Galled by apathy, instructor pushes voting

Paul Richard, the chair of the environmental protection program at Kwantlen, was appalled when he read that Kwantlen students weren’t planning to vote in Tuesday’s federal election, so he decided to do something about it.

Richard wrote an email to members of the Kwantlen faculty, urging them to encourage their students to vote.

“It really galled me,” he said of students’ responses when the Kwantlen Chronicle asked whether they were voting. Five of the eight students polled said they were not.

The students seemed to be saying “I’m ignorant and proud of it,” said Richard. He says the ignorance in North American society is dangerous. If it is culturally acceptable to dumb things down, the government could have a “large mass of people that are easy to manipulate.” 

Students need to learn not just the facts and the figures through their education, said Richard, but learn about their role in society as a whole. The excuses for not voting were not good enough and “it shows that something is wrong with all of us.” The first step is to engage students in discussion so they are “simply thinking about it,” said Richard.

Inaugurating the university’s new leaders

David Atkinson and Arvinder Bubber stood proudly in flowing robes as they were inaugurated into their new leadership roles during a ceremony at Kwantlen Polytechnic University on Oct. 3.

The ceremony was held at the Surrey campus, and began with a march-in of Kwantlen leaders, board members and prominent members of the community, such as Mary Polak, MP for Langley, and Russ Hiebert, MP for South Surrey, White Rock and Cloverdale.

The installation of Atkinson as president and vice chancellor, and Bubber as chancellor, involved them being asked series of questions and having them respond with “I will so do” to each. Following that, the two were stripped of their purple and red robes, and re-dressed in black and red ones.

The convocation wrapped up with a blanketing ceremony which was carried out by members of the Kwantlen First Nation.

Richmond election forum: Seven students vs. seven candidates

With seven candidates, seven students and 40 community residents filling the seats of the auditorium, the second of three all-candidates federal election forum took place Tuesday evening at Kwantlen’s Richmond campus.

The idea for the all-candidates forum began in a classroom at Kwantlen, in attempt to have students become more involved with the election and to help them understand the issues in their ridings. The ridings covered Tuesday were Delta South-Richmond East and Richmond.

“Our real interest here is a dialogue between the citizens and their candidates. It’s not an opportunity for the candidates to debate with one another,” explained Elaine Decker, associate dean of academic studies.

Each candidate started with a three-minute opening speech, then questions were taken from the audience. All major parties had at least one candidate present, including Liberal, Dana Miller, Conservative John Cummins, the NDP’s Szilvia Barna, and independent candidates Dobie To and Wei Ping Chen. There were also two Green party representatives, 25-year-old Matthew Laine for Delta South–Richmond East and 26-year-old Michael Wolfe for Richmond.

“We’re all in this together, were all living on this planet together,” said Laine, a recent graduate of Trinity Western University. “The Green party wants to empower individuals to make better and responsible choices for the future of Canada, and that’s only going to happen if we come together.”

Added Wolfe: “I don’t have children and I’m already worried about them. I want the food my family eats and the drugs my family takes to be safe.”

Conservative candidate Cummins, who has been MP for Delta South–Richmond East since 1993, discussed his concerns with farming, fishing and transportation issues including airports, seaports, highways and the railways, as well as his push to try “rationalize infrastructure growth.”

“Here in Delta we have some of the most valuable farmland in Canada, and we preserve that farmland for future generations,” said Cummins.

Miller said, “This is my home and the place I work, live, raise family and recreate,” as she discussed Liberal plans for the Green Shift, an environmental policy, and the “30/50 plan” a plan which calls for a 30 per cent decrease in poverty across Canada and a 50 per cent decrease in child poverty.

The Gateway highway expansion project, which could damage salmon stocks and disrupt small communities, dominated discussion. “Pollution from this port will be unprecedented,” said Barna.

Said Wolfe: “We need to cancel all funding for this project. It is the biggest disaster ever to have hit Delta.”

