Open Letter: The KPU student body must demand an independent investigation within the KSA
Art by Mikayla Croucher.
Editor’s note: The views expressed within this open letter are not necessarily those of The Runner’s staff. As a student newspaper, The Runner is a platform for free speech.
During my first years at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, I seriously thought about dropping out and going straight to work. But after about a year as a graveyard-shift shelf-stocker at a now-closed Safeway and a brief foray into creative writing, I decided to stick with a political science major.
I have been at KPU much longer than I intended, but I am now preparing to graduate next year. I never thought this would be possible given my checkered academic past. The university gave me, and so many others, a chance to do better — to be better.
Some gripes aside, I have come to take a liking to this university for its willingness to educate those who may not get accepted to the bigger, more well-known institutions.
That is why I cannot quietly standby during this consequential period in KPU history.
To make a long story short, years ago, the Kwantlen Student Association misappropriated $2 million for personal use and students unanimously voted to remove them from office.
History seems to be repeating itself as the current KSA council arguably raids student funds, buying themselves perks, raising their allowances, and collecting millions in student money for a student union building, which, 15 years later, still only exists in theory.
It’s been reported that they’ve violated their own regulations, they’ve brought forward “defamation” claims against The Runner, and have demonstrated they cannot safely host events — including a now postponed special general meeting where the proposed reforms would empower KSA executives while weakening campus democracy and good governance.
In chasing its own self interests, the KSA keeps shooting itself in the foot and then indignantly reacting when anyone happens to notice.
Needless to say, the association is arguably compromised. The KSA barely represents the student body, given that less than seven per cent of KPU students voted in the last election, and, even then, the association’s doing a bad job of it.
We can point to two main culprits for the KSA’s degradation. First are the KSA executives for the aforementioned quality of conduct and representation. They seem to be claiming the perks while shirking the responsibilities and burdens of leadership.
The second liable party is all of us, the students. We let them do this, and we are all to blame. Collective passivity and blasé attitudes toward the micropolitics of the university campus have led us to permit this crisis.
Every KSA election I have been aware of has attracted embarrassingly low turnout numbers and equally embarrassing cases of candidate disqualifications. Nobody pays attention to the KSA outside of election periods.
Failing to ask where our student union fees are going can later translate to not questioning where our tax dollars go on the local, provincial, and federal levels.
Political disengagement and corruption are cyclical — the latter erodes trust in institutions, and a belief in the responsiveness thereof leads to the former. The former then signals to aspirational despots that it’s open season on public funds which furthers disengagement, corruption, and so on.
We must engage with our social environments on a deeper level and not just with whatever happens in the same physical space as us.
Enough is enough, and it is time to end the cycle. We must demand an independent, third-party investigation into the KSA now!
The Runner reported that KPU wants the KSA to conduct an internal investigation. I argue that they are wholly incapable of doing so with any honesty or integrity, nor should KPU administrators conduct one.
The purpose of a student union is to protect the interests of tuition-paying, education-seeking students from administrative interferences. Students, faculty, and administrators must coexist and exchange dialogue to do so.
However, the KSA’s ability to act as the student body’s voice has arguably been warped beyond recognition. To discover all issues, a neutral party should investigate, and all KSA members should fully submit themselves therein.
There should be no crying foul if even one finding is not to their liking, and no gloating and/or behavioural doubling-downs should they be cleared on all fronts because the mere necessity of an investigation ought to be enough to shame the KSA.
We students should keep the KSA honest and on edge. They should not be allowed to raise, spend, or borrow a dime without the united student body ready to scrutinize them. Let the KSA know that we students, the true source of power on campus, are mad as hell and will not take it any more.
Agitation, education, and organization. The KSA makes the first easy, the third is burgeoning, but there is a severe lack of the second. Too many of us are willfully blind to current events. No more ignorance! Let the KSA know they serve us, the students, we do not serve them. They answer to us, and we must demand answers right now.
“I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”
That is what Peter Finch’s character in Network implored his audience to shout over their dissatisfaction with society in 1976. And now, that is what we must cry to our KSA “representatives” — collective disapproval towards the union’s conduct and leadership aims.
Study the issue, ask the right questions, form solidarity amongst students outside your peer groups, and force accountability from our representatives. For the sake of all KPU students, the KSA cannot act like this any longer.
