The KSA needs to take sexual harassment allegations more seriously
The student association dismissed such allegations against former president Abdullah Randhawa, calling them untrustworthy
File art by Christina Tran.
Earlier this year, The Runner reported that former Kwantlen Student Association President Abdullah Randhawa was accused of sexual harassment at a Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) conference last July, and was permanently banned from the organization.
Randhawa had breached CASA’s code of conduct on the grounds of harassment after several conference attendees told the CASA member relations officer “they felt uncomfortable with Abdullah Randhawa,” The Runner reported.
Randhawa told The Runner that he will “prove that the allegations are false,” yet, according to CASA, had not complied with their attempts to look into the matter. He said the allegations are “made up,” which stands in stark contrast to CASA’s decision to ban him based on said allegations.
From what has been publicly made available, Randhawa faced no repercussions from the KSA in regard to the allegations and continued to hold his position as president.
A common critique the “#MeToo” movement highlighted was that men involved with sexual harassment allegations are often given the benefit of the doubt, while women who make the allegations must suffer retraumatization and face immense scrutiny to prove their abuse. It could be said this is the case with Randhawa and the KSA as no one seemed to take the allegations seriously.
During a governance committee meeting on Sept. 28 — just over two months after the alleged harassment — it was said that “it’s too late to do anything about the [CASA sexual harassment allegations] now,” as per the meeting minutes.
It is never too late to help victims of sexual harassment who can often become traumatized and experience anxiety, irritability, rumination, and other reliving responses, according to the Canadian Women’s Foundation.
In the meeting it was also said the “sexual harassment allegation from a CASA member isn’t trustworthy either.” According to the meeting minutes, the meeting began at 4:35 pm and the discussion about the allegations had ended by 4:40 pm.
In about five minutes, the governance committee decided the allegations weren’t credible and ruled out any possibility of making amends. How is five minutes, at most, an adequate amount of time to determine the guilt or innocence of someone in this situation, let alone without consulting CASA or the alleged victim?
Speaking on the KSA’s decision making, The Runner reported the association decided to end its membership with CASA during an in-camera meeting on Jan. 12, which is a private session that should only discuss legal and human resource matters, the purchase or sale of property, and/or funds related to such, according to the KSA’s bylaws.
Then-vice president external affairs Jasmine Kaur Kochar said the council decided to vote on the matter in an in-camera session because they “wanted a transparent discussion to happen.”
Every Kwantlen Polytechnic University student is a member of CASA when the KSA has a membership with the organization, meaning the decision affected all KPU students. Yet it was made behind closed doors — that is not transparent.
As per KPU’s email to students on April 12 discussing the allegations against the KSA, it was said the university has little oversight of the KSA, which is to be run and held accountable for its actions by KPU students.
Though KPU could play a stronger hand as all KSA council and many staff are KPU students, anyone holding power within the KSA ultimately needs to step up on dealing with sexual harassment or step down.