Health care issues also arose, including questions about restricting organic foods and unregistered health products, as well as the debate over the safety of overhead power lines in Delta. Crime prevention and homelessness were touched on, and members of each party gave potential solutions.

“All the problems we have now started under the Liberal and Conservative governments,” said NDP candidate Barna in regards to environmental issues. Miller added: “We’re all guinea pigs going along for the ride under the Stephan Harper regime.”

Near the end of the evening, members of each party began pointing fingers at the others over current issues, and then had a chance to make concluding remarks.

Richmond crosswalk scares students

Richmond Kwantlen students who have had, or seen, close encounters with cars are unhappy with a crosswalk at the intersection of Garden City Road and Lansdowne Road, but the city’s traffic department has received few complaints or suggestions from residents.

At the intersection, which is half-a-block from Kwantlen, the pedestrian walk light and the left-turn light for traffic turning north onto Garden City Road, come on at the same. Two lanes of left-turning traffic approach pedestrians as they cross.

Students must cross the busy intersection to get to a bus stop. Frequently-used buses that stop there include the 301-Newton Exchance – which connects the Richmond campus to the Surrey campus – and the 407 Bridgeport bus.

Alexa Kulak, a first-year student at Kwantlen in general studies, considers this a dangerous crosswalk because the two lights come on at the same time.

“Another thing that adds to this problem is the speed limit on Garden City road,” she said. “It’s 60. People seem to think they can just drive at highway speeds and not look out for pedestrians.”

Many people are speeding through the intersection and have to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting pedestrians, she said. She uses this crosswalk when she gets off the 407 bus, and recalled a time when her mother nearly hit a pedestrian there.

Another student nearly was hit recently.

“A lady almost ran over me, she was in such a hurry. She stopped right in front of me and nearly hit me!” recalled a wide-eyed Kanwal Rashid, a science major at Kwantlen. She said there isn’t enough time for pedestrians to walk across and she finds it scary.

Amanda Punshon, a full-time student at Kwantlen taking general studies, said the crosswalk makes her uncomfortable, and she rides the 301 bus five days a week. “People don’t always stop for you. You have to kind of duck and dodge. It’s not fun.”

Nicky Forshaw, a student in the IDDS program at Kwantlen, takes the 301 bus every day during the week. She thinks that anything would be better than the current set up, suggesting a delay in the walk light.

The city is considering changing phasing so the pedestrian light doesn’t conflict with the left-turning signal. However, this could delay traffic and must be looked at carefully, said Victor Wei, the director of transportation for Richmond.

A remedy also being considered is increasing the size of the yield-to-pedestrian sign, which the city can do quite easily, Wei added.

Wei recognizes that the intersection is “challenging because you are having to walk straight into oncoming traffic.” But he says the city does not consider this a dangerous intersection.

The city does not receive many complaints regarding this intersection, but they are, “open-minded,” said Wei.

“If any of the users of this crosswalk, including the students from Kwantlen have any ideas of how to improve it, we are more than happy to hear them and consider them.”

He encourages students to contact Richmond’s traffic operation department with concerns and suggestions.

KSA calls for by-election candidates

The KSA is calling on students to run in the Oct. 27-30 by-election to fill 23 spots currently open at the student association.

Jobs range from director of events and student life to First Nations liaison. The only criteria are that you have to be a current Kwantlen student and, if running for a liaison post, you must “self-identify” with the group.

Nathan Griffiths, director of operation, said that running for a position is “the best way to create positive change in the KSA and at Kwantlen.” He encouraged those running to get out, talk with students and listen to their concerns. “There is a direct correlation between how much campaigning you do, how many people you talk to and the amount of votes you get.”

Students who want to run have to collect signatures from 25 Kwantlen students and fill out an application form, which can be picked up at any KSA office or downloaded from http://kusa.ca/index.php?pid=222.

A list of available KSA positions, and responsibilities that go with various positions, is available in the KSA by-election advertisement. (Link at right on this page.)

All nomination applications are due Oct. 15 at 2 p.m.

