KSA seminar teaches do-it-yourself beer-making

Who needs a liquor license when students can make their own beer?

On Jan. 19, Nathan Griffiths of the KSA lead a home-brewing seminar at Kwantlen’s Cloverdale campus for about a dozen students, teaching them how to fermented lagers and ales.

“Beer is always popular, definitely an important part of social life,” said Griffiths,  who had a copy of Homebrewing for Dummies. “I just wanted to kind of teach them the science and the process and the history, and of course, how to make it yourself for fun and save some money.”

For the KSA, teaching students to make beer is cheaper than getting a liquor license for a special event, which was a factor in making this first of four educational seminars.

Griffiths got into homebrewing after going to a you-brew business and learning the process of brewing batches of beer.

“I find it to be a much more social way to have friends over,” he said. “If they do a batch, I’ll do a batch and we can swap back and forth. That way, you’re not drinking half a keg of one type of beer.”

It’s illegal to distill hard alcohol, but making beer, wine and cider at home is permitted.

Griffiths recommends first-time brewers use a kit, which is often affordable and come with the ingredients needed to make beer: pre-mixed barley, hops, yeast and fine sugar. He stresses that the instruments must be sanitized because any bacteria can ruin a batch.

The process of homebrewing involves boiling sugar and the contents of a kit in water and leaving it in the primary fermenter for a week. Then it is moved into a secondary fermenter for another two to eight weeks (depending on the recipe) to make the beer more flavourful. Another cup of fine sugar is added to create carbonation and the beer is siphoned into bottles for one more week before consumption.

The temperature is also key during fermentation. Ales can be brewed at room temperature, but lagers should be kept at 10 C.

Events such as this are to being held to encourage student life on different campuses. Cloverdale has two more seminars: one on tenant’s rights and another on the B.C. Industry Training Authority for apprenticeships in different fields of work.

Richmond campus licensed event says more than ‘Get drunk’

Reena Bali, the Richmond campus director, thinks that Kwantlen needs a better student life. That’s why she and other KSA members from the Richmond campus decided to put together a “licensed event” on Wednesday, Jan. 27.

The conference rooms at the Richmond campus were designated as the licensed area, where snacks such as chips and dip were provided, and alcohol was sold. Bali said the event, which was held from 1 to 7 p.m., took nearly two months to plan.

“Getting alcohol and food is very simple,” she said. “The longest part is getting the school to approve it, waiting to hear back, and then finding someone to get the liquor license.”

Students who came to the event had to present two pieces of ID to enter the designated licensed area, and were given a wristband to show they were of legal drinking age. There were also flyers that featured all local taxi numbers for students who needed a way home after the event.

Bali said the licensing event is a result of student interest. People repeatedly asked her, while the KSA was giving away free food, when the campus would “sell beer.”

“Richmond will probably be licensed in the long run,” she said. “We should be licensed because we need more of a university atmosphere. Most universities have some kind of licenesd area or a pub area, and Surrey has one… it’s part of the student culture and life that we don’t see here.”

Instead of going back into the KSA’s budget, 100 per cent of proceeds from alcohol sold at the event went to relief efforts in Haiti.

BC Supreme Court establishes precedent in KSA v. CFS-BC ruling

The B.C. Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Kwantlen Student Association Wednesday morning, putting an end to a two-year dispute over the Canadian Federation of Students-B.C. Component’s refusal to accept Derek Robertson, the student associations’s representative, on its board of directors.

Madame Justice Brown’s decision, stated that the CFS-BC board of directors was in violation of section 24 of the Society Act-BC and the CFS-BC’s own bylaws. The ruling set a precedent that bars societies in B.C. from applying provisions beyond those set in the Society Act-B.C. to determine qualification for appointment to a board of directors or membership of a society.

Brown awarded the KSA with Robertson’s appointment to the board of directors and legal costs associated with the court petition.

“We’re perplexed,” said Shamus Reid, chairperson for the CFS-BC. “The B.C. Society Act provides that directors of society are legally responsible for protecting the society from harm.”

Robertson, director of external affairs for the KSA and ex-officio representative for the CFS-BC, held office on the board of directors for the CFS-BC previous to a conflict of interest in February 2008, when he resigned to campaign to have the KSA leave the CFS.

