Understanding the Kwantlen Public Interest Research Group

KPIRG still fighting for social justice despite frictions

Three Februaries have passed since Kwantlen students voted in a referendum that would see to the creation of a public interest research group, or PIRG. In a nutshell, it’s a movement to influence public policies and philosophies that started in the 1970s on U.S. college campuses.

The Kwantlen Public Interest Research Group (KPIRG) serves a mandate on social and environmental justice. The group says it’s non-partisan, meaning they’re not really allied with any political party. But it’s definitely political. KPIRG board organizer Justin Bige agrees that KPIRG is very much an activist and a catalyst.

But still, what does that even mean? KPIRG is registered as a B.C. non-profit society, like the Kwantlen Student Association and the Polytechnic Ink Publishing Society. PIPS publishes Pulp Magazine and the student paper you’re reading right now. The KSA provides the inter-campus shuttle, those new-fangled refill stations and more recently those newer-fangled bike repair stations. We’re talking about physical capital here. What does KPIRG do?

“I get that question all the time,” says Bige. “The social justice mandate of the organization, I think, it falls into a few aspects.” He cites education and community action among them. That involves organizing student workshops on, let’s say, inclusivity training, events themed around black history month, providing grants for other groups focused on social justice and even smaller grants for individuals.

Bige explains that, for example, KSA council member and seasoned slam poet Simon Massey qualified for the national poetry slam finals in Oakland, California. But since he’s a director on his Vancouver slam poetry authority, there’s a conflict of interest and they can’t send him themselves. So Massey looked for funding at KPU. The KSA and KPIRG were able to help him out, the reason being, “Slam poetry is very social justice-oriented,” according to Bige. “He’s going to be bringing back a lot of information, networking, contacts for doing even bigger sorts of … performing arts.” He says that they wouldn’t just give Massey the money and say, “Yeah enjoy the slam.” There are benefits that need to be seen.

To touch on their environmental mandate, KPIRG also currently maintains a partnership with anti-pipeline group PIPE UP, facilitating their meetings which organize against a controversial agreement between KPU and Kinder Morgan. At the very least, KPIRG makes sure the space is booked and set up for their meetings. KPIRG aims to facilitate such partnerships that involve KPU students.

“I sort of see KPIRG as this radical rocket arm attached to KPU, to push radical knowledge and education forward,” says Bige.

Let’s dissect what that means. Where did humans start archiving knowledge in the good old days? Libraries, obviously. And that’s among the things that KPIRG is trying to provide. Yes, very literally, a library. KPIRG curates the content as part of their social justice resource mandate.

“We’re slowly collecting a social justice library,” says Bige. “Generally one of our huge vendors  that we go to, and we haven’t been able to due to budgetary concerns this year, is the anarchist book fair.” The dream is to see students sign things out on their own, which they can do now, but access is difficult because of a lack of space.

Bige says that lack of dedicated space is a large barrier against the success of KPIRG. He characterizes their sitting in the Pride offices as “squatting,” and says KPIRG is very fortunate that Pride has accommodated them.

“I’d even say redact all of those from the interview,” says Bige, commenting on any instance that he said “KPIRG offices.”

“Like, those aren’t the KPIRG offices. We’re in the Pride office.”

He adds that the reality of their location hinders the execution of their mandates. KPIRG is also supposed to create a true, safe space in which individuals can participate. But Bige says it’s difficult for people to even access the office space because its larger connecting room is filled with people not necessarily trained in inclusivity. The current Birch building space on Surrey campus is simply not engineered for the access KPIRG needs to provide, according to Bige.

“Each passing month that we go without having our own space is actually taking away from the chances of this organization being successful in the long run,” says Bige. “It affects the morale of everyone around.”