A screenshot of the email shared with The Ubyssey summarized the major changes the referendum would enact and claimed that all of the changes would improve the student experience. The referendum ultimately failed to meet quorum for the third time on March 27.
The referendum failed in the 2019 AMS general elections and again in the 2020 general elections, making this the third time the AMS has tried and failed to pass the referendum that would abolish student court, extend AMS membership to carry over to the second semester and would allow the AMS to create a confidentiality policy to limit the release of certain records.
The situation has been chalked up as a misunderstanding, but it has given the art community a platform to give more attention to the AMS’s permanent art collection and the importance of understanding the context of the collection before selling any of it.
Thayakaanthan sees the VPAUA race as another opportunity to get involved in the AMS after losing the presidential race to current VP Administration Cole Evans in the general election.
Second-year anthropology student Zoe McDaniel is running for VP academic and university affairs (VPAUA) on a platform of mental health, sustainability and sexual violence prevention.
Ahsan Sahibzada, the chief electoral officer, said they are moving forward with the campaign, but they won’t be having any in-person events for the election.
Last night, councilors discussed the COVID-19 pandemic, elections results, the upcoming special election and a new recreation facility to be built on campus.
At the March 11 AMS council meeting, councillors voted in favour of adding the referendum to the ballot in the upcoming special election.
“[Banning plastic straws] is something that places places the burden on disabled people, and also consumers rather than systemic problems in regards to environmentalism.”
On March 7, AMS Elections announced the nomination period for a new special election to elect the VPAUA in a Facebook post.
Moonias wanted this experience to be very different from the “harsh” debates and foster respectful communication, conversation and connection between candidates and Indigenous students.
“… the Elections Committee was informed on March 2, 2020 that Axel's campaign published a Facebook cover photo, event page and photos in that event page. All of these campaign materials were unapproved.”
First-year commerce student Braden Bellinger is running for one of the five student senator-at-large seats on a platform of improving the classroom experience.
There will be no VPAUA position on the ballot for this election.
This change follows an Iron Ring Ceremony briefing on February 12, in which many students were upset over comments made by Camp 5 executives running the briefing.