Following a referendum, which reaffirmed Kwantlen students’ interest in remaining members of the CFS, Robertson’s nomination to rejoin the board of directors was not ratified by the CFS-BC.

“He intended to do damage to society in all comments. The only check against that is the ratification process,” said Reid.

Many other societies in B.C. have a dual ratification process, he added. “This ruling will have a profound negative consequence for societies all across B.C.”

Robertson said he is thrilled about the decision. “I’ve been quite discouraged by the fact that Kwantlen has been without a representative for almost two years. I have to keep in mind that I do now have obligations to both societies. I am there to represent the views of Kwantlen students and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

He admitted that he doubts Kwantlen students will notice any difference in benefits from their CFS membership. “A representative on the board of directors is simply a symbolic thing… The CFS will go on with business as usual.”

Reid is also concerned about whether Kwantlen students will see any improvement in the benefits they receive. He said Robertson has made it difficult for the CFS to be on campus but it will be a priority to ensure that members have access to services they are entitled to “regardless of whether the local leadership is being antagonistic.”

“I don’t like to speculate on the judge’s background and experience, but I certainly think that this ruling doesn’t show a familiarity with the societies system within B.C.,” he said. “Any court ruling that overturns the democratic rule of a majority ruling is not in the best interest of society so we don’t think that is an appropriate ruling to make.”

Robertson considered the court battle, which included screenshots of his membership in anti-CFS Facebook groups, “a hail Mary.” The KSA focused on the law in the Society Act regarding requirements for being a director of a society, he said.

“The CFS cannot prevent diverging views from the board of directors anymore, which I’m sure they’ve been doing.”

The CFS-BC is honouring the ruling but will be “evaluating our legal options,” said Reid, hinting at the possibility of an appeal.

“We accept that at this point Mr. Robertson is the director and we certainly expect that he will uphold his responsibilities, though I believe that he has shown inability to do that in the past,” he said.

Robertson’s current term as director of external affairs and ex-officio representative for the CFS-BC will end on March 31, 2010.

Kwantlen, KSA distribute on-campus H1N1 vaccines

In a joint effort, Kwantlen Polytechnic University and the KSA are providing free H1N1 vaccinations this week to students and employees at all four campuses.

Since Tuesday, more than a hundred on-vaccinations have been administered at the Surrey and Richmond campuses.

Lesley England, a registered nurse with ProGroup, said the turnout for vaccinations has been quite good. On Monday, she expected to give 70 vaccinations at the Surrey campus. She gave 88.

By 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, she’d vaccinated another 45 students on the Richmond campus.

“A lot of people who are getting the H1N1 [vaccine] have never had flu vaccines before,” said England, who is expecting a third wave of the H1N1 influenza virus to arrive in February.

Nurses will visit the Langley campus Thursday and the Cloverdale campus Friday in hopes of immunizing procrastinating students.

When the H1N1 vaccine was being developed last fall, the KSA hoped to include it in the health and dental plan. However, the government purchased enough of the vaccine for all Canadians and offered it for free at clinics.

“It’s readily available now. You can go to your doctor and get the shot,” said Eddie Lee, coordinator of the Student Health Improvement Program.

“However, we know that there are students and employees who probably still won’t go–it’s a lack of convenience for them, so we decided to bring it on campus.”

It’s that inconvenience that has kept Nick Mostar, 22, from finding time for the vaccination.

“I’ve been doing schoolwork and haven’t really had the time to go to a clinic or anything,” said Mostar who is in the engineering program.

Not all students have waited quite as long. Brandon Tuason, 21, got the H1N1 vaccine several months ago. He was at risk of getting the virus because, at birth, he was diagnosed with severe asthma, making him more prone to infection.

“We’re in an environment where everybody’s kinda in close quarters,” said Tuason. “Infections can spread really quickly. I think the school is taking a good initiative in preventing a lot of that by giving the immunization away.”

KSA gets students to give to Haiti, will try to match donations

In an effort to raise money for Haiti, the Richmond campus Kwantlen Student Association exchanged cereal for donations to World Vision yesterday.