Full house hears, questions Surrey federal candidates

Kwantlen’s first all-candidates federal election forum was held Monday night in Surrey with a full house of more than 200 students, instructors and community residents.

The forum, organized by the school’s criminology department as part of its Hear the Candidates, Make Up Your Own Mind series, was set up like a town hall meeting so those in attendance could direct questions to the panel of politicians.

Wade Deisman, criminology instructor and coordinator of the event, said it was an “awesome” experience for those in attendance.

“Elections are an opportunity for there to be substantive proposals for change,” he said, adding that he hoped meeting with candidates face-to-face would facilitate that.

The 12 hopeful MPs in attendance each had five minutes for opening comments, which was followed by questions from the audience. Topics raised by candidates varied greatly, but the future of post-secondary education dominated discussion.

Many people waited in line for more than an hour to ask their question, and Deisman said that for his students asking questions about criminal justice issues, it often wasn’t worth the wait. “Nobody responded to the issue in any kind of concrete sense.”

All major parties had representatives at the event, with two Liberals, one Conservative, two NDPers and one Green there to explain and defend party policies.

Fringe paries were also represented, with candidates from the Canadian Action Party, the Progressive Canadian Party, the Christian Heritage Party and the Communist Party. Two independents were there as well.

Deisman said that once the forums concluded, the criminology department would try and stay in contact with the candidates to follow their policies on criminal justice issues. He added that they hoped to put on a similar event for the next provincial election.

An all-candidates forums was also be held in the Richmond Conference Centre Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. and the third in the series will be held at the Langley Auditorium Wednesday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m.

Federal candidates come to campuses this week

Kwantlen welcomes federal election candidates to campuses next week in Surrey, Langley and Richmond.

All-candidates’ meetings, which kick-off on Monday, are an opportunity for students and residents to listen to and ask questions about each party’s ideas and platforms in the riding that includes each campus.

These free events are part of a series called Hear the Candidates, Make Up Your Own Mind, organized by Kwantlen’s criminology department. The department has asked the candidates to speak about criminal justice issues, but they will also touch on a wide range of issues such as health care, education and the economy.

The meetings will be “town hall” style and are intended to encourage dialogue between the candidates and residents. The idea behind the meetings is to provide students, faculty and people in the community with a chance to get to know their candidates.

The election forums:

• Surrey campus (Newton-North Delta riding) at 7 p.m. Monday in the conference centre.

• Richmond campus (Richmond riding) at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the conference centre.

• Langley campus (Langley riding) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the auditorium.

Parking fees hiked to ‘keep standards,’ promote transit use

Kwantlen students who drive to school but don’t have parking permits have seen a small hike in parking rates.

Both daily and four-hour parking fees have increased by 25¢, with daily parking costing students $4, and a four-hour fee now $2.75. Weekly e-permits are now $13, up $1, and carpool semester permits have risen $5 to $82.50. Unreserved and reserved semester permits have been increased $5 and $10, and now cost $95 and $165 respectively. There have been no changes made for two-semester permits.

“Comparative to all other colleges around the area, like BCIT, Capilano, Douglas and Langara, we are still relatively low with the parking rates,” said Sandy Kwan, reporting and systems accounting analyst in Kwantlen. “Just because our rates are relatively cheaper compared to all other colleges…that was the main reason [for the increase].”

Even with Kwantlen’s new status as a university, Kwan explains that the institution was comparing parking rates with other polytechnic universities, such as BCIT, rather than larger universities like UBC and SFU, whose rates “are still quite a bit more.”

“We want just to keep our standards with all the other colleges, too,” Kwan said.

Kwan said another reason Kwantlen decided on the increase was the number of students who park without paying. “[Students] would just park without a parking ticket or without a parking pass and they would probably get one ticket every few months. So in relation, it was still cheaper to get the ticket rather than buy the parking pass,” said Kwan.

