KSA takes CFS-BC feud to B.C. Supreme Court

One-and-a-half years of bad blood between the Kwantlen Student Association and the Canadian Federation of Students, B.C. Component are about to culminate in a court battle set for Oct. 29 – 30.

The KSA filed a court petition with B.C. Supreme Court in June to settle a dispute over the CFS-BC’s refusal to ratify Kwantlen’s elected CFS-BC representative in May 2008.

“Now we find ourselves going to court, but I’m not sure why,” said Shamus Reid, chairperson for the CFS-BC.

The CFS-BC did not ratify the nomination to appoint Derek Robertson, Kwantlen’s elected director of external affairs and ex-officio representative for the CFS-BC, to the executive committee because of “actions that he took to deliberately undermine the CFS-BC,” said Reid.

“That individual was unfit as a director. The executive committee felt he couldn’t uphold his responsibilities as a director.”

The CFS-BC suggested, prior to court proceedings, that the KSA nominate a different individual to the executive committee. “The KSA has always had the opportunity to appoint another representative to the CFS,” said Reid.

Robertson said the KSA appealed to the courts for acknowledgement that the CFS-BC has no authority to disallow a member student body’s elected representative from joining the executive committee. Doing so would set a precedent avoiding future ratification disputes and would place Robertson on the committee.

“I’m not always just another CFS voice,” he said. “At times I have been very critical of the organization, and I feel that the organization could be doing a much better job.”

Robertson was a member of the CFS-BC executive committee until he resigned in February 2008 prior to a Kwantlen referendum on CFS membership. “I did not feel that I could be faithful to both organizations so I did the right thing and resigned,” he said.

After resigning, Robertson campaigned to convince students to vote against continued CFS membership. Reid said Robertson “was not forthright about his participation in a campaign to undermine the federation.” Documents that show Robertson joining anti-CFS Facebook groups before his resignation are under consideration by the B.C. Supreme Court. Following the referendum, which reaffirmed Kwantlen’s CFS membership, Robertson was re-elected and re-nominated as the CFS representative according to procedures guided by CFS bylaws but was not ratified by the executive committee, which is made up mostly by representatives from other B.C. post-secondary institutions.

The nomination and ratification processes are guided by provisions in the Societies Act and in CFS bylaws, which are being pitted against each other in the court case. While the Societies Act states that a director must act honestly and in a fitting manner, Desmond Rodenbour, general manager of the KSA, said this does not permit an organization to disqualify a person from a board of directors position if they believe someone does not have those qualities. A CFS bylaw states that the provincial executive representative shall be determined in a manner consistent with the bylaws of the local student association.

“The problem is that the CFS is somewhat secretive and chooses not to publicly post many of their internal documents,” said Rodenbour, a sentiment that Robertson shares.

“Frankly, it’s absurd for the CFS to climb in and say, ‘Well yes, there’s a process, but there’s also another process which we’re not gonna tell you about,’” said Robertson.

Rodenbour doesn’t want to elect another person to the position, calling it an issue of principle. “If they honestly believe they’ll work best only with people that they’ll agree with, they’re missing the point of democracy… If you only want one viewpoint, you can do that with one person.”

The court petition, filed during the university’s summer session, has not been revealed to students through public announcements from either organization. But Kwantlen students will be paying legal fees for both sides of the battle.

Rodenbour said legal fees could range from $10,000 to $25,000, “a very reasonable cost to have the petition resolved” when compared to the $150,000 turned over to the CFS every year.

Robertson agreed, saying, “The funny thing about this case is that Kwantlen students are being charged twice, because they’re getting charged once for legal fees with the KSA and they’re also being charged through membership dues to the CFS, which are going to this case.”

CFS membership benefits during the period without representation are questionable, according to Rodenbour, who likened the fight to the United States’ taxation without representation battle cry.

