Fourth-year arts student Marium Hamid is re-running this year to carry on her current work at the UBC Vancouver Senate. Her platform consists of implementing policies that prioritize inclusivity in course curricula, increasing the affordability of course materials and improving the execution of Policy 131.
Having previously been involved with the Senate as an arts student senator and the current student Senator caucus co-chair, Hamid believes that one of her major advantages comes from her extensive knowledge of Senate procedure.
“All of my experience comes from having worked in these realms and making sure that all of these goals are realistic,” said Hamid.
“Having mobilized the entirety of [the student senator caucus] in the past year, I feel that I have the skills necessary to put … an advocacy effort which will finally get things done.”
One aspect of Hamid’s platform is to ensure that inclusion is taken into account when considering academic experience. Her commitment to these issues is reflected by her previous work on creating the new Equity and Inclusion ad hoc committee. Re-running for Senate, she wants to work with the ad hoc committee to continue pushing for the implementation of inclusivity recommendations made in previous years.
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Hamid also wants to push for the implementation of a concrete policy that will address the affordability of course materials, which include print textbooks and paid online resources, within the next term.
“Education is already very difficult and expensive at UBC, it should not be further hindered by the cost of some of these very expensive textbooks,” said Hamid.
Another significant part of Hamid’s platform is to ensure that Policy 131 is aligned with all other school policies, acknowledging that it often took years before specific policies were complemented by other existing policies. By doing this, Hamid believes that UBC will be getting closer to having the survivor centric support that is necessary to fulfill the goals outlined in the sexual assault policy.
“The right concessions, academic appeals process, admissions processes, as well as a survival centric approach to sexual assault, will [all] take a lot of time,” said Hamid. “But I believe that if we are to make a good change [toward] this promise, this is exactly where we start.”
Hamid is also running for AMS President, which she believes will complement her role at Senate and allow her to bridge the gap between student experience and academic affairs. And although being both senator and president can be very time-consuming, Hamid believes that she holds the diligence necessary to keep up with her work.
“I think my experience as somebody who has worked with seven different services of the AMS while being a student senator, speaks to that already,” she said.
“And as president, I think I have the opportunity to leverage a lot of the knowledge that I gained from one end to the other and put them two together to work very effectively.”