KSA announces AGM details, passes fate of student support programs to a referendum
KPU community members expressed concern over sending these programs to a referendum, stating it could be “extremely harmful” to students
The next KSA council meeting set to take place on March 15 at 11:00 am.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article stated that a special resolution to amend the bylaws requires a quorum of 100 students. The article has been changed to say 150 and updated for accuracy. The Runner regrets the error.
The Kwantlen Student Association held two council meetings last week, on March 6 at 1:00 pm to discuss the Annual General Meeting (AGM), and on March 8 at 11:00 am.
Council discussed several proposed motions to be added to the AGM agenda on March 6. Three special resolution bylaw amendments were passed to be added to the agenda. The first motion proposes the bylaws be amended to remove any councillor who misses three council meetings. The bylaws currently state councillors will only be removed if they are no longer a Kwantlen Polytechnic University student, resign, are expelled, or placed in “bad standing.”
The second motion would allow regulated electoral slating. Slating, which is when two or more candidates run for elected office in a coordinated fashion to achieve mutual advantage in an election, is currently prohibited in the KSA’s bylaws. Chief Returning Officer (CRO) Sameer Ismail recommended the motion because even though slating is prohibited, candidates continue to do it and hide it, he says.
“All [prohibiting slating has] done is drive a great deal of campaign activity into the shadows,” Ismail said. “It seems as though it would be much more productive to allow some coordination since it’s already happening, but to make sure that if it does happen, it is regulated and that we know about it.”
The third proposed motion would amend the bylaws to add eligibility requirements for candidates running in the KSA elections. KPU students in “good standing” with the KSA who have a minimum term grade point average (TGPA) of 2.67 for the KPU term completed immediately before the nomination period would be eligible to campaign. However, the CRO, “in their sole discretion,” can deem a candidate who fails to meet these requirements eligible. Students who are new to KPU and don’t have a TGPA will not be subject to the GPA requirement.
Council also passed an ordinary resolution be added to the AGM agenda, which proposes that KSA waives fees for incoming and current students who are members of the First Nations the campuses reside on. This motion falls in line with KPU’s tuition waiver for Indigenous students, and the U-Pass and extended health and dental plan fees would be excluded.
The AGM will take place on March 27 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm at KPU’s Surrey campus in the Conference Center. Students must show their KPU student card to enter the meeting. A quorum of 60 students is necessary for the AGM to take place, along with the consideration of the ordinary resolution. Any special resolution that does not amend the bylaws requires a quorum of 100, and any special resolution which does requires 150 students, according to the KSA’s bylaws.
On March 8, council passed a motion to allow students to vote on whether certain KSA programs and services should continue to run in the 2024 Referendum. These programs include Active KSA, the KSA Student Rights Centre, Peer Support, the KSA Volunteer Program, REBOOT Computer Repair, and Sustainable KSA. Students will also be able to vote on whether the KSA should increase student fees to create more funding for bursaries, clubs and events, and index all fees to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
KSA President and VP University Affairs Abdullah Randhawa said council wanted to give students the opportunity to vote on the fate of these programs and services as they’re the ones who pay for them, adding they will make sure students are informed about the purpose of these services before the referendum.
“We will try our best to advertise … and tell the students what the services are first, and then they are the ones who can decide and they should be having an informed vote.”
KPU student Liam Ruel voiced his concerns about sending the KSA programs to a referendum. Ruel said he has accessed many of the services being debated and knows others who have accessed them. By doing this, he said it would harm students.
“I think that eliminating things like student advocacy … is extremely harmful. That would be taking away one of the only places that students have to turn to when they experience harm.”
Speaker of Council Amrinder Sandhu, who was appointed to the position during the March 6 meeting, read off emails he received from KPU students and faculty who also voiced their concerns about this decision. No reason was stated for previous speaker Aditya Sharma leaving.
An anonymous email read these programs “provide an invaluable service usually during the most challenging time in a student’s life” and that “putting the fate of these departments to a referendum is elitist” as “no student wants to need these services, but for 1000s of … students, these services are what is keeping them in school.”
An email sent by KPU faculty member Fiona Whittington-Walsh read that while KSA student reps are knowledgeable, it’s not the same expertise provided through the various services they are sending to the referendum.
“These services are invaluable because they … protect students from the university, which under the intensifying neoliberal policies are becoming more and more exploited and confused by endless bureaucracy and barriers.”
The referendum will take place for three consecutive days the week of April 8. Exact dates have yet to be set by the CRO. The next council meeting is scheduled for March 15 at 11:00 am. Students can email info@kusa.ca to join the meeting.
