NoKM@KPU action group to continue efforts against memorandum in fall semester

Information sessions are on the table

Danielle George / The Runner

Kwantlen Polytechnic University president Alan Davis made it clear at a public forum early July that the memorandum he signed with pipeline firm Trans Mountain will, indeed, remain signed. But that’s not stopping KPU community efforts to keep the pressure on.

The signed agreement that creates a $300,000 bursary for environmental protection students is contingent on federal approval of Trans Mountain’s pipeline. Davis’s challengers aren’t impressed with the agreement, seeing it as a large infraction on academic freedom and an overall irresponsible move. Davis believes the agreement was signed in “good faith, for the right reasons,” we reported.

Justine Nelson, a KPU alumnus from anti-pipeline group PIPE UP says that she’s “Not confident that he’s going to change his mind.”

“But I am confident that we can put enough pressure on him through the student body and faculty to convince him it’s not a good idea to keep the memorandum,” says Nelson. “And that’s what our goal is.”

Looking forward, the plan is to educate students in the form of information sessions on all campuses and generally provide resources to those unaware of the agreement’s details, according to Nelson. She says that future information sessions are being rescheduled for the fall semester because students are busy nearing the end of the summer semester, and there’s really not a lot of students around. Still, she’s finding that the message is getting through.

“I find that once people understand what’s going on with the proposal, they’re each against it,” she says. “I’ve yet to come up to somebody … [who] is still strongly for having the memorandum after they learn all the facts about it.”

Concerning current environmental protection technology students, who probably won’t receive the fruits of the agreement in their time, the action group has yet to gauge their thoughts. “We haven’t had any conversations with students from EPT yet … I wouldn’t be able to comment on that at the moment,” adds Nelson. “But we’re hoping to do outreach to them.”

Besides these, the initial community group that mobilized against the agreement—including PIPE UP, Kwantlen Public Interest Research Group (KPIRG), and the Kwantlen Student Association, under the banner “No KM@KPU”—continue to hold planning sessions in the social justice space on Surrey Campus to catch up and plan their next moves. Meanwhile, in a Google Groups thread, KPU faculty members Bill Burgess and Duncan Greenlaw are drafting versions of a common statement for KPU community activists to adopt.

“The [memorandum of understanding] associates KPU’s name with a proposed bitumen export pipeline that is widely opposed for the significant risk it poses to land, water and climate stability,” says a clause in the draft statement from July 27. “On the key issue of carbon emissions the MOU places KPU on the wrong side of history. It undermines our institutional policy on sustainability.”

The draft statement continues, “This MOU is contrary to the interests of our university. We ask that KPU formally withdraw from this arrangement.”