KPU student concerned with KSA council member’s eligibility
Ridhi Aggarwal says Women’s Representative Suhana Gill was not of proper age to run in the KSA General Elections
Art by Claudia Culley
Kwantlen Polytechnic University student Ridhi Aggarwal is concerned about the eligibility of Kwantlen Student Association Women’s Representative Suhana Gill, who took her seat on council April 1.
Aggarwal, who ran against Gill for the constituency position during the KSA General Elections in February, says Gill was not qualified to run for council due to her age.
According to the B.C. Societies Act, which the KSA is governed by, those qualified to be a director, or council member, must be at least 18 years old, but individuals can be 16 or 17 years old “if provided for in the regulations.”
The KSA’s bylaws say KPU students aged 16 or 17 can be a council member, provided the Regulations have a procedure to ensure the majority of council members are at least 18 years old. In the KSA’s Regulations, there is no mention of such procedure. In cases where the bylaws and Regulations conflict, the Societies Act takes precedent, which states that a council member who is not qualified “must promptly resign.”
Gill, who has since turned 18, was 17 when she ran for women’s representative during the general elections. Aggarwal came second in the women’s representative election results and says Gill should resign from KSA council.
“In the future, if someone’s running [for council] and they are 17 years of age, what they [can] account for is [this situation],” Aggarwal says. “That gives an example for the future students …. I don’t want them to set up the wrong example.”
Gill says the KSA’s election nomination package stated you could be 16 or 17, which she submitted early to the KSA’s Chief Returning Officer (CRO) Sameer Ismail to ensure she was fully eligible.
“It’s not like I entered the election unexpectedly without anybody’s permission,” Gill says. “The CRO had a duty to ensure that everybody was eligible to run, and if he had a problem with that, I feel like he would have stopped me from running in the first place.”
Aggarwal says that KSA council members should all be at least 18 years of age because they hold positions of responsibility.
“You need to have that maturity or level of age,” she says. “There should be a level of experience on a personal basis, or in the university …, so that they can hold the position to be a [council member].”
Gill says that she doesn’t think maturity and age correlate and that being on council should come down to being able to fulfill your duties.
“If you look at the KSA, it says every KPU student is a member of the KSA. I feel like it’s fair if I’m paying tuition fees, if I’m studying at KPU, if I’m contributing to the university, it’s fair for me to run,” she says. “I find it very sad that people actually think age is what equals maturity.”
In a comment to The Runner, KSA Executive Director Timothii Ragavan wrote that the association is looking into Aggarwal’s concerns and Gill’s eligibility.
Gill says she finds it inappropriate that people are fixating on her age when there are other concerns regarding the KSA council that should be addressed, like appointing an executive committee.
“I have five events in the planning [stages] right now … and the thing is the executive committee isn’t formed, so we can’t move ahead with any of these events,” Gill says.
The KSA has been instructed by KPU that an executive committee must be established in order to approve events held by council on university grounds, Ragavan wrote, adding that KPU wants to see stability within the council and have a direct point of contact through the executive committee.
“I’m not in the council for money. I’m not in it for any benefits. I’m only in the council because I actually wanted to make sure that we were helping the students, whereas we haven’t seen anything from the council currently,” Gill says.
The Runner reached out to Ismail for a comment but did not hear back before publication.
