News brief: KSA changes spending authority for 3 budgets to ED, approves over $30,000 in concert tickets for students

The Kwantlen Student Association held a council meeting on July 24, where it approved a motion to have the spending authority of three budget line items (BLI) be transferred to the approval of only Executive Director Timothii Ragavan.

Vice-President Student Life Ishant Goyal said the three budgets concern KSA events, KSA Cares, and student-led events and that the motion was a recommendation from the executive committee.

“Most of the BLIs are under the approval of the [executives],” Goyal said. “But right now, there are some times when [we’re] not able to get a hold of [the committee] and the executive director has to be looped in. We’re just transferring over some of the spending authorities from [the committee] to the executive director to ease out the operations.”

Goyal said this move will be on a trial basis for the next couple of months and the spending authorities can be transferred back to the executive committee.

“We have to submit our budgets to the [vice-president] finance by Oct. 31. We are trying to see if there could be some budget re-modifications here and there to transfer to the executive director’s portfolio [of] operations.”

In his report to the council, Goyal said he wanted to clarify comments made during the June 25 council meeting regarding the association’s discussions with student health insurance provider Gallivan. At that meeting, Goyal said he had talked with Gallivan about holding a referendum either this fall or early next year to increase fees for the health and dental plan, in light of a rise in student claims.

“The deficit is there from the membership claiming a higher amount and the students using the plan more than it was used in the past,” Goyal said, adding that this comes amid lower student enrolments at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

“The money for increasing [fees via] the student referendum is not going towards any operations or any of the services for the KSA. That is straight-up money going towards the claims students have made through the health and dental plan.”

Ragavan said the KSA is hoping to later bring forward a report highlighting the student usage of the plan and the decrease in student enrolments over the past year.

Goyal said the KSA is in the process of revamping Grassroots Cafe’s menu and drinks for the fall semester and is working to get feedback from those who have used its Club16 fitness pass discounts. He also said the KSA is working on lowering the Cineplex movie ticket discount prices from $11.50 to $9.99 for the fall semester. 

The student association has signed an extension with KPU Sport and Recreation so students will not have to pay a $2 badminton racket deposit fee until April 24, 2026, Goyal said, adding the KSA Got Talent event on July 23 was a success.

“We also received a great response from the Garden of Gratitude event, where the clubs were called in for a formal event and then they all were appreciated.”

The KSA also held an executive committee meeting on July 24, where it presented a series of non-meeting motions, which included approving a combined $32,000 in funding for tickets for Nirvair Pannu, Babbu Maan, and Atif Aslam shows. 

In an email statement to The Runner, Goyal wrote all the tickets were purchased by request from students and they were given out by executives to students. He also wrote that a poster for the Pannu show was posted on the KSA’s Instagram and “taken down due to high demand after a day.”

There were 30 tickets for the Maan show, which were distributed through a “random giveaway to students on Surrey campus by asking them random questions about KSA Services.” The distribution logistics are still to be shared for the Aslam show tickets, Goyal wrote to The Runner on Aug. 7.

The executive committee also approved $25,500 for Clubs Appreciation Day, a combined $21,200 for food and decor for the June 2025 convocation, and $20,000 for the KSA Got Talent event. The Muslim Student Association received $7,507.50 for its June Eid Al Adha gift baskets. The executives also approved $5,239.68 for a June 30 movie screening at Landmark Cinemas and $3,630 for the KSA’s FIFA Tournament event at the Cloverdale campus.

In regular submissions, the executives approved $6,815 for providing snacks at the library during summer exams, as well as a combined $510 for the Barkat Club’s Sisterhood Summits event on Aug. 25 and Blooming Beginnings short film project. The committee also passed a motion to give $125 for the Kwantlen IT Club’s Programming 101 event.

The next KSA council meeting is scheduled for Aug. 12 at 1:00 pm. Interested students can email info@kusa.ca to join the meeting.