Board of Governors Election
Thank you to all who voted!
Not re-elected.
It was a privilege to stand for re-election among such a field of amazing UBC colleagues. Two of them I knew directly. Erica Frank and I were neighbours for many years and served overlapping terms on the University Neighbourhoods Association board of directors. I know Mark Mac Lean from his work in First Nations math education. We also served overlapping terms on the executive of the UBC Faculty Association. I knew of the other three -Leonard Foster, Adam Hofri, Steven Miller- only by reputation. These five people represent an impressive diversity of expertise and experience. They highlight the quality of the faculty who commit to making UBC a place to be proud of.
I received this email early Monday, Dec. 1, 2025.
As you know, UBC Vancouver Faculty Representatives - Board of Governors (2025-2026 Triennial Elections) polls closed at 4 pm on Thursday 27 November 2025. I am writing to inform you that you were not the successful candidates in this election. Please let me know if you have any questions whatsoever, and please also let me know when you receive this email.
For your information, unofficial election results will be available by end of day at the following link:
https://ubc.simplyvoting.com
The official results will be presented at the next Senate meeting on Wednesday 17 December 2025, pursuant to section 16 of the University Act.
Results
The Campaign
The campaign this triennium was marked by unusual interventions. A retired associate dean endorsed two faculty candidates and actively emailed his contacts advice on who to vote for. The Vancouver staff elections had 13 nominations (one subsequently withdrew) for one spot. The staff election was also included a candidate singularly focussed on the Hamas initiated war in Gaza.
Building out of an initiative to create cross-campus connections through privately hosted luncheons, retired psychology professor and former associate dean of arts Darrin Lehman advocated for Leonard Foster and Steven Miller. This may well have been the first time an informal network coordinated a campaign for a slate of candidates to the board.
Nathan Herrington, running for the staff position at UBC-V, kicked off his campaign during the fall staff barbecue. Herrington has been an active organizer of pro-Gaza protests since Hamas massacred and kidnapped hundreds of Israelis on October 7, 2023.
Herrington has not been adverse to declaring current members of the board of governors complicit with violent crime. In a photo of Herrington thanking CUPE 2278 for endorsing his candidacy he sat beside a poster naming an appointed governor as complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity.
An anonymous online group called ubcencampment also intervened in the election in support of Herrington.
This group took umbrage with me. Mid-way through the campaign they posted an attack ad on Instagram (shared/liked by Herrington and others). In it they called on faculty to vote for anyone but Menzies.
Refusing to see the world in black and white, pure good vs pure evil, is an attribute of how I understand the world. People are complex bundles of emotion seeking affirmation and connection. Simple answers and tidy explanations do little more than obscure reality; in the worst case they justify violence and harm.
In this campaign a small group of people have demanded radically uncritical adherence to their vision of the world. From the veil of anonymous social media accounts they bully and harass. They lay claim to being the only true voice of justice. Like MAGA republicans to our south they call for freedom of expression for all who agree with them as they demand the silence and expulsion of those they dislike and disagree with.
To see the horror of Hamas’ attacks -not as a meta-analytic act of resistance, but what it was: an abject rejection of the humanness of jewish people- does not obscure the shock and horror of years of military casualties in, and the utter destruction of, Gaza. Both acts can be ‘rationalized’ but neither should be celebrated.
When state armies face non-state actors engaged in a prolonged insurgency the outcomes, as Antoninus Robben notes of the US in Iraq, result in disproportionate civilian casualties. As Robben notes “all the people, anywhere – are the battlefield. … [When state armies meet] non-state opponents who are hiding among civilians, fight with low-tech means, and exploit mobility and surprise to the fullest” civilian casualties are inevitably high. But understanding the reality of asymmetrical warfare doesn’t remove how horrible warfare is in any form is. [I discuss Robben’s work in more detail in one of my course lectures.]
More of my thoughts on these issues can be found in a commentary called Indigenous Solidarity and Settler Activism and in a second called Regarding Minister Robinson’s Public Remarks. While I did not support the student protest camp, I consistently urged the university (publicly and privately) to give them the space to enact their protest.
Reflections
It has been an interesting campaign to say the least.
Democracy requires being willing to step up and participate. Democracy relies upon a dialectic of trust and risk. We have to trust that others will be genuine and will act in good faith. We take the risk they won’t.
I firmly believe we each have a civic duty to be active in our communities of work, life, and home. I do this as I believe I have an obligation to participate and something to give. I value and appreciate what others (including those who may disagree with me) bring to the table. For democracy to work we must take delight in a diversity of perspective.
It’s a pleasure to sit down with a person who sees the world differently than I and talk with them, not argue with them. Ultimately it’s what makes me so interested in learning and research far beyond my professional duties. It is, I think, part of what brings me into public service in the governance of my various communities of account.
This might sound corny, but even more important to me is understanding what makes our world tick, what matters to other people, and how I might contribute to making our shared world just a little bit better.