KSA council appoints executive committee, spends $20,000 on community service initiative

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The Kwantlen Student Association held a council meeting on June 21 at noon in Birch 250 on Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Surrey campus and online via Microsoft Teams. 

According to the meeting agenda, the Student Price Card (SPC) student discount service was supposed to give a presentation, however they didn’t show up. 

Students of Colour Representative Ishant Goyal proposed a motion to hold regular council meetings every Friday at noon for the remainder of the summer semester. The meetings will be held online and in-person on July 5, 12, 19, 26, and Aug. 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30. 

Advocacy Coordinator John O’Brian said that council might not have enough in their meeting budget to give honorariums if the meetings are held every Friday. 

“The system is designed around [having] council meetings once a month. Everybody is required to produce reports once a month. So, once a week is a lot,” he said.  

The KSA’s Regulations state “directors are expected to keep their Fridays free from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm for regular Council meetings; and shall attend every meeting of Council.”

Thus, having council meetings regularly would leave no time for committees to meet and make recommendations to the council, O’Brian said. 

Goyal said council has missed a lot of business in the past months due to failing to appoint an executive committee until June 13 during a council meeting The Runner was unable to attend due to limited availability and technical difficulties. 

Council appointed Yugveer Gill as vice president university affairs, Paramvir Singh as vice president external affairs, Simranjot Sekhon as vice president finance and operations, and Yashanpreet Guron as vice president student life at that meeting. 

“The council has quite a lot of plans this year to achieve and to work for the betterment of students …. We want to get the convenience and the motions going to work out the best for students,” he said. 

The motion was approved, however council later recalled the motion at the June 28 council meeting. 

In her report, Sekhon said council members had the honour to participate in a community service project at the Sri Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Surrey for five days from June 14 to 20. 

“This shows the KSA’s commitment to community service and engagement. As a council member, I’m proud of the team efforts and commitment,” she said. 

Goyal said the event was a “key product” for the KSA council.

“Thousands of people participate [at the event] every single day, the council as a whole winded up all the team efforts into the event and gave their best efforts to represent KSA as a team out in the community to host a successful event,” he said. 

Goyal said the event wasn’t religious but focused on community service to help KPU students gain leadership skills through volunteering beyond the campus. 

“We participated in a puja ceremony and engaged in various religious activities,” Science and Horticulture Representative Ranveer Singh said during his report. 

For the service, called the “Seva Samrpan Project,” $6,000 was approved from the constituency funds budget and $14,000 was approved from the events budget for the KSA’s participation.

Council also approved $1,400 for “KSA’s Got Talent,” an event to showcase skills and talent in front of an audience, which will be held at Grassroots Café on July 25 from 4:00 to 7:00 pm. 

The club roster and constitution for a Hindu Student Association was also approved, and a new sustainability club was approved at the June 13 council meeting.