Council members no-shows at KSA meeting
Nearly three-quarters of voting members didn’t attend the April 27 council meeting.
By Chris Yee & Matt DiMera
[creative arts bureau chief & news editor]
The latest scheduled Kwantlen Student Association (KSA) council meeting was canceled after most voting members didn’t show up.
The April 27 council meeting failed to reach a quorum of ten votes and was canceled. KSA council meetings must have a minimum of 50 per cent plus 1 of votes in attendance to take place.
Only five out of the 19 voting members attended or sent someone to take their place.
Student senator and non-voting council member Christopher Girodat was troubled by the developments.
“I’m concerned by the cancellation of that council meeting,” said Girodat. “The excuses don’t stand up to what’s expected of the student’s elected representatives. This seems oddly reminiscent of last year’s boycott.”
Students who showed up to voice their concerns about the recent KSA regulation changes were frustrated that elected officials decided not to attend. The changes in question, were passed at the previous meeting of council on April 14.
Director of operations Justine Franson, Langley director Jennifer Campbell, and Surrey director Sean Bassi were present for the meeting while Richmond director Harj Dhesi and Richmond representative Sasha Mirza sent proxy votes in their place.
The four absent members of the executive board offered varying reasons as to their non-attendance.
Director of external affairs Bobby Padda said he was late and therefore hadn’t sent his proxy.
Director of finance Nina Sandhu was injured in a car accident and was unable to attend.
The directors of academics and events, Jaspinder Ghuman and Tarun Takhar, both said they were busy, while Ghuman added that he didn’t even know there had been a meeting.
