News Brief: KSA working to make events run smoother, updates on new year budget

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The Kwantlen Student Association held a council meeting on Nov. 10 at 11:00 am in Birch 250 on the Surrey campus and over Microsoft Teams. 

Council members Destiny Lang, Usha Gunatilake, Jashandeep Singh, Manraj Grewal, Jasmine Kaur Kochhar, Gurtejpreet Kaur Kaliyan, Amitoj Singh, Gurnoor Kaur, Jaspreet Shokar, Akashdeep Sidhu, Jashanpreet Singh Maan, Nitin Aggarwal, Yugveer Gill, Jobanpreet Singh, and Abdullah Randhawa were in attendance. Taranpreet Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Asad Husain, Mehakdeep Singh, and Jashanpreet Sekhon were absent. 

After a land acknowledgment, the minutes of the Oct. 27 council meeting were approved. The minutes of in-camera sessions on Jan. 6, Feb. 10, March 10 and 30, and Sept. 15 council meetings were unavailable for approval. 

In Randhawa’s report, he said he has been meeting with KPU staff to make sure future events run more smoothly and is planning events for the holidays and end of the year. He also said he has been working on reports for upcoming conferences to advocate for students’ needs and priorities. 

During Amitoj’s report, he said he has been working on finalizing all items for the upcoming budget proposed for 2024. He also said the KSA is focusing on moving specific budget items to correct placements in order to utilize next year’s budget. Amitoj said they have been considering letting students volunteer in the finance team to help formulate the budget. The 2024 budget will be ready for council review in the first week of December.

In Kochhar’s report, she said the last two weeks have been spent preparing for the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) “Fight the Fees” protest held in the Surrey Main Building on Nov. 8. Canadian student unions across the country held protests to advocate for free and accessible education for domestic and international students as part of CFS’ “National Student Day of Action.” Kochhar and other students gathered roughly 200 signatures in support of the protest. 

Executive Director Richard Hall said he has been working on building a relationship with Kwantlen Polytechnic University and getting to know the KSA better in his new role. 

He said he met with Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Joshua Mitchell in addition to maintenance about potential renovations in the Cedar and Birch buildings to accommodate staff who can’t go up the stairs. 

Discussions about the Student Union Building (SUB) with KPU were made, and Hall said the earliest students can see the building would be in 2027 or 2028. He said more discussions will be held on Nov. 21 to discuss where the building will be placed. 

In Lang’s report, they said they’re in the final stages of a KPU employee Moodle training module that would help support the university’s equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives. Lang said the objective of the course is to support the creation of safer spaces at KPU for the 2SLGBTQ+ community. Lang attended the Studentcare Coalition Meeting on Nov. 1 and met with people across Canada to advocate for equitable gender-affirming healthcare coverage for transgender post-secondary students. Lang will be attending the Queering Care: Crafting Radical 2SLGBTQIA+ Futures Conference virtually from Nov. 24 to Dec. 1 to represent the KSA and how to better support the queer student body at KPU. 

The next council meeting is scheduled for Dec. 1 at 11:00 am in hybrid format. Interested students can email info@kusa.ca to join the meeting.