Alright, so you didn’t vote. There’s no shame in admitting it. Or maybe you don’t even know what it is you were supposed to be voting in (there’s a little shame in admitting that — didn’t you even glance at any of our frenzied coverage?).
Regardless, the annual AMS elections came and went and you missed a chance to have your say in who your future executives are — who actually have a pretty huge impact on what the coming year might look like for you as a student.
The good news? It’s not too late to read up. Knowing what exactly your incoming executives promised is key to holding the AMS as a whole accountable. With an election that featured topics like tuition increases, the expulsion policy and sexual misconduct, there were a lot of big promises made — we’ll see how those work out in the year ahead. Here are the people that will occupy the AMS offices as of May 1, with their profiles linked for easy reading:
- President: Marium Hamid
- VP External: Cristina Ilnitchi
- VP Administration: Chris Hakim
- VP Finance: Kuol Akuechbeny
- VP Academic and University Affairs: Max Holmes
Will Holmes hold UBC to account on implementing the sexual misconduct policy? Will Hamid bring Block Party inside the Nest? Will Ilnitchi advocate for “realistic” student loan living allowances? We have no clue, but now you know exactly what you can expect your execs to be working hard on.
Just as importantly as the AMS, this year the race for the student members that will sit on the Board of Governors was “acclaimed,” meaning that since the spots were uncontested the two people running were automatically instituted into the role. Jeanie Malone, an incumbent, and Jakob Gattinger, a newcomer, will be conducting the balancing act between fiduciary duty and student representation this coming year.
Finally, your five student senators-at-large are Holmes, Malone, Hamid, Gattinger and Hannah Xiao. Four out of five of these people are occupying other student governance positions as well next year, so it will be crucial to see how they balance multiple roles while hopefully leveraging those roles to work with their Senate positions.
If deep-seated guilt is driving you to learn even more, make sure to also read up on how The Ubyssey-hosted Great Debate went for each race, since that’s when candidates were pressed a little harder on the tangibility and reality of their claims and campaign promises.