Editors note: At the February 15 Senate meeting, Registrar Rella Ng announced that Sandhu was not eligible to serve as a senator, and that the Senate Secretariat was in discussion with the Student Senate Caucus. As of February 16, the Student Senate Caucus was unaware of why she is not eligible.
AMS Council appointed Anisha Sandhu as a student senator-at-large on Wednesday night following Dana Turdy’s departure from the UBC Vancouver Senate.
Turdy was elected AMS VP academic and university affairs (VPAUA) and one of five student senators-at-large in the spring 2022 AMS Elections, but took a leave of absence from her AMS role in early January until the end of her term in May. AMS Council appointed Sandhu, a UBC graduate, to serve as interim VPAUA in mid-January. Sandhu will now also be filling Turdy’s vacancy on the Senate.
Sandhu served on the Senate for two years as the Faculty of Land and Food Systems student senator, and ran for senator-at-large in 2021, lost, ran again in 2022, and won. She resigned from her post in May 2022 because she graduated. Kamil Kanji, who works in the AMS President’s office, was appointed to fill her vacancy.
Sandhu is currently taking one course in order to serve as interim VPAUA.
Sandhu said the Student Senate Caucus recommended to Council that she fill Turdy’s position on Senate.
“With a short timeframe, [the thinking was that] students would really benefit from someone with familiarity when it comes to the responsibilities of the role,” Sandhu said.
Turdy said in a written statement that she resigned from the Senate on January 24.
“It was a difficult but necessary decision, though I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity and hope to stay involved in advocacy work at UBC in the future,” Turdy said.
Sandhu ran in 2022 for a Senate seat on a platform of increasing accessibility and engaging students. Sandhu said on Wednesday night that she’s still passionate about those two issues, but is also interested in working on academic building needs in relation to CampusVision 2050 and ensuring temporary academic accommodations are easier to access.