Comments on: KSA rejects no-fees referendum, changes the rules http://www.kwantlenchronicle.ca/2008/09/ksa-rejects-no-fees-referendum-changes-the-rules/ Produced by Kwantlen Polytechnic University journalism students Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:02:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Steve Lee http://www.kwantlenchronicle.ca/2008/09/ksa-rejects-no-fees-referendum-changes-the-rules/comment-page-1/#comment-10 Steve Lee Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:25:58 +0000 http://www.kwantlenchronicle.ca/?p=163#comment-10 I posted the draft minutes from the September 4, 2008 Council meeting where the KSA Council (board of directors) passed motions dismissing the petitions that had been received and adopting the changes to the regulations. They are located here: http://kusa.ca/files/pdf/2380.pdf Please note that these are draft minutes - they likely will not be amended further but they could be based on feedback received from those in attendance at the meeting. Should that happen, it will happen at our next meeting which is on September 29, 2008 on the Surrey Campus. - Steve I posted the draft minutes from the September 4, 2008 Council meeting where the KSA Council (board of directors) passed motions dismissing the petitions that had been received and adopting the changes to the regulations. They are located here:

http://kusa.ca/files/pdf/2380.pdf

Please note that these are draft minutes – they likely will not be amended further but they could be based on feedback received from those in attendance at the meeting. Should that happen, it will happen at our next meeting which is on September 29, 2008 on the Surrey Campus.

- Steve

]]> By: Steve Lee http://www.kwantlenchronicle.ca/2008/09/ksa-rejects-no-fees-referendum-changes-the-rules/comment-page-1/#comment-6 Steve Lee Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:18:52 +0000 http://www.kwantlenchronicle.ca/?p=163#comment-6 Hi Nathalie, I'm sorry no one got back to you for comment. As you know I forwarded the inquiry you submitted to me to Derek and Nathan who were & are more appropriately suited to dealing with this topic. More than likely, I know Derek has been very busy given the announcement of the Federal Election; and Nathan too has been busy assisting our Director of Events with the upcoming Cram Jam concert. As such, I'll make a few comments here. Your article covers everything well - but I would note two corrections to the following two paragraphs, where you wrote: "On Sept. 4, according to minutes from their meeting, the KSAs executive board rejected Mumford’s petitions, stating that they were “not in order as the changes require specific amendments to the KSA’s bylaws.” The board also voted to change its bylaws so that no referendum question can be put forward “(seeking) to increase or decrease existing fees of the Society by more than fifteen percent in any given fiscal year.” " Regarding the first paragraph, it was the KSA's Council, not the Executive Board who voted to dismiss the petitions that had been submitted. So that people understand why this decision was made (And it was not an easy decision to come to --- the petitions and questions were examined closely by the KSA in consultation with its lawyers), essentially, the changes to the fees that the petitions asked for would have had the effect of dissolving the KSA by cutting off its funding. Any question to dissolve the society is not a question that should be dealt with via a referendum. Regarding the second paragraph, upon the thorough review of the petitions I mentioned above, the KSA decided to consider and adopt amendments to its regulations (but not its bylaws because the KSA Council has no power to make changes to the bylaws - only students can change the bylaws at a General Meeting with at least 250 students in the room and only through a motion that would require 2/3rds of the 250 students in the room to vote in favour of such a motion) to act as guidance for students putting forward petitions as well as to the Director of Operations and the KSA Council. Finally, in regards to Mumford's comment --- "“I don’t think the students use the KSA for anything except for maybe a free agenda. Most of their events are basically just handouts of free food,” --- I would state that more students are using the KSA than ever before. Our student run cafe in Surrey is now turning a profit and everyday the cafe lounge is packed with students using its amenities and enjoying its food. A light liquor license will soon be in place as well. And as reported on in the Chronicle, the open mics in the lounge are also being well received. More clubs are active now than ever before. A number of students have been commenting on the KSA forums. The number of people using BCBookworm is strong. Our Member Services offices are busy and you will start to see new products for sale at these offices in the months to come (we just added Cinemark Tinsletown tickets for $8.50 a ticket alongside the existing Cineplex Odeon tickets). We've given away a few hundred tickets and also sold a few hundred tickets to next week's Cram Jam concert. We're working hard on making education an issue in this fall's federal elections and we are working with Kwantlen to organize all candidate debates. We're working with Kwantlen on plans for a new student union building on the Surrey Campus. We just opened our student lounge and member services office on the Cloverdale Campus. We're looking at ways to expand in Langley and Richmond and have recently acquired new furniture for the lounges on those campuses. We've been archiving our old meeting agendas & minutes, daytimers, budgets, audited statements, letters of recognition and more going back to our inception in 1981 on our website for everyone to access. So the KSA is working hard for students. And more is being done everyday. Certainly we can always do more for students. But we are certainly much more than just free food. - Steve Lee, Director of Finance, KSA Hi Nathalie,

