Sneha Balani, a fifth-year PhD candidate in the faculty of medicine studying cancer stem cells and tumour biology, is running for the Board of Governors on a platform of student advocacy, increased diversity and enhanced communication between students and the Board.
Balani has leadership experience as a former residence advisor, a former executive at various graduate associations, the president of GrasPods and as a student sitting on President Santa Ono’s UBC Vancouver non-academic misconduct committee.
Her experience as chair of the Graduate Student Society's (GSS) strategic planning ad-hoc committee would likely be useful to her in the case of working on UBC’s strategic plan, a key factor in the university’s look at big-picture development.
A key component of Balani’s platform focuses on constant incorporation of the interests and needs of students. According to her online platform, she would “advocate for keeping students at the core of the decision-making process and ensuring student engagement is achieved through thoughtful consultation.” It’s important to note that if elected, a student member’s mandate on the Board would be to serve the interests of the university as a whole and sometimes advocating for the student voice is more difficult when put in practice.
“I think I could be a mature, uninhibited voice on the Board, being a graduate student and an international student, and also having the ability to connect with both graduates and undergraduates given my past experience with residence life,” said Balani, noting what she describes as a holistic perspective.
As another platform point, Balani hopes to increase communication between students and the Board, noting that she would like to continue the work that this past year's Board student members Aaron Bailey and Veronica Knott have done by presenting at AMS and GSS meetings.
“I’m also passionate about inclusion and the maintenance of diversity, and increasing the accessibility of UBC to minorities and international students,” said Balani. Her prioritization of this particular platform goal is what makes her unique amongst the candidates’ collective emphasis on the student voice and as an international student, she does represent a diverse perspective.
While appreciative of the work that current Board student members have done, Balani said that she would be eager to learn from their strengths and shortcomings.
“They’ve tried to initiate a lot of initiatives, but they haven’t been able to take it to the end,” said Balani. “I don’t think it’s their fault. I think they did a really good job, but I just think the next person in this position can understand their role and do it better.”
Balani acknowledges that her platform points are quite broad and overarching, and notes that a potential challenge for her could be the steep learning curve that she would face. She plans to mitigate these challenges by, again, emphasizing student consultation and by applying her research experience to stay adequately prepared and informed before meetings.