KPU president responds to community critiques at public forum

Majority of students, faculty see Trans Mountain agreement as an unwelcome endorsement

At a public forum on July 6, KPU president Alan Davis stood in front of professors, students and activists to explain the reasoning behind signing a memorandum of understanding with Trans Mountain, which would grant KPU a $300,000 scholarship contingent on federal approval for Kinder Morgan’s pipeline.

Joining the panel of speakers, along with Alan Davis, was KSA president Allison Gonzalez, KPIRG chairperson Richard Hosein, Justine Nelson from PIPE UP Network, and Justin Bige, who spoke on behalf of Kwantlen First Nation.

All representatives from the student groups gave negative remarks about the plans for the scholarship, while Alan Davis continued to defend his position, explaining that, “We need many more tradespeople in this province, and it will encourage students in high school, for instance, to transfer into KPU through the AIESEC program.”

The main arguments from the student groups focused on the environmental damage that the pipeline could cause. Others suggested that regardless of what Davis or the administration says, the signing of the agreement looks like an endorsement, or that Trans Mountain is trying to “buy support.”

It seemed evident that much of the crowd was against the agreement. During question period, a man approached the mic and claimed that many universities had successfully divested from fossil fuels. He was almost immediately interrupted by applause from the crowd. There was also some heckling, with one woman from the back of the room interrupting Davis on occasion.

There were more than enough people lining up for the microphone during question period, and even though they were allotted one minute each, the majority went over the time limit.

At least one speaker wasn’t completely upset with the administration. “You know what? Heavy industry pays the bills, people,” claimed Norm Chamberlain from KPU Tech. “Who’s going to pay for the social programs we have if it isn’t heavy industry? Now, I’m not saying I’m 100 per cent in favour of this pipeline, but I do applaud Alan for bringing this opportunity to KPU.”

“I see a different story, for what we did in respect to the [memorandum of understanding],” said Davis in response to his critics. “I think the MOU was undertaken in good faith, for the right reasons.”

“There’s a huge gap in the support for students to achieve the programming, and the education that they want. It’s our job to try and find the resources. I’m sorry if there’s offense taken at taking money from particular causes. There’s no legal or policy or governance issue about doing that, and it would be a political statement on my part to decline it, and not one for me to make. I don’t have academic freedom, and KPU should not be seen as a political agent itself. It’s here and it’s mandated to serve the students.”

Davis further mentioned that if the administration concerned itself with the moral goodness of every company they accepted money from, there would be much less of it at KPU. “It’s a fact of life that we have to engage with industry in receipt of money to support our endeavour. It would be great if we were 100 per cent funded, and we were tuition-free and we didn’t need to ask anybody for a penny.”

Kayla England, queer students representative for the KSA and a policy student, asked, “How would this MOU affect what is taught in those specific courses?” to which Davis replied, “No impact whatsoever. Faculty drives curriculum.”

Davis also said that he will be talking to Lekeyten, KPU’s elder-in-residence, in the coming weeks.

The event ended on time, though there were still a few people at the microphone, ready to ask a question.

“I will take away what I’ve heard today and discuss it further,” said Davis. “I’m not going to break an MOU that I’ve signed. I signed the MOU in good faith, [and] I’m not going to go back and change that. I will do everything I can to address the concerns I heard today, and reflect on that.”