Reena Bali, Richmond campus director, said the KSA no goal for the amount of money it wants to raise, but said that the KSA will try and match every dollar donated.

“We’re just hoping for anything, because for them even a little is a lot,” said Bali.

The KSA had originally planned a free toast and warm breakfast for students, but with the crisis in Haiti they decided to change the breakfast into a fundraiser.

The KSA at Richmond campus will be accepting donations until the end of the week, and urges people to donate whatever they can to World Vision or a similar charity.

Bali also advises people to research the charities to make sure that all the proceeds go towards the people of Haiti.

KSA program fee increases show up on tuition, five programs added

Many students may not have noticed when the KSA held a referendum last fall to add new programs by increasing the fees students pay. But after paying this semester’s tuition, many more will have.

Every fee increase voted on during the fall 2009 referendum was approved.

“We weren’t expecting all of them to pass,” said Steve Lee, the KSA’s director of finance, “so when all of them did, it made things more challenging in terms of what resources would go where for this year, while keeping to the commitment of ensuring that the total increase would not be more than 15 per cent of what we were already collecting.”

That 15 per cent restriction means that only five of the programs approved by students will be implemented this year. None of the other fees approved will be added until the fall, but fees will be adjusted on an annual basis starting in the fall of 2010, and each subsequent September, until all of the approved programs are up and running.

The KSA chose which programs would be implemented first, based on a combination of which referendum questions received the most student support and which programs could most quickly be put in place, said Lee.

The five program fees that the KSA decided to add to this semester’s tuition include the sub fee, START volunteer program fee, REEBOOT program fee, intramurals fee and the clubs and events fee.

“REEBOOT was ready for implementation, as was START,” said Lee. “Events was a no-brainer, as that funding will help relieve pressure on our base budget.”

Another one of the fee increases that will help the KSA’s bottom line in 2010 is the sub fee increase. According to Lee, that fee will help the KSA to meet the repayment schedule on a $1.6-million loan made by the student association in the late ’90s to help pay for the social areas of the recently renamed G-Building, the Surrey campus home to the gym, fitness centre, KSA offices and the Grassroots Café.

“The bulk of this (loan) has been paid back,” said Lee, “but there is still some money outstanding and our goal is to eliminate that debt as soon as possible.”

Any money left over after the student association’s debt repayment will be banked and earmarked for a new Student Union Building in Surrey, as well as for student centres on the Richmond, Langley and Cloverdale campuses.

The START volunteer program is aimed at getting more students involved in the KSA through volunteer opportunities. The KSA will hire some students as volunteer coordinators and others will be able to gain experience volunteering around campus.

Students who have computers in need of repair will be able to take advantage of the KSA’s new REEBOOT program. The program will allow students to get computers and laptops serviced at a low cost.

The clubs and events program fee will be used by the KSA to offset money they are currently spending on events. This funding in 2010 will also go towards restoring the KSA staff position of events and clubs coordinator.

Students interested in athletics will be able to take advantage of the intramurals program, which will lead to intramural sport leagues. According to Lee, the intramurals program will be run in cooperation with the university, which has proposed matching the funds the KSA puts into the program dollar for dollar.

KSA jokingly takes alcohol seriously

When the Grassroots Cafe got its liquor license, the KSA developed a group to select the beer that would be served in the cafe. That group was the Beer and Girly Drinks Committee.

The reason for the name?

“It was funny. I think that was it,” said John O’Brian, the KSA Cloverdale Assembly Coordinator.

Nathan Griffiths, the KSA Director of Operations and former co-chair of the Beer and Girly Drinks Committee, said, “At this point, it’s just a funny, quirky thing that’s become part of the culture of the society.”

While the group has succeeded in getting sponsorships with Okanagan Spring Brewery, Sleeman Breweries and Dos Equis, there aren’t any “girly drinks” available. The committee is looking into those, but also says that despite the committees name, manly drinks are not excluded.

However, beer and girly drinks aren’t the only concerns that the KSA deemed worth their own oddly-named committee.

