An unofficial and unapproved vote-no campaign, called Vote No UBC, has began against a student-proposed referendum asking the AMS to endorse a two-day student strike from March 24-25 to demand UBC divest from companies students say are complicit in Palestinian human rights violations.
In a statement to The Ubyssey, AMS Elections Administrator Sansian Tan wrote she had not received or approved any no campaigns.
"Yes and No campaigns are only required to supply their names if requesting funding from the AMS. [The website has] no names or contact information listed," wrote Tan.
According to AMS Elections documents, students can form a no-committee against a referenda item and can receive up to $1,000 of funding for campaign expenses. Tan said Vote No UBC has not contacted AMS Elections to be formally recognized as a no-campaign.
Vote No UBC has a website, claiming if the referenda item were passed, it would ruin the credibility of the AMS, infringe upon inclusivity and harm students' learning opportunities.
Referendum organizers Palestine Strike Action UBC wrote in a statement to The Ubyssey that they "have spoken to thousands of students who are supportive of a student strike for divestment."
"It is normal to oppose genocide, apartheid and occupation, and we oppose these things regardless of who they are done by or to whom they are done."
In the 1980s, UBC divested from its investments in apartheid South Africa, and, in 2019, UBC committed to divesting from fossil fuels by 2030. These actions occurred after student advocacy movements.
A Reddit post also showed that vote-no posters have been hung in the Nest, while posters hung by Palestine Strike Action UBC, urging to vote yes, were in a recycling bin.
According to the AMS Elections campaign violations and penalties document, disturbing another campaign, like removing campaign material, is a violation. The Vote No UBC campaign is not an official campaign affiliated with AMS Elections and is not subject to these sanctions.
"As shown by our one-day Buchanan strike on November 21 2024, many faculty will cancel classes in solidarity with the strike," wrote Palestine Strike Action UBC.
"A two-day strike seems a small ask for cutting our ties to the financial lifeline to human suffering in which we are all, without our knowledge and against our wishes, implicated."
This article is part of our 2025 AMS Elections coverage. Follow us at @UbysseyNews on X (formerly Twitter) and follow our election coverage starting March 3.
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