PHOTO COURTESY OF Link Newspaper Over 500 students banded together in a gymnasium in 2012 to vote to remove the Kwantlen Student Association board of directors. Kwantlen: a history of controversy The KSA has had their share of troubles, some leading to student outrage and gov’t change By BONNIE LEE LA MADELEINE or students and faculty with deeper connections to the college system at Langara, Desmond Rodenbour’s termination by a new student union board may sound familiar. It was, in fact, the third time Roden- bour’s contract was terminated by a newly installed student government. The first two times the scenario played out, he was the general manager for the student union group at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. By the second termination in 2011, Kwantlen Student Association (KSA) was at the centre of several court cas- es, boycotts and firings. As a result, the KSA became fodder for the other schools in the Lower Mainland to mock. They were also on the line for nearly $750,000 in unsecured loans. According to a report in the Ubyssey on Feb. 1, 2012, by the time the KSA had called a special general meeting to im- peach every member of the elected stu- dent body, it was in court more than it was in session. Jeremy McElroy, the current general manager of the KSA, was hired after that general meeting. “When a group gets elected and then unilaterally decides to terminate the student’s senior leadership which was the case here, that’s not good gover- nance, that’s very much _ political,” McElroy said. The scenario he outlined is not un- common, especially when students are not engaged in campus issues. A group of students may run for of- fice under an unofficial slate or party platform, a practice that is not allowed on most campuses. If this group secures a majority of seats on a student council, they can control] the direction of student union funds and representation for more than one academic school year. They could, until recently, change the bylaws to reduce transparency and communication with staff. Lack of transparency and misman- agement of funds at student unions is not uncommon throughout Canada. For Concordia University, 2012 was not a good year. “It was an extraordinarily dysfunc- tional year for us,” said Lucinda Mar- shall-Kiparissis, general coordinator for the Concordia Students’ Union. It was in that year that student elec- tions happened during a student strike on campus. It was also the year that one of the elected representatives wrote cheques to herself. Over the course of the year, she took more than $200,000 from student funds. Marshall-Kiparissis said the campus reaction was swift. “We can no longer write cheques to ourselves,” she said. The student union also took steps to increase its transparency in reporting and finances. Twice burned, Kwantlen Polytechnic University took steps to protect stu- dent funds and the KSA from further exploitation by group run councils. McElroy said they have changed the way elections are run, the power of the executive, and how staff interacts with student representatives and students. “We have much more comprehen- sive written financial policies and pro- cedures,” he said. “Everything is post- ed online. We’ve been pushing the envelope in terms of good governance, best practice since then.” Langara also had scandals in the past. Four years ago, five per cent of the Langara student body voted the en- tire student population out of LSU board meetings, effectively excluding themselves from the democratic pro- cess on campus. This year, Langara students voted in a set of student representatives who appear to be following a similar path of the two KSA administrations. 66 ... that’s not good gov- ernance, that’s very much political JEREMY MCELROY GENERAL MANAGER OF KWANTLEN STUDENT ASSOCIATION Lack of engagement in student politics a concern The lack of interest and knowledge on student union politics can some- times lead to corruption By EMELIE PEACOCK gara, a trend that experts say can lead to a lack of accountability in student politics. Of 15,670 registered students, only 282 voted in the Langara Students’ Union by-election last month. This continues a trend of very low voter turnout during LSU elections, some- thing which experts say can affect how student unions are run. Khaled Sukkarie, Langara student and organizer at The Hub who has pre- viously helped to spread the word about students running for positions at the LSU, said students are too busy to participate in LSU politics. “This semester was tough for every- body, everyone just wanted to move on, SS apathy is a concern at Lan- to graduate so they could get their di- ploma and degree. And so they don’t really involve themselves within the politics,” Sukkarie said. Student apathy can result in some voices being heard over others, said r4 4 Jude Crasta, for- mer vice-president external affairs at Ap athy UBC’s student during the union, the Alma 4: Mater Society. fume of vot- “Apathy during Ing for a the time of voting ° for a candidate is candidate definitely an issue. US definite- If it’s an extremely low voter turnout then you usually find one section of a population gets a say more than the silent majority,” Crasta said. Student apathy can be more dan- gerous than simply students’ voices not being heard, Crasta said. Some ly an issue JUDE CRASTA FORMER MEMBER OF UBC STUDENT UNION people win their positions through un- contested student union elections and unions get little student feedback on their decisions. Crasta, not speaking specifically about the LSU, said this could result in a sense of entitlement and behaviour in unions that are not beneficial to stu- dents and can go as far as self-serving behaviour and corruption. “Even though they don’t consciously realize it, it can be this inherent sense of entitlement and lack of accountabil- ity to get to the place where they are that leads to behaviours that the public or the student populace might not nec- essarily appreciate later on,” he said. Stephen Phillips, political science in- structor at Langara, said apathy to- wards politics by young people is an issue much bigger than student poli- tics. “We're seeing low rates of participa- tion at the polls at every level of gov- ernment, from national, provincial, lo- cal and, yes, student union elections by younger voters. They have the lowest levels of participation and it’s a real challenge,” Phillips said. =e photo ILLUSTRATION A yawning Charlie Rud, is a second-year transfer pro- gram student.