AMS Elections 2012 Cheat Sheet

  11 Responses to “AMS Elections 2012 Cheat Sheet”

1. 

   Ian says:

   January 27, 2012 at 1:20 pm

   I should have done more research before voting T_T ah well. What do you have against exam databases?

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   • 

     Tyler says:

     January 27, 2012 at 3:58 pm

     I’ll post about it shortly. It may turn out to be quite a lengthy post…

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     • 

       Ian says:

       January 27, 2012 at 3:59 pm

       I was slightly afraid of asking.

       Reply
2. 

   Guest says:

   January 27, 2012 at 4:08 pm

   I guess this counts as your contribution to AMS elections for your VFM. But seriously dude, you don’t deserve the money for contributing once, 1 day before the election.

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   • 

     Tyler says:

     January 27, 2012 at 4:35 pm

     To be clear, I didn’t not post this blog for the purpose of somehow “justifying” my participation in the VFM contest. I posted this simply because I thought it would be a useful resource to students.

     The reason why I signed up for the UBC VFM is because I was invited to by the people coordinating the Continuous VFM Contest (http://votermedia.org/ubc), of which I have been a participant over the past two years despite minimal engagement with student government on UBC. My blog does deal with issues relevant to students at UBC, though not restricted to those of student governance. Whether this is the purpose of the UBC VFM, I do not know.

     That being said, I do agree there are issues with how VFM works, including with those who participate. Although I do not blog consistently, or very often at all, in fact, about UBC governance, I do post quite frequently about issues pertaining to UBC students. This differs from other media sources such as the AMS Confidential (http://blogs.ubc.ca/amsconfidential/), which seems to focus largely on UBC governance (in a bizarre way), but only during the period where that blog is in the spotlight to receive VFM funding–the rest of the year, the blog is essentially in a state of hibernation. These are also in contrast to the UBC Insiders (http://www.ubcinsiders.ca), which like mine posts about UBC issues fairly consistently year round (though they tend to focus on fewer issues of different focus, with more depth) and focusing on the AMS elections again during VFM funding spotlight time.

     I do not know which of these, if any, represents what is intended to be created by UBC VFM. I do not think, though, that UBC governance should be forced into our media by some monetary bribe. Although I did intend to spend more time on the AMS elections (which I was unable to due to issues such as those briefly mentioned above), I do not think that coverage of the candidates is the only way to contribute to the discussion. The issues I discuss the rest of the year are issues that candidates should be addressing in their platforms. These issues that directly affect students are important issues, and many students are quickly realizing (as are their instructors/professors/teachers) just how crucial it is becoming that these issues demand attention. It is these issues, these issues that should be addressed by AMS election candidates, that really should be driving the attention of the election. And it is important that these issues are brought to the table regardless of the time of year, regardless of whether there is an AMS election happening, and regardless of whether or not there is funding offered by the UBC VFM.

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     • 

       Mark Latham says:

       January 28, 2012 at 11:40 am

       I agree with you, Tyler. I think VoterMedia is best used for covering any issues that matter to the (UBC student) community. Elections are important, but other things are important too, throughout the year. It’s great that different blogs have different specialties. UBC student voters can decide which contributions are more valuable.

       Reply
3. 

   Lillienne says:

   January 27, 2012 at 10:09 pm

   May I ask why you have an issue with candidates’ concentration on mental health? I do not understand why a problem has to be specific to UBC for it to be addressed; mental health is an issue that affects all universities and in my opinion, each university has a responsibility to respond to the problems that its students face, whether it is specific to that campus or not. In fact, I argue that UBC has a particular responsibility to deal with these issues because it so well-resourced and has the capacity to treat part of it.

   If the question is whether UBC students are sufficiently affected by mental health problems to want to treat them, I argue that yes, we completely are. In a recent 2009 NCHA survey, 36% UBC students reported feeling so depressed they had trouble functioning. That’s one in every three of us; I’d say that’s a problem. If you like, I can try and find you the stats on how many contemplated and/or attempted suicide, among other issues, when I’m back in the Speakeasy office on Monday (unfortunately, I don’t have time right now to try and look up the full survey results, though you may wish to do so).

