KSA council passes new unseen regulations

New KSA Regulations have still not been released.

The KSA council has a new set of rules, but don’t ask them to tell you what they are.

The council voted 12 – 2 to adopt a new set of regulations at the Wednesday June 8 council meeting without viewing them.

The Kwantlen Student Association council voted June 6, 2011 on new regulations without seeing them.

Copies were not made available to members of council or to students present at the meeting. The motion to change the regulations was not included in the agenda sent out beforehand, nor was it added to the agenda when it was adopted.

The KSA regulations govern the day-to-day operations of the society and cover everything from elected official’s salaries and job responsibilities to how finances are handled.

As of press time at noon on Friday June 10, the regulations had still not been made public.

The KSA director of finance, Nina Sandhu, said the executive had spent a long time working on the regulations and that they had taken suggestions from council members who had come forward with ideas.

Student senator and council member Christopher Girodat asked to see the regulations before he voted on them.

Sandhu explained that copies of the regulations would be made available only after they were voted on and adopted.

Director of external affairs Bobby Padda then moved a motion to end the debate and council voted 12 – 3 to move directly to vote on the regulations.

Executive chairperson and director of operations Justine Franson said that council should trust the executive and that it wasn’t necessary for council members to read them before voting.

The adoption of the new regulations passed 12 -2 with student Robert Emanuel (holding Cloverdale director Shivinder Grewal’s proxy vote) and Girodat (holding Langley director Jennifer Campbell’s proxy vote) voting against. Queer liaison Lydia Luk (holding Richmond director Harj Dhesi’s proxy vote) abstained. Council members who are unable to attend a meeting can assign their proxy to another student, allowing them to vote in the council member’s place.

The KSA had previously adopted a new set of regulations at the April 14 council meeting and subsequently amended them on at least two more occasions. Those updated regulations were never posted to the KSA’s website.