AMS candidates talk a lot. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell if they’re telling the truth.
With that in mind, The Ubyssey is fact-checking every candidate’s platform and all the statements they made during debates. We think it’s important for students to know when candidates are telling the truth, whether they’re being misleading and where they’re getting their numbers.
Here are our fact-checks for your candidates for president.
The platforms
Chris Hakim: “I have saved $1.3 million in student money through the completion of the AMS space in the Life Building.”
Misleading. Financial documents show that the AMS saved about $1.2 million in the Nest Project, which encompasses both the creation of the Nest and the renovations of the Life Building. Given that the official ground-breaking ceremony for the Nest was in 2012, it’s misleading for Hakim to claim that he himself saved $1.3 million in a one-year term as the VP Administration.
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Hakim: “The AMS has been left without a long-term strategic plan to provide students with the support and consistency that they expect from the AMS.”
True. The January 17 minutes from the Steering Committee show that they’re still hashing out details about the plan.
Spencer Latu: “The AMS has not been advocating for lower tuition, as it was mandated to do by the 2014 referendum”
True. But it should be noted that the AMS has vocally opposed any tuition and fee increases this year, and carried out lobbying effort for things would that make education more affordable like expanding open education resources and cutting provincial interest on student loans.
Kuol Akuechbeny: “I worked with AMS members and student community to build new Investment Policy that was allows AMS $ 16 investments to be fully invested sustainably.”
True. The AMS total investment portfolio is approximately $16 million, and a policy was passed in the summer that divested the AMS’s portfolio.
Akuechbeny: “I am working to test the secure online money transfer system for the second time after failing the first testing due to security and compatibility issues”
True. A system developed by RBC in the summer had a “small but dangerous chance of being compromised”, and Akeuchbeny stated in his December interview with The Ubyssey that the project has now turned into a two-year process.
Stuart Clarke: “I've always wondered: What are the usage rates? Why isn’t such data on the website? Is EmpowerMe cost effective? How much does each service cost us members anyway? What are the administration costs? And, why do I pay for services that aren’t useful to me?”
Misleading. The AMS measures all of this already.
Jas Kullar: “... Use the over $ 2,000,000 set aside for us students in a way which would better benefit you.”
This amount of over $2,000,000 refers to the AMS’s discretionary allocations. The wording of “set aside for us students” makes it misleading because the non-discretionary allocations also go toward benefiting students, with some being directly approved by students in through referenda.
The First Debate
Hakim: “This year, the AMS has been able to hire full fledged and professional communications department.”
True. The AMS has Communications & Marketing Manager Eric Lowe and Sarah Hearsum as the assistant communications manager.
Latu: “Right now, we have at most 20 per cent of students voting, as low as 10-15 per cent in other years.”
Close. There was a 20.7 per cent turnout in the 2017 election and 20.4 per cent in the 2018 election, but voter turnout was 43.9 per cent in 2013, partially due to U-Pass referendum, and 22.4 per cent in 2014.
Latu: “We also were lied to when we were told by the AMS when we were told that we are currently invested in fossil fuels, we were told we were not when we were.”
True. AMS VP Finance Kuol Akuechbeny did tell The Ubyssey in a July 2018 interview that the AMS “has never invested in fossil fuel companies”, but he later clarified that there were investments that were keeping the investment fund from being truly sustainable. Some include shares from Enbridge Pipelines, Enbridge Gas and Inter Pipeline Ltd.
As of August 15, 2018, the AMS divested from fossil fuel investments under its new investment policy.
Latu: “The last AMS executive did not even endorse nor advertise the [annual general meeting (AGM)] .”
Partially true. The AMS exec does not need to “endorse” the AGM. They did publish information about the AGM on social media channels, but did not distribute a newsletter or advertise beyond inviting councillors. They also violated their own bylaws by not placing a notice in The Ubyssey or other campus publications and as a result, the executives narrowly avoided censure at the October 24 AMS Council meeting.
Latu: “The AMS Council’s proposed bylaw changes would currently reduce transparency.”
Unclear. We originally labelled Latu's claim as “misleading” because when this bylaw was approved by AMS Council, its scope made it appear like it would only change access to documents to align with BC privacy law. That bylaw reads: “Council may establish a policy to keep certain records confidential where disclosure would be harmful to the financial or economic interests of the Society, the business interests of a third party, or the security of the Society’s buildings or its computer or communications systems, as well as where disclosure would disrupt an ongoing investigation, violate solicitor-client privilege, or reveal in camera discussions.”
