News Brief: KSA fails to present budget again, appoints new president

The Kwantlen Student Association did not present its budget as outlined in its bylaws during a council meeting on Jan. 21.

The finance and operations committee must present the association’s budget to council by no later than Dec. 1.

In an email statement to The Runner in December, Vice-President Finance and Operations Manmeet Kaur wrote that “the budget will be presented at the next Council meeting, or, at the latest, the subsequent meeting.”

This latest council meeting was the second of 2026, with student representatives reconvening for their first meeting of the year on Jan. 5.

A total of five council members attended the Jan. 21 meeting. Speaker of Council Amandeep Kaur Brar said at the start of the meeting, when just four councillors were in attendance, that quorum was met since there are only seven council members whose terms are still valid.

KSA Records Coordinator and Archivist John O’Brian said it isn’t clear whether the KSA currently has seven or eight eligible council members.

In his report, added to the meeting’s Microsoft Teams chat, Vice-President Student Life Ishant Goyal wrote he has been engaging and gathering feedback from students on how the association can uplift student life and improve services.

“This initiative will continue until mid-February after which feedback will be reviewed to inform next steps,” he wrote.

Goyal added that he has also been working with the clubs and outreach coordinator, Vanshika Jain, to adopt new club policies by the end of next month.

Goyal also spoke to the Brazil Field School students and instructor and is looking into supporting them financially through the KSA.

President and Vice-President University Affairs Gurdit Singh and Kaur did not present their reports during the meeting. Vice-President External Affairs Rohit Uppal said he will email his report. The Runner did not receive a response by publication.

The KSA also held an executive committee meeting two days prior on Jan. 19, where it appointed Gurdit as president and Science and Horticulture Representative Anmol Bansal as associate president. The two councillors who previously held these positions, Paramvir Singh and Harpal Singh respectively, had their student membership expire last month.

“Until Dec. 31, we had a president. So from Dec. 31 until now, there wasn’t any president appointed,” Goyal said.

The executive committee also approved funding for clubs, including $1,190 for the Sociology Students Club’s merchandise, which are hoodies and tote bags dedicated for promotional and member engagement purposes.

The committee also approved $770 for the Kwantlen Psychology Society’s honours thesis defense and $248 for the Kwantlen IT Club’s website and domain renewal for the 2025-26 academic year.

Executives allocated $800 for the KSA’s partnership with Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s library’s Long Night Against Procrastination event.

The next KSA executive committee meeting is scheduled for Jan. 26 at 1:00 pm, with the next council meeting slated for Jan. 29 at 1:00 pm. Interested students can email info@kusa.ca to join the meeting.