The CFS-BC is a liaison between B.C. post-secondary institutions and the government and lobbies for benefits including the reduction of tuition fees and student debt. “The CFS continues to work on issues that Kwantlen has identified as priorities,” said Reid. “Kwantlen students have given very clear direction that they want to work with other student unions all across Canada… I’m fairly mystified as to why the board of the KSA chose to [petition the court].”

Meanwhile, signatures are being collected at Kwantlen campuses to call for another referendum giving students the option to defederate from the CFS this April, when the required two-year period following CFS membership referendums has ended.

Kwantlen’s Olympic partnership trades parking for student benefits

Kwantlen’s newest Olympic partnership with the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympics Winter Games is more than just business.

As the Olympic committee gains extra parking space at all Kwantlen campuses during the Olympics, Kwantlen students will be reaping the benefits as they are exposed to a variety of opportunities.

Mary Jane Stenberg, executive director of external affairs at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, has been working on the project with staff for several years, and is excited to get students involved with the Olympics. Working closely with VANOC, Stenberg has seen her Olympic project grow vastly since sponsorship was first suggested.

Details of how the partnership began remain foggy, as the project passed through the hands of Kwantlen’s former vice-president David Ross several years ago.

“The initial [suggestion] was made from VANOC to Kwantlen,” said Stenberg.

As part of the Kwantlen-VANOC sponsorship students will gain direct access to the Vancouver Olympic Games through volunteer positions.

“We have already had recruitments for any kind of volunteer opportunity you can imagine,” said Stenberg. “These have been available to all students at all campuses”.

Volunteer opportunities range from venue-managing to media relations as well as participating in opening and closing ceremonies.

“They are still looking for volunteers,” said Stenberg. “What we ask them [students] to do is go through the VANOC website”

Aside from volunteer opportunities, Kwantlen students will also have the possibility to purchase hard-to-find Olympic event tickets.

As a sponsor for the 2010 Games Kwantlen was allowed to purchase a limited amount of Olympic tickets to sell to their students. Within the next month, students will be able to access a website specially designed for the purchase of tickets. Their names will then be entered in a lottery.

“Student will have five days to come in and purchase the tickets,” said Stenberg, “or we will go to the next name on the list.”

As part of the Olympic Contributor agreement, Kwantlen was also allowed to pick a person to be the torchbearer on the Langley leg of the Olympic torch run.

After students and staff entered an online questionnaire early last year, Kwantlen has announced Suzanne ten Haaf, a business student, will be representing Kwantlen on Feb. 8, on the 102nd day of the Olympic Torch Relay Route.

Green-thumbed students give back through toil and soil

Taking inspiration from the popular show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” Kwantlen Horticulture students remodeled the yards of a deserving Coquitlam family, the Yules. The students were just one part of the renovations, with a group called the Home Team completely remodeling the inside of the house.

This is the third year that the department has partnered with the Home Team. See the full story in Abby Wiseman’s article, which follows the photos.

By Abby Wiseman

Kwantlen horticulture students got the opportunity to get out of the classroom and put their lessons to practical use last weekend.

While Cornerstone Community Church members were renovating the home of the Yule family in Coquitlam, Kwantlen’s students designed and landscaped the backyard.

This is the third year Kwantlen students have worked with the church and the second time student Alyssa Chuback has been part of the church’s Home Team project.

“Giving back to someone who has given a lot is very rewarding, and it makes you feel good about yourself,” Chuback said.

Stan Kazymerchyk, turfgrass management instructor, feels the project is good for the students, who not only get to put their knowledge to practical use, but also get a rewarding experience, saying the students learn how “to help people, how to be people.”

The 13 students worked for two days to create a yard for the Yule family. Sunday the renovated house and yard was revealed to the family.

Homeowner Brian Yule was overwhelmed by the changes, saying that he was lost for words.

“Thank you all so much. Beautiful people, beautiful people,” Yule said.

Kazymerchyk hopes to continue getting his students involved in The Home Project for years to come.

