News

This category contains 318 posts

Kinesiology Students To Vote on Raising Their Tuition

There’s a lot that’s wrong with this picture: a constituency president who is unable/unwilling to talk about a referendum his organization is running, instead deferring to a paid employee of the school.

Whose student housing plan is better?

Please remember to vote for us in the Voter Funded Media contest! The decisions giving rise to #iamastudent (though, as an external observer, it is unclear to me whether this continues to have any meaningful momentum) include both the tuition increase to international students and the significant increase in student housing pricing.  Unfortunately the 20% [...]

Let’s Stop Electing Executives

Please remember to vote for us in the Voter Funded Media contest! Probably as a result of the many candidate dropouts, the election has been a lot more dull at this stage of the campaign than expected and I am compelled to ask a 10,000 foot question: What the hell are we doing here? By that [...]

Ultra Vires

Please remember to vote for us in the Voter Funded Media contest! Ultra vires is one of those annoying phrases that law students learn in first year and start throwing around like it cost them $100+ to learn, but it’s latin for “beyond the powers”. At this moment Student Council is debating… I couldn’t really say. [...]

What is Student Housing For?

The Board of Governors should be able to clearly articulate an answer to the question: What is Student Housing at UBC for?

Growth of Student Housing Pays Dividends For UBC

In 2015-16, once the rent increases take effect, SHHS is forecast to pay a $7.8M dividend to the university administration. That’s about $728 for every person living in residence at UBC.

Follow the Money: How Student Rents Are Funneled Into New Construction Projects

UBC wants to build new undergrad teaching labs which will cost $80M. As is the case with many campus building projects, UBC does not have $80M. So, UBC has concocted a plan to come up with $80M. There is some complicated financial wizardry afoot.

A Guide to Student Housing Financing at UBC, Part 1

It is absolutely true that SHHS works on a cost neutral basis when considered as a self contained administrative unit. However, a lot of the costs that SHHS has to pay come from other parts of UBC – especially when it comes to capital costs. Because SHHS is part of UBC, UBC can require it to use other UBC resources, whether or not there are cheaper options available.

Transcript of First #AskArvind Twitter Town Hall

UBC President Arvind Gupta held a Twitter Town Hall over one hour this afternoon. He answered 22 questions total, mostly softballs. Here’s a transcript, just to get it on record.

Underground Bus Loop Cancelled Again

Campus and Community Planning has revealed that the current plan for a new transit terminal at UBC has been deemed unfeasible.

Please vote for us in the Continuous VoterMedia Contest