When Ashley Fehr realized the abbreviation for the Academic Issues Committee sounded like “ache,” she felt the committee needed a name change. That’s what prompted the strange name of the Friends and Knights Tackling All Scary/Terrifying Issues/Crises.

Abbreviated, that’s FANTASTIC (The “k” in “Knights” is lowercase and the “n” is uppercase.)

“I was like, all the committees should be awesome words,” said Fehr. “That’s why I decided to make mine FANTASTIC, because if you’re a fantastic committee, then hopefully you can do fantastic things.”

As the Director of Academics, Fehr said that despite the change, the KSA still tackles important academic issues.

“It was not meant to say academic issues aren’t serious,” she said. “We just wanted to do something fun, lighten the mood a bit because before it sounded like ‘ache’ and that’s not very inspiring.”

FANTASTIC will soon go through another name change as the group will become a student senate. One member from each academic and social club will become a member of the senate and they will hold discussions on academic issues.

“The student senate, in my opinion, in my vision, would still talk about those issues as well,” said Fehr. “It would just have a broader scope of what other students think about it instead of just council members who generally are like-minded individuals.”

Richmond students welcomed back with food, info

Both new and returning students were greeted by slices of pizza and air brushed tattoos, when they walked through the doors of Kwantlen’s Richmond campus this week. The food and festivities are part of the Kwantlen Student Association’s Welcome Back Week, which gave students a chance to get familiar with the different services available this semester and get free food.

Students had to wait patiently for their pizza, which came from the Fresh Slice on Granville Street, because the location in the Lansdowne Mall was closed because of a planned power outage. Vanessa Knight, the director of student life for the KSA, hoped the event planned for Thursday at the Langley campus would go smoother. Students at the Cloverdale campus were to be treated to a pancake breakfast and guest speakers for the next month, said Knight.

Among the displays at Richmond was one from Apex Martial Arts, which is offering students 10 classes for $60, hosted at the Yyoga studio on the Richmond campus. “It’s an awesome deal for students,” said Marcy Hilario, assistant kickboxing coach and assistant kids martial arts coach at Apex. “Regularly, if you go to a martial arts studio it’s $25 for one class.”

A free drop-in session will be offered Wednesday, Jan. 13, with the 10 sessions starting the following week.

Hip-hop dancing and pilates will also be offered in the studio: for a complete schedule check the Student Health Improvement Plan’s website .

Amanda of Tattoos For Now was turning out the air brushed tattoos all day. She encouraged students to check out the web site and try out the tanning the studio offers. (Kyle Vinoly photo)

This student decided to go for something besides a panther, which the artist said was the most popular tattoo of the day.(Kyle Vinoly photo)

Students didn't seem to mind waiting for the free pizza to arrive from down town. (Kyle Vinoly photo)

There were student volunteers on hand to help guide curious students through the various booths. (Kyle Vinoly photo)

Vanessa Knight said that feeding the trade students at the Cloverdale campus is a frightening experience. (Kyle Vinoly photo)

Langley KSA director takes to the stage

While her weekdays are filled with homework and studying, Jennifer Campbell’s weekends consist of slapstick comedy, merry songs and the eternal struggle of good versus evil.

Such is the life of an actor.

Campbell, the KSA director for Langley campus, has had a love of acting since Grade 1, and is currently rehearsing for a production of Robin Hood.

The familiar tale is of the cunning Robin Hood who steals from the rich and gives to the poor, thus foiling the plots of the wicked Sherrif of Nottingham and winning the hand of fair Maid Marian.

The play is in pantomime form, which, contrary to popular belief, includes quite a bit of talking and even singing.

“It’s very loud. There’s a whole lot of audience participation,” said Campbell.

She explained that pantomime, or “panto” as it is commonly known, is a specific style of theatre with several reoccurring elements.

A woman always plays the lead male role in a panto, and the play also features dames: men dressed up as women.

“It’s supposed to be like an asexual character, so the dame can make fun of both sexes and it doesn’t matter,” she said.

For Campbell, who is a part of the chorus and plays the girlfriend of Little John, the panto was an opportunity to get back into something she loves.

“I feel more like myself and more confident on stage than I do anywhere else,” she said.

The constant rehearsing since September has created a close group, which Campbell appreciates.

