As the only contestant running for the VP finance position in this year's AMS elections, current Associate VP Finance Louis Retief appeared unopposed at yesterday’s debate to discuss the AMS’s upcoming fiscal year.
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The debate took place between two of the three candidates running for the two available positions as student representatives on the Board of Governors. Incumbent Veronica Knott faced off against newbie Reda El Maazi, with Aaron Bailey absent.
The presidential debate saw Sugar Brewer, Aloha Dave, Jenna Omassi and Ava Nasiri vying to be the face of the Alma Mater Society. Less serious questions dominated the first portion of the debate, such as what alcohol they would be.
The proposal for the building has been met with support from the First Nations communities, faculty and student groups consulted. It will be built between Koerner Library and Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.
“Working with other student associations is incredibly important just because no matter what the projects that we’re working on and no matter which levels of government we’re advocating to, they’ll always be our partners in those things.”
“It’s the one position where that strategy hasn’t been incorporated at all. The VP External office has previously been quite isolated, quite traditional in their model of lobbying. I think there are real gains to be made there for students.”
“I want to focus on community engagement rather than events planning because we already have an entire staff dedicated to events ... I think the VP Admin should be focused on building communities through things like lunch time programming.”
“Students in general don’t know what the AMS is, they don’t know what the AMS does, why the AMS does the things they do … my goal is obviously to engage with 50,000 students and be able to help them answer that question.”
“I don’t think my platform is particularly radical — I’m not asking for free tuition, I’m not asking for free rent, I’m not asking for the communist revolution. All I’m asking for is some transparency and accountability.”
“The biggest point is student engagement. I really want to be able to keep students both engaged with the AMS and university issues. I feel as though the more informed students are, the more informed the office will be.”
“As the VP Academic and University Affairs, your job is to act as the go-between with students and the university. Building a solid foundational relationship with them would be critical to enacting change in the university.”
“I’m currently the AMS Vice-president Academic and University Affairs and a current student senator and chair of the ad-hoc senate committee on student mental health. I think that that continuity is very important.”
“My platform is really focused on student health, development and wellbeing. Those are my three main categories that I’m focused on. Mental health is a big one. I want to introduce a fall reading break and really advocate for that.”
“One of the main platform pieces that sets me apart ... is my piece on harassment discrimination and I hope to start a discussion with regards to sexual assault and that's particularly effective in the graduate student community recently.”
“I’ve been working under the VP Academic’s office as the mental health commissioner over the last two years, so I’ve gotten to work with two different VP Academics. Through this position I’ve done a lot in terms of research and advocacy.”