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Senate Platform

Accessibility

  • Background

    Accessibility is a vital requirement for high-quality teaching and learning at a university like UBC, but it’s clear that many of UBC’s accessibility mechanisms are fundamentally broken. In the 2024 Academic Experience Survey , only 30% of students with disabilities reporting being registered with the Centre for Accessibility, up only 1% from the 2023 AES . Additionally, in the recent Student Diversity Survey , 47.9% of students reported being un-or-underdiagnosed, with around a quarter of un-or-underdiagnosed students facing significant barriers to obtaining a formal diagnosis. But accessibility initiatives don’t just help disabled students, they make learning and research better for all students. After serving as the Vice-President Academic and University Affairs and Co-President of the UBC Disabilities United Collective, I have an in-depth understanding of accessibility issues at UBC and have the knowledge and experience to solve them. In the last year, as a Student Senator sitting on the Academic Policy Committee and as the Co-President of DUC meeting with the CfA Director every three weeks, I’ve been able to make significant progress in the areas of accessibility. This includes by successfully advocating for a list of example accommodations to be listed on the CfA website and improving many of the CfA’s processes, including accommodated exams, invigilator training, and advisor feedback mechanisms. But, even with these successes, there is quite a bit of progress that still needs to be made, including the points outlined in this section. I am the candidate with the most experience with accessibility issues at UBC and, if re-elected, will ensure that we make the changes needed to ensure that UBC is accessible for all.

  • Ensure that all required classes, labs, and tutorials in all faculties are offered with online, hybrid, and in-person options as well as recorded lectures

    Having learning options that work for everyone is a key part of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). I will work with Senators and the Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology (a centre within the Provost’s office which has been focusing on UDL) to advocate for all graduation requirements to have all learning options as well as recorded lectures.

  • Improve disability policy for graduate students, as well as all disabled faculty, staff, and student employees

    UBC’s disability policies and procedures are heavily focused on undergraduate students, leaving graduate students with disabilities with inadequate or inconsistent accommodations. I will advocate to ensure the next version of LR7 gives more thought to graduate student needs.

  • Eliminate punitive attendance policies

    Students shouldn’t be punished just for not going to class if they are able to learn the material. Through academic policy, I will continue to advocate for the removal of punitive attendance policies for lectures (excluding labs, group projects, presentations, and similar required activities)

  • Create a policy of self-certified extensions, a once per term one-week extension on any assignment without going through the formal concession process

    Many other universities allow for self-certified extensions, a more streamlined and less stressful way to get your first concession in a course. I will advocate for changes to V-135 (the policy on Academic Concessions) to bring this policy to UBC as well.

  • Add temporary health issues to the scope of disability policy

    Currently, there is a disconnect and a lack of clear direction with how UBC deals with temporary health issues, as outlined by the Office of the Ombudsperson for Students. I will work with Senators, the CfA, and the Ombudsperson to amend relevant policies and procedures (including V-135 and LR7) to include clear guidelines for temporary health issues within UBC’s disability policy.

  • End requirement for letters of diagnosis for accommodation and streamline the process for registering with the CfA

    Currently, the documentation requirements for CfA accommodation are far too complicated and arbitrary, leading to students with disabilities (even those who have been diagnosed since childhood) being unable to receive accommodation. The standard for documentation is far too high, the 5 year rule prevents already diagnosed people from getting access to accommodation without paying often out of pocket, for another more recent diagnosis, and there are many conditions that shouldn’t require formal diagnosis at all. In meetings with the VP students and the Director of the CfA, I was able to get an agreement in principle that these changes should be made, but a lot of student advocacy still needs to be done. If elected, I will continue to put my experience to work to make these changes a reality.

  • LR7 Review

    To make many of these changes a reality, LR7 (the Disability Accommodation Policy) needs to be formally reviewed. If re-elected, I will fight to ensure that it is reviewed within the 25/26 academic year.

Fair Treatment

  • Background

    UBC has a legal and moral responsibility to treat its students fairly, but many of UBC’s processes are biased or unfair to students, or cause undue hardship. After sitting on both the Senate appeals committees and working closely with AMS Advocacy, members of the President’s Advisory Committee on Student Discipline, and the UBC Ombudsperson, I have extensive understanding into the many issues with procedural fairness and student treatment at UBC and, using my experience on the Academic Policy and Appeals Committees, am the best person situated to fix these issues.

  • Extend the add/drop deadline

    This year, the Student Senate Caucus successfully lobbied the chair of the Teaching and Learning Committee to begin conversations on the add/drop deadline, the first of which will happen at the next committee meeting. If reelected, I will use this opportunity to ensure that the add/drop deadline gets extended.

  • Allow academic hardship concessions for midterms and increase the academic hardship period

    This year, I was able to successfully push for the creation of a working group to review policies V-102 (Examination Hardships and Clashes) and V-103 (Use of Formal Examination Periods) and will be sitting on this working group. If reelected, I will use this seat on the working group to extend the academic hardship period to 48 hours and also academic hardship concessions for midterm exams.

  • Creating a more fair student discipline process, from accusation to appeal

    After sitting on the Senate appeal committee on student discipline and working closely with AMS advocacy and UBC’s ombudsperson, it’s clear that UBC’s student discipline process is broken. I, along with several other Student Senators, was able to successfully advocate for appeal hearings to restart after they had been in an over 8-month hiatus. If I am reelected, I will ensure that the rules for the President’s Advisory Council on Student Discipline are reviewed and improved in the 25/26 academic year. I will also push for a review of the diversionary process and the rules for the appeals on discipline and appeals on standing committee. I will also push for the improvements to the appeals committees recommended in the Senate External Review (see pages 26-30).