“I think it’s just being onstage and being a part of a family,” she said. “My very first day I was greeted with a hug.”

Robin Hood runs from Dec. 17 to Jan. 3 at the Surrey Arts Centre and tickets are $24.95 for adults, $19.95 for students and seniors and $12.95 for children under 12.

Opinion: U-Pass plan bigger than saving bucks

The Kwantlen Student Association’s plan to introduce a U-Pass by September 2010 looks like a win-win for Kwantlen students.

The KSA, in conjunction with the Ministry of Transportation and Translink, hopes to have the green light on a U-Pass plan, which is still being formed, in time for a standalone referendum in April.

“I really do feel that this is possible,” said Derek Robertson, director of external affairs for the KSA.

Transit ridership among Kwantlen students is estimated to be at only about 20 to 25 per cent. That leaves a jaw-dropping majority of students who, at first glance, will be paying for a service that they won’t use. And at an open-for-discussion $20-a-month objective, that’s a lot of money that three-quarters of the student population will be paying so the others can get cheaper transit.

What good is a U-Pass to us, the drivers, bicyclers and students who are dropped off?

I contacted Translink and the Ministry of Transportation to get answers. Sappy answers.

“Some students who said they wouldn’t use it do end up using it,” said Ken Hardie, director of communications at Translink. He also argued the merits of having a pre-paid ride home after drunken parties.

He even said “Translink itself does not have plans to expand the U-Pass program,” because it was not organized in a manner that would allow widespread implementation. Rather, it is taking its cue from the Ministry of Transportation, where government officials are aiming to fulfill a campaign promise of a universal U-Pass by next September.

More parking spaces, lower fuel emissions and less traffic was the best that Linda Gold, spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation, could come up with.

Luckily, the KSA has their act together.

“We cannot put a U-Pass to the students that benefits some but harms others,” said Robertson. The KSA will spend the next few months compiling results from this fall’s U-Pass consultations and surveys to draft a proposal that will be discussed in meetings with the minister of transportation, Translink, local MPs and local MLAs.

The meetings will focus on “nonnegotiable” requirements for improvement to transit service before tentative agreements will be made. Robertson is planning to ask for improvements to transit service, which may involve requests for an increase in transit frequency and better campus, Skytrain and major urban centre connections.

He’ll also focus on adding extra services, including bike racks on transit, bike lockers on campus and regular on-campus bike clinics. Although there won’t be any opt-out for students, a carpool discount may be introduced with the condition that drivers be added to a registry that other students can use to discover local carpool pals.

Odds are good that Kwantlen will be receiving a U-Pass on the low end of the scale for colleges and universities in the U-Pass program, because the low ridership is subsidized by the greater student population. Currently, Translink charges students at the University of British Columbia $25 a month, the lowest price for any U-Pass in B.C., because of the school’s low ridership at the time the program was initiated. At present, the KSA is leaning towards implementing the U-Pass for both full-time and part-time students, which they hope will help more part-time students to transition to full-time status.

Earlier this year, the KSA declined participation in OnePassNow talks, which pushed for a $25 U-Pass for all Metro Vancouver students, because the transit-improvement needs for Kwantlen students were greater than the needs of the student unions represented. Robertson feared that Emily Carr and Vancouver Community College would not act on Kwantlen’s behalf to request transit improvements, and said that Kwantlen students would be paying for lower service than other participating colleges would receive.

“They have arguably the best transit in the province,” he said. “They are not seeking transit upgrades.”

Robertson also explained that the age-old offer of a $19 U-Pass for Kwantlen students was turned down because there would not have been any transit upgrades, which rendered it useless to the better half of the student population.

The KSA wants the province introduce a U-Pass levied at different rates according to school ridership to make it revenue-neutral for Translink, as is currently done, but with a universal provincial subsidy to keep the price down.

The requirement for transit improvements is a good one. I’d gladly pay an extra $80 or so each semester for a shorter ride to campus. But there’s a lot of work to be done before transit service south of the Fraser River is worth a dime or two. The KSA doesn’t have much time to move that mountain before its plan for a U-Pass vote by April passes Kwantlen students by — again.

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