News Brief: Recently created committees recognized as ad-hoc committees at KSA council meeting

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The Kwantlen Student Association held a council meeting on Feb. 10 at 10:00 am in a hybrid format. 

Council members Armaan Dhillon, Lesli Sangha, Karan Singh, Guntas Kochar, Navpreet Singh, Divya Sachdeva, Diljot Singh Narula, Destiny Lang, Rupinder Hundal, and Manroopbir Sidhu, were in attendance. Earndeep Singh Kandola, Dilnoor Kaur, Henry Chang, Gurjot Singh, Karan Kaushal, and Abdullah Randhawa were absent. 

After a land acknowledgement, the Jan. 27 meeting minutes were approved. The minutes for the Jan. 6 in-camera session are not yet available for adoption. The meeting agenda was amended to add a presentation to council by Vaishali Vinayak, the Kwantlen Polytechnic University student support representative. 

At the Feb. 3 executive meeting, Vinayak suggested creating a bundle of services to offer KPU students through the KSA that would be paid for through additional tuition fees. The executives decided that Vinayak conduct a petition and collect at least 250 KPU student signatures to ensure students want additional services through the KSA. 

Over the past week, Vinayak visited all five KPU campuses and collected over 600 signatures for the petition. Those that signed voted yes to a student support membership that would give students access to four applications. These include Calm, an app for mental health support, Udemy, a career development app, Aaptiv, a fitness app, and Nimbus, a tutoring and mentorship program that would be integrated into KPU’s Learning Centre. 

Vinayak presented the completed petition to council and the fees associated with the membership for students. The cost for a student to subscribe to all four apps is around $2,799 per year. Through the KSA, the bundle of services would be available to students for $17.56 per fall and spring semester, with the summer semester being free. Students would also have the option to opt in and out of the service membership at the start of each semester. 

While KPU students already have access to tutor and academic support through the Learning Centre, Vinayak says offering this membership would allow students to access student support services both in-person and online. 

Council moved in-camera to discuss Vinayak’s presentation before they recommended Vinayak reinstate the petition next year to be voted on during the February 2024 general election. According to KSA bylaws, petitions need to be signed at least 60 days before the general election, which is taking place on Feb. 27 and 28.  

In her report, Sangha proposed a motion to council to recognize the KSA’s current Executive Director and GrassRoots Redevelopment Committees as ad-hoc Committees of Council, which are temporary committees to fulfill their specific task assigned. This change is made “to follow the rules set out in the KSA regulations for Council and Committee meetings, therefore, the members are eligible for receiving meeting honorariums,” reads her report. The motion passed. 

Council also approved an IT expense of $1,939.25 to purchase a card printer and 100 HID cards from Avon Security Products. 

Diamond Obera, policy coordinator for the KSA, presented a new KSA Club and Student Group Policy. The policy was put together as a response to complaints the association received from clubs with the goal to create a structure for clubs as they operate their daily business. The policy was approved. 

The meeting adjourned after four hours at 2:15 pm. 

The next council meeting is scheduled on March 10 at 10:00 am in Birch 250 at the Surrey campus and through Microsoft teams. The next KSA executive meeting is on Feb. 17 in hybrid format. Students can email info@kusa.ca to join the meeting.