I’m sorry no one got back to you for comment. As you know I forwarded the inquiry you submitted to me to Derek and Nathan who were & are more appropriately suited to dealing with this topic. More than likely, I know Derek has been very busy given the announcement of the Federal Election; and Nathan too has been busy assisting our Director of Events with the upcoming Cram Jam concert. As such, I’ll make a few comments here.

Your article covers everything well – but I would note two corrections to the following two paragraphs, where you wrote:

“On Sept. 4, according to minutes from their meeting, the KSAs executive board rejected Mumford’s petitions, stating that they were “not in order as the changes require specific amendments to the KSA’s bylaws.”

The board also voted to change its bylaws so that no referendum question can be put forward “(seeking) to increase or decrease existing fees of the Society by more than fifteen percent in any given fiscal year.” ”

Regarding the first paragraph, it was the KSA’s Council, not the Executive Board who voted to dismiss the petitions that had been submitted. So that people understand why this decision was made (And it was not an easy decision to come to — the petitions and questions were examined closely by the KSA in consultation with its lawyers), essentially, the changes to the fees that the petitions asked for would have had the effect of dissolving the KSA by cutting off its funding. Any question to dissolve the society is not a question that should be dealt with via a referendum.

Regarding the second paragraph, upon the thorough review of the petitions I mentioned above, the KSA decided to consider and adopt amendments to its regulations (but not its bylaws because the KSA Council has no power to make changes to the bylaws – only students can change the bylaws at a General Meeting with at least 250 students in the room and only through a motion that would require 2/3rds of the 250 students in the room to vote in favour of such a motion) to act as guidance for students putting forward petitions as well as to the Director of Operations and the KSA Council.

Finally, in regards to Mumford’s comment — ““I don’t think the students use the KSA for anything except for maybe a free agenda. Most of their events are basically just handouts of free food,” — I would state that more students are using the KSA than ever before. Our student run cafe in Surrey is now turning a profit and everyday the cafe lounge is packed with students using its amenities and enjoying its food. A light liquor license will soon be in place as well. And as reported on in the Chronicle, the open mics in the lounge are also being well received. More clubs are active now than ever before. A number of students have been commenting on the KSA forums. The number of people using BCBookworm is strong. Our Member Services offices are busy and you will start to see new products for sale at these offices in the months to come (we just added Cinemark Tinsletown tickets for $8.50 a ticket alongside the existing Cineplex Odeon tickets). We’ve given away a few hundred tickets and also sold a few hundred tickets to next week’s Cram Jam concert. We’re working hard on making education an issue in this fall’s federal elections and we are working with Kwantlen to organize all candidate debates. We’re working with Kwantlen on plans for a new student union building on the Surrey Campus. We just opened our student lounge and member services office on the Cloverdale Campus. We’re looking at ways to expand in Langley and Richmond and have recently acquired new furniture for the lounges on those campuses. We’ve been archiving our old meeting agendas & minutes, daytimers, budgets, audited statements, letters of recognition and more going back to our inception in 1981 on our website for everyone to access.

So the KSA is working hard for students. And more is being done everyday. Certainly we can always do more for students. But we are certainly much more than just free food.

- Steve Lee, Director of Finance, KSA

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