Jeanie Malone, a master’s student in biomedical engineering, is running for re-election to UBC Senate. She has been serving in student governance for the bulk of her six-year experience at UBC, beginning in the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS).
“I spent lots and lots of time running around in red, jumping in fountains occasionally, and putting up all the posters.” She was the EUS President in 2016-17 and currently sits on the Board of Governors (BoG).Malone is running on a four-pronged platform of “governance, equity, accessibility, and communication.”
First and foremost, Malone thinks it’s long overdue that Senate undergo a governance review. “The Board [of Governors] over the last two years has just undergone through a really key governance review, looking at its structures, its committees, having it be more efficient,” said Malone. “My hope is that the Senate will be able to do something similar.”
Malone’s equity platform focuses on the year-old sexual misconduct policy. Passing the policy was an important step, but “the implementation, I think, still needs work from the Senate side of things,” she said.
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Malone also wants to improve accessibility by reforming UBC’s financial awards programs.
“The ways those [awards] get distributed is extremely variable,” she said. “It’s hard to figure out as a student what you are qualified for or the process for which people are granted these awards.” Malone advocates that transparency in the awards application process will allow for admissions to be held accountable and encourage more students to apply.
Malone believes the final component of her platform, communication, holds the most importance. She wants to encourage student interaction by writing columns for The Ubyssey, meeting with student groups, and being accessible on social media.
“I’m always willing to chat. My goal is to represent students and make sure that student voices are heard and respected in the Senate.”
Already slated to serve as Board of Governors representative in 2018 (she and other Senate hopeful, Jakob Gattinger, ran unopposed for the two student member seats), Malone believes her presence on both governing bodies will be key for coordination between the two. There’s always been a “left hand not talking to right hand” disconnect between the Senate and BoG, she described. Witnessing this dysfunction while serving as EUS president is what inspired her to cross over and bridge the divide in the first place.
“Having me being fully in the loop on the other side was very useful, and I’d like to be able to do that again this year.”