Alma Mater Society of the University of British Columbia Vancouver

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The Alma Mater Society (AMS) is the student society of UBC and represents more than 43,000 undergraduate and graduate students at UBC. The AMS also operates student services, student owned businesses, resource groups and clubs. In addition to offering services to students, the AMS is an advocate of student issues and ensures the needs of students are presented to the University Administration and the Provincial and Federal governments. Currently, the AMS is a member school of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA).

The AMS represents UBC students within the Greater Vancouver area. Students at UBC's Okanagan campus are represented by the University of British Columbia Students' Union - Okanagan.

Mission statement

To improve the quality of the educational, social, and personal lives of the students of UBC.

The Alma Mater Society will promote high-quality student learning. It will advocate student interests, as well as those of the University of British Columbia and post-secondary education as a whole. The Society will provide its members with diverse opportunities to become exceptional leaders. It will be flexible enough to accommodate the changing world. The AMS's priorities will be determined by its members. The Society will foster communication, both internally and externally, in order to be democratic, fair, accountable to, and accessible to its members. It will provide services students want and can use. It will cultivate unity and goodwill among its members, but will also encourage free and open debate, as well as respect for differing views. It will solve problems constructively.

Government

The highest decision-making body of the AMS is the Student Council. Meeting every two weeks during the Academic Year, and at least once a month during the summer, this body has representatives from each of the Schools and Faculties of UBC, as well as the five members of the Executive, two representatives of the Student Senate Caucus, the two Vancouver student members of the UBC Board of Governors, and several non-voting positions including the Executive Coordinator of Student Services, the Ombudsperson, and representatives from Regent College and the Vancouver School of Theology. Members of Council are the Directors of the Society (as defined under the Society Act of British Columbia) and are responsible for all high-level financial and legal decisions made by the AMS - including the overseeing of internal procedures (known as the Code of Procedure), a $10.5 million budget, the Student Union Building, and policy statements.

The operations of the AMS are governed by a five-member Executive, as well as a professional General Manager and the Executive Coordinator of Student Services. The Executive includes include the President, the Vice-President Academic and University Affairs, the Vice-President Finance, the Vice-President Administration, and the Vice-President External Affairs.

Members of the Executive are elected in a campus-wide election each January, along with five Senators-at-Large to the UBC Senate, and two student representatives to the UBC Board of Governors.

Until February 2004, candidates running for Executive positions ran as part of a slate. The 2005 AMS election was the first election which the AMS saw electoral candidates run as independents. Some of the more memorable slates were Students for Students (more right-leaning candidates with strong support from athletes, fraternities and residences), Action Now/Students' Voice/SPAN-Student Progressive Action Network (more left-leaning candidates with strong support from students living off-campus, the safety community and minority groups) and the Radical Beer Faction (the longest-running slate in AMS history).

By paying student fees, a student becomes a member of the AMS. Membership entitles students to vote in AMS elections and referendums, and utilize the many services that are provided by the student society and the university.

External links

• Official site
• University site