However, in a recent interview with us Dylan Braam, the chair of the AMS Governance committee, admitted that “this does decrease transparency.”
That said, the referendum would not immediately blanket-ban the release of such documents as it only gives the AMS the ability to create a policy around these records. We're labelling this as “unclear” for now because it's uncertain how drastically this will affect access to Society documents — but with growing ambiguity around these bylaw changes, it's unfair to leave Latu's claim as “misleading" as his original statement may yet hold to be true. However, it's also too soon to say for sure what impact this will have to access at the AMS — so we're sticking with "Unclear."
The Great Debate
Kullar: “$22 million dollars in total revenue is budgeted for 2018/19, with only 12 per cent of that being used for you [the students].”
False. The 12 per cent refers to the AMS’s discretionary fund, of which 16 per cent went to student services, 36 per cent to student government and 38 per cent on senior student services. But it’s not true that this is the only amount being used directly for students. The other 88 per cent for non-discretionary allocations also directly goes back to benefiting students, such as through the Sexual Assault Support Services Fund.
Kullar: “17 per cent of the LGBTQ+ have felt as though they have been a part of some sexual misconduct or sexual assault.”
True, according to the 2018 AMS Academic Experience Survey. It should be noted the survey’s statistic is specifically sexual assault or misconduct from members of the UBC community — so it could even be an understatement.
Kullar: “20 per cent of all students don’t feel safe and comfortable accessing services of SVPRO, which include 10 per cent of all students, 17 per cent of the LGBTQ+ and 38 per cent of UBC Sorority members, who have experienced sexual assault or sexual misconduct.”
True. In the 2018 AMS Academic Experience Survey (AES), 10 per cent of all students have personally experienced sexual assault or another form of sexual misconduct from another member of the UBC community, while the percentage is higher for LGBTQ+ members at 17 per cent. Thirty-eight per cent of women who had participated in Greek life said in the 2017/2018 AES that they had experienced sexual assault. The survey also found that “one-in-five students disagree that they would feel comfortable reporting an incident to campus officials or accessing UBC resources”, although this number isn’t for SVPRO’s services in particular.
Latu: “Especially knowing that the wages have not increased with production in the last 40 years.”
True, on the grand scale. Wages, unlike the economy as a whole, have stagnated in the last 40 years.
But it should be noted that the AMS has increased the minimum hourly wage of its workers in tandem with the provincial government’s increases. In June 2018, they raised the minimum wage from $11.49 to $12.65.
Latu: “The AMS has not been advocating for you. What has it been doing for student housing? What has it been doing for textbooks? What has it been doing for tuition?
False. The AMS has done advocacy work this year on all these issues.
They’ve opposed all tuition and fee increases this year and current AMS VP Academic and University Affairs Max Holmes wrote a submission to the Board of Governors in November 2018 on the issue. The AMS has also been working on increasing access to open educational resources and according to a February interview with Holmes, they’re on their way to securing money from the Excellence Fund for OERs. On housing, AMS planned this year to lobby the BC government with other student unions to advocate for provincial policies that will increase the amount and accessibility of student housing.
Akuechbeny: “AMS has shown and set an example [for divestment]. We have done it.”
True. Effective August 15, 2018, the AMS divested from fossil fuel investments under its new investment policy.
Clarke: “I want to see (AGM information) on their [the AMS’s] social media channels.”
Misleading. Clarke said this in reference to the AMS’s lacklustre promotion of the Annual General Assembly last year. However, they actually published the info on their social media channels.
Hakim: “This year the AMS President did not host a proper councillor orientation.”
Misleading. President Marium Hamid told The Ubyssey that the AMS hosted two orientations: “One at the beginning of summer which was organized mostly by Alan and executed by me. Then a second one in September with the folks who missed the first one.”
But she added that the orientations didn’t see great turnout, and that they “have made a comprehensive plan for next year."
Do you have thoughts on this year's election cycle? Reach out to opinions editor Tristan Wheeler at opinion@ubyssey.ca to have your voice heard.
Want to read more coverage? Look for debate recaps, profiles, analysis and more in our new AMS Elections section.
This article has been updated to clarify fact-checks of Kullar’s statements around AMS discretionary and discretionary allocations.
Sunday, March 10 12:33 p.m.: This article has been updated to reflect new information in regards to a fact-check on Spencer Latu.