KPU Student Senate Representatives Announced After Delay

Sonja Kreuzkamp, Kimberley McMartin, Caitlin McCutchen, and Allison Gonzalez elected

After a delay of several months, four brand new student senate representatives to the KPU Senate have been announced.

The student representatives were elected during the springtime, with official results originally scheduled to be announced on April 11. In actuality, they were not released until late August. KPU’s chief returning officer at the time, Zena Mitchell, accredited the delay to a “potential voter irregularity,” but what that specifically entails has yet to be elaborated on. Neither Corey Van’t Haaf, the KSA’s own chief returning officer who Council decided not to rehire on Aug. 26, nor current CRO Ron Laufer replied to interview requests, and neither Kwantlen Student Association President Alex McGowan nor now-senate representative Kimberley McMartin could provide a reason for the late announcement when questioned.

As a senior governing body, KPU’s Senate deals with “the approval of credentials, advising on the priorities of the university and the university budget, and selection of honorary degree recipients,” as described on the university’s website. That is a very brief overview of the senators’ responsibilities, with more specific duties including determining program curriculum, admission and awards qualifications, and the academic schedule, to name a few.

While the four student senate representatives don’t singlehandedly dictate the decision-making, they do have a say in all matters. And because they represent the institution’s entire student body, exactly who is filling those seats is worth carefully considering.

Sonja Kreuzkamp, Kimberley McMartin, Caitlin McCutchen, and Allison Gonzalez are the recently elected senators, and many of them have previous experience working at and with the university. Kreuzkamp is the events & street team coordinator with the Kwantlen Public Interest Research Group, McMartin is a former KSA students with disabilities representative and a current KPIRG board organizer, and last year Gonzalez was the President of the Kwantlen Student Association.

McCutchen is a Political Science student, and her role as senate representative is her first professional involvement with the university and its organizations. She was inspired to work with student politics after participating in last year’s “Get Out the Vote” campaign, and her focus area as a senate representative is making sure that KPU improves how it accepts transfer credits.

“I came to KPU and they wouldn’t accept my English credits, and I almost thought about leaving,” she says. “So I don’t want that to happen to other students.”

For McMartin, the role as senate representative gives her a chance to work on transparency, advocacy, and resources for people with disabilities. She has been consistently involved with the KSA, clubs, and KPIRG over the years, and is looking forward to testing out a new position alongside McCutchen, Kreuzkamp, and Gonzalez .

Unfortunately, Kreuzkamp and Gonzalez did not respond to interview requests.

CORRECTION: We initially erred on the spelling Allison Gonzalez‘s last name and on the the name of the KSA’s “Get Out the Vote” campaign. These have since been fixed. We apologize for the errors.