Race Profile: AMS President

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UBC Insiders Analysis

Click here to skip to profiles of the candidates in this race.

The President is the visionary and leader of the AMS. In the most fundamental sense, the job of the AMS President is to ensure the organization is fulfilling its mandate. This mandate is a set of eleven objectives which can be found in the society’s constitution, or holistically in the simpler AMS mission statement:

To improve the quality of the educational, social, and personal lives of the students of UBC.

The president’s first job is making sure that the structure of the AMS is upheld. One of the duties involved is setting the agenda (figurative and literal) both for council and for the executive. We have seen even in this past year that when a weak president is in office, they will not seek council approval when necessary, stalling any and all efforts of any branch of the AMS.

The president sits as chair of the executive committee and is in charge of co-ordinating the executive team. A strong president will have the individual respect and trust of their VP’s, who should always be able to go to the president’s office for advisement.

He or she also acts as a liaison between the business side of the organization and the governmental side. The general manager, who oversees the business operations, reports to the president weekly.

The president is the spokesperson for the society, and by extension, is the voice of the student body of UBC. They are the one whose quote is most sought after by external media, and are the one who delivers the speeches. They should be articulate.

Unlike the VP positions though, the president does not have a specific portfolio, but rather can take on initiatives that they wish to focus on. For Jeff Friedrich, it was CASA. For Mike Duncan, it was athletics fees. For Blake Frederick, it was tuition policy. Although the candidates have given hints about where their interests lie, governance might be a good suggestion for the upcoming year.

An ideal president would be someone visible, approachable, and able to bring together diverse groups of students, to best connect with the AMS membership. This person needs to have the support of council, and is best coming in with little enemies rather than many friends. Having a grasp of the history of campus and AMS issues is also crucial, as an understanding of the conventions and traditions of UBC lays out what is possible in a year, and what is not.

Almost exclusively, the focus of the presidential race has been about the AMS’s relationship with UBC. Despite what most people think, that relationship has not suffered permanent damage, and the nature of that relationship has been portrayed very narrowly. Both the AMS and UBC are multi-faceted organizations that by their nature will have close contact with one another. Various parts of the AMS will have relationships with various other parts of the university. The relationship of the two organizations cannot be oversimplified to a few relationships between certain individuals. Even then, those relationships get automatically renewed and refreshed by virtue of the fact that executives turn over every year.

To think the VP Students, who has been here over ten years, is suddenly completely dismayed by the AMS is a fantasy. UBC has seen worse from the AMS (such as illegal activity), and on the relative scale of scandal (see: UBC-O), the AMS is still top-notch.

A secondary issue has been about experience. It’s an important thing to have, but is essentially a binary quantity; you either have it or you don’t. More experience doesn’t mean you’re more qualified. It should be regarded as a non-issue, as both front-runners have ample relevant experience to be AMS president.

Candidate Profiles

Name: Natalie Swift
Age: 24
Year: 4th
Faculty and program: Faculty of Forestry : B.Sc. Natural Resource Conservation (global perspectives major)
Years on campus: 3
Past campus involvement: AMS Councillor, FUS VP External, Forestry Squad Leader, Thunderbirds Rowing Team (5-seat), Friends of the Farm, Varsity Outdoors Club (VOC), Loggersports Team, Students for Forestry Awareness (SFA)
Past non-campus involvement: Frost Campus Student Association VP Academic & Public Relations and President, Fleming College Student Governor, Auk’s Rugby Team (lock), Red Cross Youth Council Co-Chair

1) Realistically, there are too many decisions made within the AMS for all of them to go through AMS council. How much autonomy should AMS executives be given?

First and foremost, executives must respect their relationship with council and, in turn, the student body they are elected to represent. The established relationship is that council directs the executives, not the other way ‘round. Basically, the executives should be allowed the opportunity to oversee the successful day-to-day operations of the AMS and implementation of council’s mandate. However, when there is need for a policy stance, project direction, oversight and accountability or the commitment of large sums of money – then the executives absolutely must go through AMS council.

2) Structurally, what is wrong with the AMS?

