UNA Election Underway

The UNA has finally got the election underway for a new board of directors. This will be the first time that the board will be entirely elected, as opposed to carrying unelected appointees who were tied to the university administration and the student political elite on campus (neither group having direct residential involvement).

Thirteen (13) candidates are running for 7 elected positions.  

• Tony Cheng 
• Erin Co
• Maria Gallo 
• Mary Gan 
• Eagle Glassheim 
• Bill Holmes 
• Zheng (Jane) Kang
• Fei Liu
• Murray McCutcheon 
• Ali Mojdehi
• Sofia Ngieng
• Mitchell Prost 
• Richard Watson

Four candidates are seeking reelection: Holmes, Kang, McCutcheon, and Watson.

There is a strong student contingent. Two of the candidates are current undergrads (Co and  Ngieng) and two are recent graduates Gan and Prost.  Gan is currently the VP Finance of the AMS (student union).  Prost is also an employee of the AMS. The AMS, and other members of the UBC student leadership, have been quite opposed to loosing their appointed UNA Director position. They campaigned hard to keep the appointed director position. Seeing two closely AMS affiliated candidates is not a surprise, especially given social media posts on the subject.

There are several UBC faculty and staff running: Maria Gallo (Prof of teaching, Kinesiology), Eagle Glassheim (Full Professor, History. Eagle, incidentally, has been very actively involved for many years in the community and the community school), and Ali Mojdehi (acting director UBC Campus Security. He has previously run unsuccessfully for election). 

The remaining two candidates are relatively recent residents of the UNA, Cheng since two years and Liu a bit longer.  Cheng's candidate statement confusingly opens with a comment about a "sex offender ... charged for murdering" someone. Liu, however, has been actively involved for the past three years on the parent advisory council at her children's school.

It will be an intriguing election given the mix of established candidates with strong track records, student advocates, and newcomers alike. 

As the election develops I will profile the various candidates. As voting day arrives I will also offer some suggestions on who I think has earned our votes.

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Disclosure: I served as an elected resident director for two terms from 2012 - 2016, am a Hawthorn Place resident, and have lived in the UBC/UNA area since 1996.