KSA Student Rights Centre Unsure of Release Date for 2017 Report

The 2017 Student Rights Centre report will likely not be released until after the Kwantlen Student Association’s Annual General Meeting in March, according to representatives from the KSA.

The report, like those from previous years, details some of the cases that were brought to the centre by students with complaints about their time at KPU. SRC reports are shown to the university administration in the hope of providing feedback about how KPU can better serve its students. These reports are then released publicly on the KSA website.

In March 2018, the SRC released its first two reports: one for 2015 and one for 2016. The latter acknowledged the amount of time that had passed since the reports were initially planned to be released, stating that “statements were made about revisions to and potential release date of reports, which ended up not being accurate.”

It continues, “the KSA’s credibility to put forward students’ positions is undermined when we do not meet the deadlines we set for ourselves. As of the release of this report, the 2017 report is nearing completion and will be released in Spring 2018, with the aim of having all future reports publicly released at the KSA’s Annual General Meetings in March each year.”

The process of creating the report is complex and requires time, according to John O’Brian, Advocacy Coordinator for the SRC. When compiling case reports, for example, the centre needs to make sure that none of the parties involved—such as students, staff, or faculty—are easily identifiable through the case descriptions. Yet the reports must still clearly explain each case with as much relevant detail as possible before being vetted by legal counsel to ensure the language used can not be construed as accusatory or libellous.

According to O’Brian, “there is a draft in progress” for the next report, though he is unable to say when it will be made public.

“Unfortunately I don’t have a timeline right now,” says KSA VP University Affairs Murdoch de Mooy. “We were trying to have everything out by the [Annual General Meeting], but right now we’re trying to make sure everything is right, and make sure that KPU knows about it and they have a chance to respond.”

According to de Mooy, there are changes that must be made to how the 2017 report will be released. This includes giving KPU more time to react and respond to the contents of the report, as the previous reports were released one day after being showed to university representatives.

“They felt it was a little unfair to give it to them a day before release, and I think that’s completely justifiable,” he says. “We’d like to make sure everything is non-confrontational, but still clear in laying things out, and then give them the opportunity to review it and come up with opinions on why things are the case and to give explanations.”

O’Brian says that the newer reports will also include sections about how issues raised in previous reports were looked at and handled.

“To be honest, when it comes to a matter of helping students or doing the report, I’m more inclined to help the students first and put the report off until we have more time,” says de Mooy.