Kwantlen is also hoping increased parking fees will promote public transportation. “By increasing the rates, people will more likely be taking transit…there are more and more cars each year on the road, and if some were to take transit, that would free up space,” said Kwan.

The increased rates will also help pay for parking improvements in the Surrey and Cloverdale campuses, Kwan said.

Rodenbour suspects death threat linked to lawsuit

 

A death threat was sent to the home of Desmond Rodenbour, general manager of the Kwantlen Student Association, on Friday. 

Rodenbour suspects the threat comes as a result of a statement of claim that was filed by the current KSA last month in B.C. Supreme Court against former KSA executives, members of the Reduce All Fees (RAF) party members. The suit is an attempt to regain almost $1 million of KSA money that the current KSA claims illegally went to unsupported payments or unapproved, high risk loans. 

The grammatically incorrect letter that was sent to Rodenbour, tells him to “take stip back” or else “police well find another foot from Fraser river.” The letter provides a time limit of 10 days, which Rodenbour believes is a deadline to drop the lawsuit by. It warns not to get the RCMP involved. 

The Vancouver Police Department has the letter and has opened an investigation but is not optimistic that it will find any forensic evidence. 

“Also, we have passed on the letter to the RCMP staff sergeant officer who is doing the investigation of the fraud case,” said Rodenbour. “There is still a chance that the Crown may press charges against these characters in a criminal court. So this has gone into that evidence pool as well.”

Rodenbour is taking the threat seriously. 

“It’s obviously quite disturbing both to friends and family. I am under some direction from the Vancouver city police on changing up my patterns.” 

Measures that have been taken include spending less time at home, campus security escorting him from his vehicle to the building and even changing his work schedule. Police have given him priority access 911 status, guaranteeing speedy response.

“As far as giving into the threat, no we are not going to back down from the lawsuit. People can’t be intimidated by such actions,” he said. 

Rodenbour also says it’s not within his power to withdraw the lawsuit filed by the KSA.

“The lawsuit was put into place by two motions of the board of the directors, unanimous motions, and it’s also a bowling ball. It’s been let go. It’s already been filed into court, people have been served, there’s no stopping it at this point.”

KSA rejects no-fees referendum, changes the rules

(This article has been corrected in response to comments.)

Kwantlen students would have been able to vote to have all KSA fees reduced to zero if all had gone as planned for Robert Mumford. 

They won’t get the chance. In response to the former KSAer’s petition for the referendum, a quick amendment to KSA regulations has prevented the idea from ever going on a ballot. 

Mumford proposed a referendum question that, if approved, would have drastically changed the fee system that is now in place and that currently costs a full-time student $43.75 per semester. Under his new fee structure, that would have been reduced to zero. A second proposed referendum question would have asked if students favoured a new fee system that would have directed fees to groups other than the KSA. 

To have a question appear on a KSA referendum, you must collect 250 signatures from Kwantlen students. Mumford did that, and submitted the petitions to the KSA on Aug. 1.  

The first referendum question Mumford proposed was that fees for academic and trades students – excluding fees for the health and dental plans, and for the Canadian Federation of Students and the Canadian Federation of Students-BC Component – be reduced to zero.

The second question, which was based on students approving the first one, proposed a $3 per credit fee, with half of that going to the Kwantlen Foundation, one-third going to the Kwantlen Student Life & Development department, and the remainder being split between the Kwantlen Athletics department and the Kwantlen Learning centres.

On Sept. 4, according to minutes from their meeting, the KSAs executive board KSA council 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 regulations 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.” 

A second change says that referendum questions that direct fees to any organization other then the KSA are not allowed.

Mumford believes his proposals would have resulted in almost no changes in a student’s day-to-day routine.

“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,” he said.

He noted that most students he spoke to reacted positively to the petition. 

“One girl said she would go on a date with me [if it went through]…. But basically, the reaction from most students was giggling or laughter,” he said. “They didn’t think it was actually possible to not pay the fee.”

A spokesperson for the KSA could not be reached for comment.

« Previous Page — Next Page »