In theory, the AMS structure should work; of course it’s become quite clear that it doesn’t. I think a prudent first step in addressing this is to assess how we currently operate within the existing structure. In my opinion, this is where we need to focus our attention. For example, we’ve made some progress with committee reform, but now I want to see us properly use the new committees. I want to see well-developed, informed ideas coming to council from committees for approval – not hours of debate.

In regards to the structure of student representation in decision-making, I’m incredibly interested in the outcomes of the AMS systemic discrimination review. Although, I think it’s important to note that such a review is only chipping away at a larger problem. There are numerous inefficiencies and issues inherent to the AMS due to its large size, and the last time we really looked at them was in the 1994 organizational review!

3) How would you deal with a situation in which official AMS policy differs sharply with your own personal views?

Regardless of how convicted I am of the legitimacy of my personal views, I can’t begin to pursue them without approval of first the executive, then council. I won’t say that there is no place for personal views in the critique or development of AMS Policy. Many great student initiatives originated from personal opinion regarding a progressive idea or an inadequate situation or practice. However, we must be careful to ensure that the personal view is expanded into a wholistic and inclusive assessment of its relevancy to the student experience prior to moving forward with the pursuit of a project or policy change.

In summary, I would:

- Expand my personal view regarding AMS policy to make an assessment regarding the relevancy, validity and feasibility of pursuing it then,

- Keep it to myself if I deem it too irrelevant, idealistic or infeasible or,

- Bring it to the executive for discussion and approval

4) Name two major issues on which students and the UBC administration disagree. What is the best way to go about resolving these disagreements?

Currently, I feel that the most relevant areas of current and future disagreement include:

(1) the development of the new SUB

(2) the appropriate manner to address campus governance

How do we move forward on these issues? In regards to the SUB, we need to focus on “win-win” situations first and be flexible during negotiations while ultimately staying firm in our commitment to pursuing results that keep the project student-focused. Keeping in mind, we have to commit to moving negotiations along efficiently and expediently.

Campus governance has the potential of becoming a massive area of disagreement with MetroVan’s desire to either be absolved of its responsibility to govern UBC or implement restrictive zoning bylaws. The strength of the student voice in decision-making on campus could be greatly affected by how UBC moves forward. I believe the AMS has to commit to positive discussion with the University while also ensuring students are well educated on the issue. Finally, students need to take ownership of this issue by developing a student-focused proposal for campus governance.

5) What should be the role of constituencies within the AMS?

All students belong to a faculty and each faculty can be represented on council through at least one councillor (aka constituency representative). Councillors guide the executive and the executive run the AMS. Constituencies are the AMS and should be the locus of input from the broad student body to guide the AMS. Unfortunately, not all constituents/constituencies understand this relationship or the relevancy of the AMS. This needs to be addressed and I intend to do so.

6) A perennial problem of the AMS is the lack of student engagement. How do you intend to work towards fixing this problem? Why should we believe your plan will work where so many others have failed?

I think an important thing to remember is that engagement is not an issue unique to the AMS; it exists in everything from local community groups to student unions across the country. Also, I think we have to be clear about what type of engagement we’re discussing. Academic engagement? Social? Student government? Athletic?

Before we try to address any form of engagement, we must first recognize that UBC consists of a diverse student body with diverse interests. We must respect that everyone is entitled to their own ideas regarding how they wish to pursue their university experience.

With that said, I’ll assume you’re interested in engagement in student government. Quite frankly, it’s going to take consistent effort over time and require that we operate with more professionalism and less ego. We lose credibility when we’re perceived as wannabe politicians, but we have all to gain by recognizing that we’re all in this together.

Will it work? There’s only one way to find out…

7) In your opinion, what is the most important thing the AMS does for students?

I’m going to sound a bit like a broken record over the next couple weeks but, I firmly believe that the most important thing that the AMS does is that it provides a means for students to take ownership of various aspects of their educational experience. The AMS allows us the opportunity to not only stand up for our education and related needs when we have to, but to pursue our personal interests through participation in various social activities (like clubs) and a practical way to develop important skill sets. Post-secondary education is about so much more than hitting the books and the AMS contributes to a well-rounded, truly student-focused approach to the educational experience.

Editor’s Note

None of the other candidates, Bijan Ahmadian, Sean Kim, and Pak Ho Leung have returned our questionnaire. This is very disappointing, as they have had 10 days to do so, and have received reminders.