“It would be tough to turn down,” Kazymerchyk said.

Each year, the church chooses a family in need and carries out a complete home renovation.

Kwantlen counts heads, expects record enrolment

Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s classes are more crowded this year than ever before, according to a Kwantlen press release.

The 28-year-old institution’s previous record of 17,000 students is about to be shattered, with 14,677 students enroled in courses beginning on or before Sept. 18. Trades programs starting in October, November and December are expected to put the number of students well over the previous record.

Enrolment in university studies, which do not include qualifying studies, trades or technology programs, is 10 per cent higher than last year. All program areas have seen an enrolment increase of five to 10 per cent. There are 11 per cent more course enrolments from students new to Kwantlen than there were last year. The largest growth is in the arts and business programs.

The press release attributed the growth to Kwantlen’s new university status, a new Bachelor of Arts with a Major in English and Bachelor of Science in Integrated Pest Management programs, and changes to the registration system.

Ron Maggiore, Kwantlen’s executive director of strategic enrolment management, said university status creates “greater interest, more applications and more excitement. University status adds value to a Kwantlen diploma or degree without question.”

The increase could only mean good things, he said. More students produces more revenue for the school, and “more tuition allows for the creativity to do more things.”

Maggiore said he isn’t surprised by the enrolment increase, referring to a relationship between post-secondary education attendance and the economy. When the economy is strong, enrolment tends to drop; when it sours, enrolment climbs.

The enrolment increase is not limited to Kwantlen, though the institution has the highest recorded enrolment increase of all schools in B.C.

A recent announcement from Simon Fraser Institute declared a record enrolment of 28,275 students this year, a seven per cent increase from last year.

Most of SFU’s increase is in international students, up 33 per cent from last year, transfer students and a doubling of students in faculty of health and environment.

“There seems to be a trend and increase of post-secondary students,” said Mehran Kiai, SFU’s director of enrolment services. “It’s too early to say if it’s because of the economy or other reasons.”

Kiai believes an improved admissions process and growing reputation are contributing factors to the record enrolment.

Craig MacBride, public affairs officer for the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development, was unable to confirm whether there is a trend in post-secondary education enrolment increases but suggested that one may become apparent when final data is collected this November.

“Historically, anytime it’s a recession [enrolment] goes up in universities. I suspect there is a trend,” said MacBride.

Campuses puts focus on fitness and recreation

New fitness and recreation classes are springing up across Kwantlen campuses this year as part of an initiative to get more students physically fit.

Faculty and the Kwantlen Student Association are trying to get the word out about yoga, belly dancing and hip-hop classes beginning this fall, while they brainstorm ideas for intramural sports, other classes and clubs.

Classes already introduced are hatha yoga (a gentle posture and breathing exercise class), power yoga (a cardio- and strength-intensive exercise class), belly dancing and hip-hop dancing.

Hatha yoga was offered last year and saw a moderate response from students. But small registration numbers are complicating the introduction of the new classes. Though hatha yoga and power yoga had enough registration to start as scheduled in September, the dance classes were delayed for several weeks.

Recreation coordinator John Stewart said getting students interested has been difficult, something he attributes to the lack of awareness about recreation opportunities at Kwantlen.

“You have to build a reputation, and once you get that, you get people coming to you to look for recreation programs. It’ll take some time.”

The classes, coming intramurals and clubs are being pushed by the faculty and the KSA to promote mind-and-body health.

“If they’re healthy and they’re exercising, their mind is healthy and they’ll do better in school,” Stewart said. “It’s really important to keep yourself active. You think better and you think more clearly.”

Elmo Lara, a KSA coordinator for the Student Health Improvement Program, is trying to raise awareness about a new running club that is being formed. He works to develop programs that will help students understand the connection between fitness and study success.

“If they’re not physically fit, their brain won’t be working as it should,” he said.

