Former KSA executives ordered off campus
KPU spokesperson says the matter is being investigated but can’t comment further because of privacy.
KPU spokesperson says the matter is being investigated but can’t comment further because of privacy concerns.
By Matt DiMera
[news editor]
After being impeached Nov. 30, the five recently-ousted executives of the Kwantlen Student Association (KSA) were dealt another blow Thursday, when some of them were presented with letters from the university and ordered to leave the campus.
Former executive directors Nina Sandhu, Bobby Padda, Jaspinder Ghuman, Tarun Takhar and Nipun Pandey were waiting outside the Surrey KSA offices Thursday after spending more than an hour unsuccessfully attempting to negotiate their way inside, when several of them were hand-delivered official letters on Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) letterhead.
None of the five would explicitly declare what was in the letters, but Sandhu mentioned that they had been temporarily suspended.
“It’s very serious on your part. I hope you know that,” Sandhu told Kwantlen security manager Harry McNeil.
“We have [legal] counsel. You’ll be hearing from them very, very shortly,” said Sandhu.
“They’re going to get a human rights case filed on them soon,” said former KSA director of operations Nipun Pandey after reading one of the letters.
Sandhu protested that they had personal belongings in the offices and McNeil agreed to let them in one at a time to retrieve them.
“I want you to understand that once you’ve got your stuff, you must leave the property,” McNeil told the former KSA officials.
Shortly before 1 p.m., Kwantlen security escorted Sandhu, Padda, Ghuman, Takhar and Pandey out of the building through the parking lot and off of Kwantlen property onto an adjacent sidewalk.
A Surrey RCMP officer observed the removal from a distance.
KPU spokesperson Joanne Saunders confirmed that some students had been escorted off campus Thursday but was unable to explain why.
“This matter is being investigated and it is a serious matter, but at this time because of privacy concerns for our students we can’t comment further,” said Saunders.
KSA Langley director Jennifer Campbell told The Runner that the issue was unrelated to the student association.
“It actually has nothing to do with the KSA,” said Campbell. “That is between them and the school; we were not told why.”