News Brief: KSA appoints 2025-26 president and committee members

The Kwantlen Student Association held council meetings on April 7 and 11, where representatives appointed committee members, including the executive team.

The April 7 meeting began with a new speaker of council — Amandeep Kaur Brar, a former KSA councillor during the 2023-24 term. The KSA’s previous speaker, Sukhdeep Singh, told The Runner he received notice of his dismissal in the morning of April 7, hours before the council meeting.

It was also revealed that some student representatives were informed of their removal from the council that morning due to alleged slating, following an investigation and decision from KSA Chief Returning Officer Gurinder Singh Gaddu.

A slate means “two or more candidates running for elected office in a coordinated fashion

to achieve a mutual advantage in an election,” according to the KSA’s bylaws.

In Gaddu’s letter to members of the KSA, he wrote that he disqualified five candidates from the 2025 general election: Tejas Pathania, Aditya Kapoor, and Naimish Kumar, who each ran as business representatives, as well as Gurparv Singh and Prabhleen Kaur, who ran as arts representative and science and horticulture representative respectively.

With the exception of Kumar, the candidates were previously announced as elected councillors in the March 25 election results, Gaddu wrote, adding since they have been disqualified, they have not been elected.

The Runner will provide additional reporting into the speaker’s dismissal and candidate disqualifications.

At the April 7 council meeting, Civic Plaza Rep. Shawinderdeep Singh nominated members to the executive committee: International Students Rep. Paramvir Singh as vice-president university affairs, Students of Colour Rep. Harpal Singh as vice-president external affairs, and Business Rep. Ishant Goyal as vice-president student life. Women’s Rep. Manmeet Kaur was previously elected vice-president finance and operations at the council’s first meeting on April 2.

Students with Disabilities Rep. Bhoomika Seera put a motion in the meeting’s Microsoft Teams chat, which passed, calling for secret ballots for the executive committee be sent to the speaker of council’s email address and counted as ratified to the committee with the results announced.

“When I was a speaker, I was not allowed to receive the secret ballots,” Sukhdeep said at the meeting. “But somehow you are a student of [Kwantlen Polytechnic University], and I don’t see the point why you should be getting the [secret ballots].”

At the April 2 council meeting, some councillors raised privacy concerns about Sukhdeep receiving the secret ballots since he’s a KPU student.

Brar said “the speaker’s decision is final.”

“There is no such special rule [in the bylaws],” Brar said. “If any council member or any person present in the meeting wants to challenge the decision of the chair … they actually have to go through [an] appeal and then they need a two-thirds majority.”

In a statement to The Runner, Executive Director Timothii Ragavan wrote that after the council raised concerns about the speaker receiving secret ballots as a student, Brar was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement prior to being provided with access to the secret ballots at the meeting.

“There was no separate ratification vote as the council passed a motion, that if 2/3 votes were cast in favour of each of the candidates the elections will be deemed to be ratified instead of requiring a separate motion,” Ragavan wrote.

Advocacy Coordinator John O’Brian wrote in the meeting’s chat that the voting procedure adopted over the past few years has not been actual secret ballots.

“I reiterate that I am able to furnish properly secret ballots via MS Forms, they can be sent within a minute or two if requested,” O’Brian wrote.

Brar announced the executive committee nominees were appointed to their respective positions.

At the April 11 council meeting, the council appointed representatives to the association’s eight committees: governance, finance and operations, university affairs, external affairs, student life, social justice and equity, environmental sustainability, and Grassroots redevelopment.

The KSA also held two executive committee meetings on April 9 and 17. On April 9, the committee elected Paramvir as president and Shawinderdeep as associate president. Paramvir served as the KSA’s 2024-25 vice-president external affairs. 

The committee approved $6,449.52 in funding for offering snacks in the library during spring semester exams, as well as a combined $3,384 for the KPU Muslim Student Association (MSA) for hoodies, a Canva Pro subscription, and its Summer Carnival event.

It approved $2,167 for catering for the KSA’s annual general meeting (AGM) on March 28.

“Last time, if the food was kept at the AGM, there was a disturbance between the voting and eating,” Goyal said. “So the executive committee decided to have food, but the food was at Grassroots. People did go to Grassroots Cafe [to have] the food.”

Executives also allocated $700 for the KPU Badminton Club’s inter-university badminton tournament, $335 for the KSA’s Tax Filing Session event, and $300 for the KPU Sustainability Club’s Repair Cafe event. They also approved the club roster and constitution for the KPU Fitness Club.

In non-meeting motions presented at the meeting, executives approved $771 for the psychology department’s honours thesis defense, which was put on by the Kwantlen Psychology Society (KPS), as well as the club roster and constitution for the Riyasat Club and The Indoors Club.

On April 17, KSA executives approved $1,728.01 for the association’s A Long Night Against Procrastination and $485 for new student orientation and welcome week booths. They also allocated $595 for the KPU MSA’s Sister’s Potluck and $315 for the KPU Entrepreneur’s Club’s Alumni Insights: The Entrepreneur’s Journey event.

The next KSA council meeting is scheduled for May 2 at 11:00 am. Interested students can email info@kusa.ca to join the meeting.