The AMS’s public relations approach to communication wasted $62.3 million in student dollars.
From requiring equity deserving students to the egregious breach of democratic procedure at the Special Assembly that appointed the incoming executive, team KMV’s term has been rife with a hush culture that hinders students’ ability to converse with their representatives.
Perhaps the most notable example is this year’s failed campaign to increase the Student Life Centre (SLC) fee so the AMS could afford space in the JDUC.
The marketing scheme was doomed from the start.
The AMS first started advocating for a revitalized building in 2005. It took two referendums to arrange for the AMS’s initial contribution of $62.3 million in student fees, which eventually ed in January 2019.
This winter, after multiple requests for JDUC blueprints as the building neared completion, The Journal found, through a Freedom of Information request, the project ran $23 million over its initial price tag.
Around the same time, the AMS quietly announced they’d be looking to increase the mandatory SLC fee by almost $6 simply to afford its spaces.
The most logical thing to have done would’ve been to publicly emphasize the benefit of this increased funding.
In lieu of meaningful dialogue, the AMS turned to their own communications channels. It posted just twice to Instagram about the JDUC’s history and sponsored lacklustre images of the JDUC with no contextualizing information onto TVs in SLC spaces on campus and bus stops in north Kingston.
The Journal enquired about what would happen if the fee didn’t . We knew from our investigation the AMS was paying close to $300,000 a year for its temporary office, with Tricolour Outlet paying $21.78 more for a space five times smaller. We suspected overhead costs in the new building would further increase, but wanted to know specifics.
AMS Communications Director Mikayla Crawford acknowledged it was critical for the fee to and confirmed overhead costs had increased by 70 per cent. She itted the fee failing would require “difficult decisions” pertaining to AMS spaces but offered no further details about the risk.
With the project not breaking ground until after a nationwide affordability crisis, it was predictable the building would run so high over budget. The longstanding hush culture AMS General Manager Lyn Parry has sown makes it unsurprising students weren’t briefed sufficiently to ensure the fee’s ing.
With such a steep bid for an increase, a better explanation to students was needed.
Though it’s far too late to rectify any of the changes, there’s still the chance for the incoming AMS team to learn from KMV’s botched efforts and start the long journey to making student governance meaningful once more.
As we look ahead to another year of budget cuts and other critical issues, I hope Team OAR will do a better job leading the way.
Cassidy is one of The Journal’s Editors in Chief and an MA candidate in the philosophy department.
Tags
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be ed, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to [email protected].