Neal Yonson
FOI request turns up no records on Wesbrook Place consultants
This is a great example of how the Board’s difficulties with governance, engagement, and decision-making go well beyond the Gupta Affair and are built into how they conduct themselves on other big issues too. Rather than performing their duties as a governing body in good faith, the Board has outsourced the whole thing to a private corporation, and that corporation has in turn hired consultants.
UBC Insiders On Air Finale: “As UBC Happens”
This is the official finale of UBC Insiders On Air. Thank you to everyone who listened, everyone we interviewed, everyone we talked news with, and everyone who talked to us at whatever event we were covering. It has been an extremely rewarding labour of love for both of us to make the show each week and meet people from all over the university that we never would have otherwise.
BREAKING: UBC Board of Governors manages to hold non-secret meeting
In a startling turn of events, this morning the Board of Governors managed to hold a meeting outside of their normal meeting cycle whose existence they did not try to deny or to cover up in any manner.
Chair of UBC BoG Finance Committee found to have avoided over $1M in BC taxes
Last December, The Honourable Mr. Justice George Macintosh found that Greg Peet, through a company he controlled called Veracity Capital, participated in a scheme designed to avoid paying over $1M in BC provincial taxes. “This is a simple case of a tax not being paid anywhere which ought to have been paid somewhere,” Macintosh wrote.
UBC Insiders On Air, Episode 24 – Sara-Jane Finlay
This week we are joined for news by 4th-year English student (and the brains behind some of this year’s more theatrical BoG protests) Gretta Dattan and brand new AMS VP Academic and student senator Samantha So. Our main interview this week is with Sara-Jane Finlay, AVP Equity and Inclusion, to talk about UBC’s sexual assault response and policy-making.
Divestment Double Standard
In making the decision not to divest, it’s a pretty clear double standard being applied – the old paternalistic chestnut of “do as I say, not as I do”. This decision should hopefully make clear that the Board’s difficulties with governance, engagement, and decision-making go well beyond the Gupta Affair and are built into how they conduct themselves on other big issues too.
UBC Insiders On Air, Episode 22 – A look forward at the AMS, a look back at the GSS
This week Anne Kessler, former AMS VP Academic and University Affairs, now of the Talon, joins us for a breakdown of all the major AMS elections races and referenda. Our feature interview is with Gabrielle John, former Advocacy Officer the the Graduate Student Society, about her report on UBC’s sexual assault reporting processes that GSS President Tobias Friedel tried to conceal from pretty much everyone else in the society. Neal also reflects on his experiences as a GSS employee.
Michael Korenberg and Beverlee Park appointed to UBC Board of Governors
Yesterday, the BC Government appointed two new members to the UBC Board of Governors, Michael Korenberg and Beverlee Park. They also follow the appointments of Kevin Ross Smith and Sandra Cawley in December. The Board’s membership is once again at its full capacity of 21 members, including 11 appointed by the provincial government.
Deputy Minister of Advanced Education appointed to College Board
On February 12, 2016, Sandra Carroll was appointed to the Board of Governors of the College of New Caledonia, based in Prince George. It looked like a fairly mundane matter except for one thing – Sandra Carroll is the Deputy Minister of Advanced Education, working directly under Minister Wilkinson, in the same ministry that provides funding and oversight to institutions such as the College of New Caledonia.
UBC Insiders On Air, Episode 19 – Board Protests and Divestment
The Board of Governors meetings this week provided more than enough fodder for this week’s whole episode. We talk about more secret meetings, play some tape from protests of the Board, discuss UBC’s decision not to divest, and the return of Fire Hydrant. Our interviews this week are with Alex Hemingway of UBC C350 and Milan Ilnyckyj of Toronto 350. They walk us through divestment and why it is entirely compatible with fiduciary duty.
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