  • Require syllabi to include policy on AI

    Currently, different instructors have wildly different policies on Generative AI usage, from allowing it completely to requiring citation to banning it completely. Often, they don’t list these policies in their syllabus, leading to confusion and students being unfairly punished. I will advocate for a change to V-130 (the Syllabus Policy) to require instructors to include a clear policy on AI. I will also push for a review of the GenAI Guidelines that were released last year to account for the rapid changes in the world of AI.

Learning and Research

  • Background

    As a top-ranked Canadian university in both teaching and research, UBC should be doing more to support its students in these areas. Unlike many of our peer institutions, such as SFU , UofT , and McGill , UBC does not have an exam database, and considering our size and prestige, we should have significantly more undergraduate research opportunities. Additionally, despite our large and expensive library network, we don’t have a single library that is open 24 hours, even during exam season. This, plus the myriad of issues caused by the transition to Workday Student, has left UBC with many significant problems in the area of learning and research, which, if re-elected, I will fight to solve.

  • Creating more Undergraduate Research Opportunities

    This year, the AMS VP AUA was able to secure $250,000 for undergraduate research . Working with the AMS and other Senators, I will advocate for even more funding for undergraduate research and for the creation of better frameworks for undergraduate research in faculties, schools, and departments that have had less opportunities.

  • Support Creation of an Exam database

    I will work with other Senators to ensure the Senate passes a motion in support of the creation of an exam database and work with the AMS to advocate for the necessary funding and infrastructure to support it.

  • Improving Workday

    Sitting on the Academic Policy Committee this year, I have seen just how much Workday’s backend is inefficient or barely functional. I will advocate for implements to Workday, including the calendar, general interface, and registration, as well as a return to listing course averages.

  • Protecting the current library hours and laying the groundwork for 24 hour library

    Currently, the libraries are going through a budgetary crisis due to a combination of loss of significant amounts of Worklearn funding (which they heavily rely on) and the drop in the value of the Canadian dollar in USD (which is the primary currency the library uses for its purchases). As someone who has been in conversations about the budget with members of the administration, I know that this budgetary situation has led to the administration considering shortening the hours of operations of several libraries. If reelected, I will fight to ensure that this does not happen and work to set the groundwork to increase to 24 hour access in at least one library.

Ethics

  • Background

    As a University committed to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion , UBC needs to be held accountable to those commitments. This includes implementation of the Indigenous Strategic Plan, the StEAR Framework, and more. Additionally, UBC should not be making partnerships with other universities or organizations that violate those principles. If re-elected to the Senate, I will ensure that UBC is held accountable to ethical and justice-based principles.

  • International Partnerships

    Using the Senate’s new Global Engagement & Partnerships Working Group, I will fight for a policy to end partnerships with Universities complicit in global human rights abuses, as UBC’s Senate did after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 . Additionally, I will advocate for the expansion of UBC’s role in the Scholars at Risk Program to include academics who have been affected by these human rights abuses, including Palestinian academics whose universities in Gaza have been destroyed, which was also included in the 2022 motion.

  • Research Funding

    In 2019, UBC declared a Climate Emergency. As an institution, our research funding shouldn’t be contributing to that crisis. As many of our peer institutions are already doing, and as recommended by a recent report by UBC’s Centre for Climate Justice, I will support the creation of a policy on climate standards for research funding.

  • Implementation of the Indigenous Strategic Plan

    While giving land acknowledgements in several recent Senate committee meetings, I repeatedly underlined the importance of implementing the ISP , including Senate-specific goals such as Indigenizing our Curriculum and Moving Research Forward. If re-elected, I will continue to fight for the implementation of these goals and ensure that UBC is more transparent on their progress.

  • Creating the Senate committee on Academic Diversity and Inclusion (SACADI)

    As recommended when the ad hoc committee was dissolved in 2020 and in Senate 2026 , I will fight to establish a permanent SACADI committee, which will serve as a dedicated committee for ongoing discussions, research, and actions related to DEI in academia.

Affordability

  • Background

    UBC, and Canada as a whole, is going through an affordability crisis, and students are being hit especially hard. In the 2024 AES , half of students reported worrying about affording groceries in the last year, with 48% of students reporting experiencing financial hardship related to tuition costs and over 50% of students reporting still paying upwards of $100 on textbooks annually. In the current affordability crisis, students should not be needing to decide between academic success and affording to meet their basic needs. While the Senate has no control over the budget (that falls under the purview of the Board of Governors, see my BoG platform for more), there is still a lot that the Senate can do to make learning and research more affordable for students.

  • Provide all required lab equipment and other materials for free

    Currently, some faculties or departments provide all the required equipment for learning in a course, but many do not, which can be extremely expensive for students. I will work with other Senators to advocate for a policy to require all necessary equipment, such as lab gear or art supplies, to be provided as a part of a course.

  • Create a maximum textbook cost cap for courses

    Similar to what Student Senators did in the creation of Policy V-131 (Fee-Based Digital Learning Tools Used for Assessment), which created a cap on the cost of online learning tools, I will advocate for a policy which creates a cap for the amount a single course is allowed to charge for required textbooks.

  • Allocate the unspent annual over $4 million in endowed awards towards new needs-based funding

    Currently, every year over $4 million (the exact number fluctuates year to year but in 2022 it was upwards of $6 million) of endowed awards are unclaimed, leaving students without access to valuable financial supports. I will work with the awards committee to negotiate with donors (or their trusts) of awards that frequently go unclaimed to reallocate that funding to needs-based awards that will be used every year.