News brief: KSA executives discuss 2026 election planning and events, approve club funding

The Kwantlen Student Association discussed planning for the 2026 general elections and approved club funding during an executive committee meeting on Sept. 25.

In his report to the committee, KSA Executive Director Timothii Ragavan said the association is hoping to get the “elections ball rolling earlier rather than later,” which includes a new awareness initiative.

“Ideally, on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Langley, Tech, and Richmond campuses, we’ll be doing a tabling event for about two hours to let students know to come out and vote,” Ragavan said. “If you’re interested in being a part of the council for the 2026 year, you’re more than welcome to stop by and pick up a brochure and ask questions as well.”

Ragavan said he is also working on setting tentative dates for polling and the all-candidates meeting, topics that will also be discussed with Kwantlen Polytechnic University during a meeting in early October. 

“We’ll have our [chief returning officer] part of that meeting to put any input and advice,” he said. “Once that is stored, we will start with security planning as well, and hopefully by the end of October, we will have the full election procedure pulled out and we will have an announcement set up for that.”

Vice-President Student Life Ishant Goyal said in his report that he has been working on student engagements, including the Sept. 29 KSA Gathers event at the Langley Banquet Hall, which featured bhangra performances, food and refreshments, activities, and more.

Goyal said he’s also been working on planning a Diwali event, which will be held within the week of the holiday, as well as an event for Halloween.

He added that he has been looking into how club policies can be restructured and realigned. He has also been in talks with the KSA’s clubs coordinator to see when a clubs day can be held sometime this fall.

The executive committee approved club funding submissions, including $700 for KPU Badminton Club’s badminton tournament in Coquitlam and $650 for the KPU Muslim Student Association’s (MSA) Meet the Members event.

The committee also approved $490 in funding for the Kwantlen Psychology Society’s psychology honours practicum. The KPU MSA received $355 for its Islamic Heritage Month Storytime, and the Kwantlen IT Club got $315 for its Agentic AI with Microsoft Azure AI Foundry workshop.

The executives approved $300 for the KPU Cricket Club’s drop-in cricket in the KPU Gymnasium and $200 for the KPU MSA’s September Social, which is in collaboration with Douglas College’s MSA.

The Kwantlen IT Club received $200 for its Database Management: Zero to Hero (MySQL) workshop and $196 for its movie screening event called CTRL + Trust. A total of $100 went towards the KPU Pageturners’s Sunrise at the Reaping Book Draw.

At the last executive meeting on Sept. 11, the committee approved $10,000 for the KPU Cricket Club to participate in a national cricket championship in Toronto, but the event has since been cancelled, Goyal said.

“Those funds, even though they were approved, are no longer being given to the Cricket Club because the [tournament] has been postponed,” Goyal said.

The KSA did not hold a recent council meeting. The last one it held was on Aug. 12.

“There wasn’t much council business to be conducted because [the executive committee] has been conducting its weekly or bi-weekly meetings, but hopefully there will be a [council] meeting as some bills are now [being prepped] up, probably in mid-October,” Goyal said.

According to the KSA bylaws, the council is to hold regularly scheduled meetings “at least once per calendar month.”

The next KSA executive committee meeting is scheduled for Oct. 1 at 1:00 pm.