KPU Should Follow These New Year’s Resolutions

Well, KPU family, it’s finally a new year. This is the time to start working on all of our resolutions for 2018—most of which we’ve already given up by the second week of January but, hey, it’s the thought that counts.

As students, we’re constantly under pressure to meet our academic standards, and yet many of us choose to weigh ourselves down even more in order to accomplish personal goals for the new year.

Why should the university that we attend get away so easily? Here are just a few resolutions that KPU can take on for itself until it’s time to welcome 2019.

Student Residences

First and foremost, KPU needs to address its lack of student housing.

The university should make this a top priority. KPU encompasses five campuses—the newest being in the Civic Plaza at Surrey Central, due to open later this year—which spans three separate municipalities. Being a commuter school, KPU is at a disadvantage because our university campuses are so sprawled out. Having a student residence would ease congestion on transit, free up space in the rental market, and provide students with affordable housing—something Metro Vancouver is in dire need of.

Obviously, student residences can’t just spring up like weeds, but right now it feels like KPU’s current and prospective students are destined to be left in the cold.

If KPU wants to attract more enrollment and increase its status, then it must provide the facilities that allow students to thrive and feel more at home in their university community.

Semester-Exclusive Course Selections

You know what I hate? When I’m mere semesters away from graduation and I succumb to internal panic because KPU isn’t currently offering the courses I need to graduate. Often, they aren’t offering them the following semester either.

During the spring 2017 semester, one of my journalism classes had students fill out a sheet that listed all of the journalism and communications courses offered by KPU and select which ones we wanted to see in the coming semesters. Many of us in that class will be convocating in spring 2018, so this was a greatly appreciated gesture. I think that other faculties should implement a similar system.

Security Cameras

Finally, for the love of God, turn on KPU Surrey’s bloody security cameras.

Let’s be real, installing security cameras on campus but keeping them non-operational is like having a Tyrannosaurus rex without teeth. Intimidating, yes, but not entirely useful.

A Message to KPU Students

I think I’ve officially thrown KPU under the bus enough for one article, so the final New Year’s resolution I have to offer is addressed directly to KPU’s students.

Our school gets a bad rap because of its status. As a university, it’s only in its infancy, and when compared to more prestigious institutions like UBC and SFU, KPU sometimes seems like it’s in the minor leagues.

Hold your head high as you walk through the halls of KPU Richmond, Surrey, Langley, and Cloverdale. KPU is slowly starting to make a name for itself in the university community. Between our polytechnic status, unique academic programs, and spearheading various first-of-its-kind initiatives and studies, people in B.C. are beginning to notice us.

Maybe our Bachelor’s degrees won’t have the name of a prestigious university on them, but completing a four-year program is a pretty major accomplishment in itself. And honestly, many employers don’t care about the name of the university anyway.

When I first applied to KPU I was disappointed because I wouldn’t be attending one of Metro Vancouver’s high-profile universities. But now that I’m one semester away from graduation, I’m proud to call myself a soon-to-be graduate of Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

Plus, we have brewing and marijuana programs, and that’s pretty badass. Can UBC say they have those programs? I don’t think so.