticket and saves up the travel cost to enhance his/her quality of life. This is an especially
significant issue as we approach
the Winter Olympic school year
as the exam period will be shortened significantly and the exam
hardship cases will dramatically
increase. I would also propose to
the Academic Policy Committee
on allowing students to have a
more lenient late policy for exams so that students commuting
from distant places (i.e. Surrey
Langley or Delta) can avoid missing their exams.
—Increase funding to Academic
Support Program. I would like to
see the establishment of an Undergraduate Research Office to
co-ordinate the various programs
on campus (i.e. ROAD, MURC or
Summer Research Scholarship)
so that students are encouraged
and granted the chance to explore
and discover. Academic Support
Program also includes LEAP, tu- I
toring program, and other interdisciplinary courses. UBC needs
to give the funding to allow the
diversification of curriculum so
that its TREK 2010 mission statement can be met.
Genevieve "Malt Likkah"
Sweigard is also running for
the Senate position. 8
ElectionsSupplement
ThSJu:
BYSSEY
UBCSenate
Chemistry PhD Candidate
Three of the major areas that
affect the undergraduate experience include the quality of
teaching, funding for students
based on merit, and the learning environment. To break these
areas down further three of the
important issues include:
I. Listing instructors on the
courses webpage and creating a
system to help instructors/TAs
with sub-par ratings to improve
their teaching. Currently, the online teaching evaluation system
has been implemented and results will be available to students
by April/May. Instructors need to
be listed under the course selection pages so students can register in sections with outstanding
instructors. We also need to
implement a training/resource
base for instructors/TAs to get access to if their progress does not
improve.
II. Merit-based scholarships.
As the years have progressed,
the value of scholarships has
decreased (monetarily). I feel
that the majority of scholarships
should remain merit based (with
a minimum course load) and that
the value of these scholarships
be increased to at least reflect tuition costs. Bringing up a review
of scholarships and pushing for
them to reflect student accomplishment is important.
III. Learning environment/ resources. Ensuring that the library
committee meets with students
and keeps them informed on
their decisions is going to be an
important task. Additionally, we
need to ensure that lab facilities
and classroom facilities are in
adequate condition to reflect up-
to-date learning.
Having served a term on Senate
has given me significant experience on interacting with committees and other senators and this
experience helps put together
proposals to take forth to committees. In addition as graduate
students normally only get one
seat on senate I am running in
the at-large election to give more
graduates a chance of sitting on
senate.
^ J
Alex
Lougheed
3rd Year Science
UBC is lacking in creative
courses and educational design.
We are faced with rote memorization, endless paper churning, and
passive lectures. I hope to vitalize
all senators in being more liberal
with their academics, so new, creative courses such as AISC 200
(the Terry course) become more
common in our curriculum.
As a self-proclaimed wordsmith
and rules geek, I aim to work to
fix the calendar. I would like it if
the calendar were less rigid with
requirements, so students can
take courses they feel they belong
in and can learn in, without having to jump through bureaucratic
loops like advisors, program
applications, prerequisites,
credit limits and specialization
requirements.
Most importantly though, as
both your VP Academic and senator, I hope to provide more institutional support from the AMS.
Resources like research staff,
planning and strategy sessions,
better physical office space, are
all integral to allowing all of our
senators realize their true potential. Electing me is empowering
the entire student Senate caucus
to become a dominant force in
the senate chambers.
Electing me would be enabling
all the student senators to accurately reflect your demands, effectively and efficiently. Thanks!
AMS Blec
tions
1. What are three important issues you plan to bring before the University's Senate?
Rob
Mclean
Colin
Simkus
LPI for staff-I feel that if students are held accountable for a
level of English proficiency to be
able to learn at this institution,
there is absolutely no reason that _
the teaching staff of that institu-
tion cannot be held accountable '
to the same level.
No forced majors for 2nd year
students: I feel that university is
meant to be a place of universal
learning and therefore it is acceptable to study in many different fields and subjects before
finally deciding on a degree. As
such, to pressure students into
picking their majors early is limiting their future choices in their
academic career. I feel that you
should be able to work toward
any major without needing to
declare it until your senior years
at UBC.
AMS Yardstick—working to institute a means for an accurate,
meaningful, student-organized
teacher evaluation system with
published results so that all students can find out the truth about
their courses and professors before taking a class.
1st Year Law
The NSSE surveys have shown
that student engagement and
sentiment towards academics
at UBC is unacceptably low.
Students need to know that they
will get value out of their degree
and their education. I believe
that we need to push for what I
call the ABCs of student learning:
accessibility, better quality, and
consistency.
In terms of accessibility, if we
want to promote multi-faceted
learning experiences, and well-
rounded global citizens, we can't
make students roll the dice on
whether their GPA will suffer
because of excessive downwards
bell-curving or different marking
systems. Instead, we need to consider expanding pass/fail courses
to promote learning in other faculties, along with having more access to options and programs, in
order to improve the excitement
of being a UBC student. We need
to push for better quality for students; for them to be connected
with better resources including
longer library hours, improved
student space in our buildings,
and more academic and instructional support for students exploring other faculties.
Lastly, we need consistency;
this means maintaining strong
admission requirements, and it
means demanding that we have
strong evaluation systems in
place for our professors and TAs.
Ultimately, I believe that these
ABCs will help move us in the
right direction, and I believe that
I have the experience to deliver
these results.
Azim
Wazeer
2nd Year Commerce
—I will pursue mandatory TA
training & certification across
UBC faculties. The effectiveness of
TAs can be drastically increased
as a result of standardized and
mandatory training programs. I
will also recommend TAs undertake one year's worth of study (so
as to assimilate and understand
what is required of him/her) at
UBC prior to being able to teach
a course (emphasis on teaching
courses etc., not on marking).
—I will push for the University to take the onus on academic
building development as compared to these costs coming out
of student pockets. The development of University academic
buildings is the responsibility of
UBC and must not rely on fees
from student unions (the redevelopment of the Henry Angus
Building is a good example). With
the University handling campus
development, buildings no longer need to be restricted to students in that particular faculty,
resulting in the desegregation of
the University community and
greater choice and availability
in much needed study and social
space for students.
—I will lobby for a re-evaluation
of the criteria a student must
meet in order to exempt them
from the LPI. International students are required to sit for both
the TOEFL examination AND the
LPI resulting in a redundancy
(both examinations have very
similar structures). This practice
takes place only at BC post-secondary institutions. Savings on
administrative costs, a result of
a more accurate LPI exemption
policy that reduced the number
of LPIs administered, could be
channeled into academic quality programs that will benefit all
students."""@en ;
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