   If your point is that there are sufficient resources available to UBC students, yes, there are many more resources available on our campus than in many smaller colleges and universities that need just as much support, and we are really fortunate in that aspect. We now have not only UBC Counselling Services, Student Health Services, and AMS Speakeasy, but also The Kaleidoscope and the Mental Health Awareness Club. However, I want to point out that The Kaleidoscope and MHAC only came into existence within the last two years from sheer student efforts; Counselling Services only changed their intake procedures to a triage system in the last two years (instead of a three-month waitlist system), and SHS has only this year started offering counselling appointments as an appointment that you can select when booking these appointments. Much of the progress that has been made has only been within the last couple of years because of a growing awareness of the importance of mental health and I don’t at all think that we should stymy our efforts now. Each and every one of these resources will also tell you, if you ask the people who work in them, that there is not nearly enough support for students who need help and that stigma is a seriously detrimental factor in this.

   As someone who started working in mental health support and raising awareness four years ago, I can testify to the many positive changes, but also the many continuing negative effects of stigma surrounding mental illness. Students still typically will not talk about mental health issues; people do not want to talk about seeing a counsellor in public or even with friends because of their fear of being labelled negatively; and many refuse to seek help when they need it because of such stigma. The consequences of students with mental health concerns not seeking help are often dire and even life-threatening, and I say that with no exaggeration.

   The only reason that you see mental health being mentioned more and more is because people are fighting to make it heard; UBC’s recent addition of mental health as an official part of their strategic plan is a result of part of that fight — and not because there’s no need for it. In fact, there is every need for it, if rising figures of mental health concerns are any indication. Believe me, if I could wipe all mental health problems from this campus, I would, but that’s unrealistic. There will always be mental health issues and the question is not whether we should deal with it or not, but how. While I am certainly not arguing that mental health should be treated above every other concern that we have, I am adamant that it is a fundamental part of our well-being as a campus and I think it is a wonderful thing that it is coming up in candidates’ platforms more and more, as it indicates a general raising of awareness that honestly cannot be too much within our particular campus culture.

   My apologies for this extremely long comment, but I am obviously passionate about this issue, having been involved for a fair amount of time. I would very much like to hear your thoughts and to understand where you are coming from with these statements because, with a blog as public as your own, I worry about the effect you have on others’ attitudes towards mental health when you don’t sufficiently explain your criticism.

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4. 

   Lillienne says:

   January 27, 2012 at 10:41 pm

   I should also clarify, as I realize it might be a bit misleading for those who aren’t familiar with Counselling Services and are reading this, that making an appointment used to be on first-come, first-served basis that typically resulted in two- to three-month waitlists. A few appointments were set aside each day for students to sign up for the day of and you would get a ticket for the day depending on your spot; what typically happened is that you would have a line of students an hour before these appointments were available for sign up, so that it was a really strenuous fight just to get an appointment when students were already overwhelmed.

   What the triage system is now that you generally get a 20-minute intake appointment the day you ask for it (although I can’t guarantee that on particularly busy days you may have to come back the next day), and the purpose of this appointment is to asses your needs so that further appointments can be set up or other options (e.g. group therapy, off-campus counselling) can be considered.

   A number of emergency appointments are still set aside each day for anyone who really feels that they need to speak to someone today and can’t wait, so students in crisis can tell the receptionist that they need help that day and they will get it.

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5. 

   Miriam says:

   January 28, 2012 at 9:04 pm

   Looks like Lillienne took up my argument for me!

   I agree, Tyler, you’ll need to explain your rather conservative scepticism of change, because as of yet there are no good reasons for blockading what has the potential to be a great improvement to UBC…

   Reply
6. 

   Jessica says:

   January 30, 2012 at 12:04 pm

   Thank you Lillienne for your amazing response, I agree 100%.

   Tyler I am looking forward to your response and see the evidence that formed your opinion.

   Reply
7. Outweek 2012 Schedule » 夢と愛の千夜一夜 says:

   February 5, 2012 at 3:18 pm

   [...] yet on here since it is largely a taboo topic, but seeing as I have no problem stirring up shit (yes, the mental health explanation is coming soon), I’ll probably end up posting about it eventually… Did you like this? Share [...]