5 KSA student representatives resign, council discusses $2-million operations deficit

The Kwantlen Student Association was informed five student representatives resigned prior to its council meeting on Oct. 23.

Speaker of Council Amandeep Kaur Brar said she received resignation letters from Cloverdale Campus Rep. Jobanpreet Singh, Faculty of Arts Rep. Harjot Singh, Faculty of Health Rep. Harmanjot Grewal, and Faculty of Business Reps. Mohit Kumar and Sominpal Singh. 

Brar declared the positions vacant, effective immediately, and said they all resigned for personal reasons, including to focus on their academics and move on to other career options.

At the previous council meeting on Oct. 9, the KSA deleted and updated all of its regulations, despite some councillors’ concerns, including Jobanpreet.

“There are 15 directors in [the] meeting, 6 people have written ‘NAY’ in [the] chat, so clearly, [a] 2/3rds [majority is] not met and the motion cannot pass,” he wrote in the chat.

During the Oct. 23 meeting, student representatives also passed a motion recommending the council open nominations for student-at-large positions on all of its committees.

Proposed by internal committee chair Shawinderdeep Singh, the motion also directed Executive Director Timothii Ragavan to post the position openings on all Kwantlen Polytechnic University campuses, in addition to KSA social media channels. All nominations received will be brought to the internal committee for joint review.

Shawinderdeep wrote the internal committee passed the motion on May 27, but it had not been previously brought to the council. 

In his report to council, President and Vice-President University Affairs Paramvir Singh said the association invited Conservative Surrey North MLA Mandeep Dhaliwal to the KSA Golden Glow Gala Diwali celebration on Oct. 19 at Surrey’s Grand Empire Banquet Hall. Paramvir added it was a pleasure to have him there.

Paramvir also announced a KSA delegation of five to six council members will be attending the Canadian Federation of Students National General Meeting from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 in Toronto. The Runner has requested more information on this event and will provide updates as they become available.

The delegation will attend the conference and head to Parliament to advocate for KPU students, Vice-President Student Life Ishant Goyal said, adding the participating council members have yet to be confirmed by the president and vice-president external affairs.

“[The] External Affairs committee has responsibility for selecting conference delegates under the bylaws,” Records Coordinator John O’Brian wrote in the meeting’s chat.

The KSA’s lobbying budget, which includes funding for conferences, is in an almost $22,000 deficit, as per the September draft budget. There is $1,310 remaining from the KSA’s approved $16,804 budget for conferences.

The draft budget also shows the student union is in an almost $2-million operations deficit. The KSA’s clubs and events budget is facing more than a $470,000 deficit. The association surpassed its KSA events budget of $250,000 by more than $200,000.

Goyal said the request to still hold a KSA Halloween event came from the student membership.

“We have signified to the membership that the budget has been overused, but the membership would like to have an event,” he said. “A request by membership takes precedence over anything because the membership holds the highest authority for the KSA.”

Regarding the operations deficit, Goyal said the KSA has “taken way more initiative and revamped the things that needed to be revamped.”

“For the upcoming year, the KSA is planning to drop the budget accordingly, based upon the feedback this year and upon the recommendations of such deficits that have occurred, so we will rectify that,” he said.

Goyal added the student union is facing the “uncontrollable factor” of the decline in student enrolment, but that it has increased its student fees, which took effect this fall.

The KSA is also giving away silver coins to mark the association’s 44th anniversary, Goyal said. Students can receive a coin by presenting their student ID and letter of enrolment at member services on the Surrey campus.

Goyal added the KSA has been distributing free pastries to students, an initiative which has received a good response.

Ragavan said he wanted to reiterate the KSA’s tabling event initiative at the Langley, Cloverdale Tech, and Richmond campuses to inform students about the 2026 general elections, what the KSA represents, and how to get involved in the future council.

He said he will also be working with Chief Returning Officer Gurinder Singh Gaddu on changing the upcoming elections procedure and handbooks to be in line with the elections-related regulation changes from last year.

The next KSA council meeting is scheduled for Oct. 30 at 1:00 pm. Interested students can email info@kusa.ca to join the meeting.