When asked about the relevance of the dance and yoga classes to Kwantlen students, Stewart laughed and said “they were just trying to offer something different. With the hip-hop, they were really trying to focus on something students might be interested in because it’s typically a younger style of [dance].”

The classes also reflect a gender discrepancy, which Stewart attributed to registration. Females register more frequently than males, he said, but intramural sports are generally male-driven.

Stewart is organizing several recreation classes and intramurals for introduction next semester. Ideas so far include a boot camp, kettlebells and a morning yoga session. Suggestions are welcome; contact John Stewart at (604) 599-2307.

Kwantlen prepared for new trans fat rules

British Columbia’s new trans fat regulations, the first of their kind in Canada, went into affect Sept. 30. The new restrictions promise to reduce people’s risk of exposure to industrially produced trans fat in situations where they have limited ability to know what’s in their food.

These new regulations may greatly change the way many eating establishments around the province do business, but not here at Kwantlen. “It’s been campus policy for a long time now,” said Belinda Kaplan, Director of Food Services for the Surrey campus. “We switched our products over well before the regulations came into affect.”

Consumption of saturated or trans fat has been linked to numerous health issues including heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Trans fat is responsible for an estimated 3,000 heart disease-related deaths in Canada each year according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC.

There are two kinds of trans fat, which occurs naturally in some meats like beef and lamb and in many dairy products. It’s also industrially produced, formed during hydrogenation, a process used to harden and stabilize liquid vegetable oils. It’s these industrially produced trans fats that the regulations announced by the Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport in B.C. are targeting.

For the past three years, food services on campus at Kwantlen have been ahead of the trans fat curve, using reduced fat margarine, trans fat free muffin mix and trans fat free oils in all of the deep fryers.

B.C.’s new restrictions require all soft spreadable margarine and oil to be two per cent trans fat or less of the total fat content.

All foods stored, prepared, served and sold at food service establishments, including restaurants, cafeterias, educational and health care institutions, schools and delis, will be under scrutiny.

The new regulations will be monitored and enforced by environmental health officers as part of their routine food safety inspections.

According to Kaplan, Kwantlen will have no trouble meeting or exceeding the new requirements since preparations were already made prior to the B.C. government’s announcement of changes.

East meets west in new degree

A new bachelors degree program at Kwantlen could have students looking distinctly eastward for inspiration.

History professor Frank Abbott attended the most recent Kwantlen senate meeting to speak about the creation of a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies program.

“We started discussing it five years ago,” said Abbott, one of the developers for the new degree.

He and his associates felt that this degree was an obvious one to create, given the demographics of Kwantlen students, and the rise of status of countries such as India and China.

The program combines a number of existing courses in several different faculties, including history, psychology and sociology.

“The courses have been here for years. Why not put it together so you can give students a coherent package?” he asked.

In the program, students will be able to gain an understanding of how Asian culture has developed and works, both outside and inside Canada.

Because the degree is less academically driven, unlike its counterparts at UBC or SFU, Abbott believes the courses will also be beneficial to those outside the program.

Business students, he mentioned, could benefit from gaining a sense of Asian culture, allowing them to be more effective in overseas transactions.

Their goal is to “overcome the cultural ignorance that afflicts many North Americans, by giving our students an insight into these cultures.”

And Abbott and his associates are trying to spread the influence as far as possible.

He hopes that, once it becomes a full-fledged program, opportunities and funding for sending students abroad will be available.

The developer team is also fighting a policy that states all the third- and fourth-year courses would be taught at the Surrey campus.

With the new Skytrain running past it, it would be a bad idea to exclude Richmond campus from the higher-level courses, he said.

By offering couress at both locations, Abbott thinks that Kwantlen can capture those students who make look to other institutions for their education.

While the new degree was passed without opposition at Monday’s Senate meeting, Abbott still has a long way to go to get his program approved.

They’ll need to submit their full proposal, with course outlines and potential teachers, to the senate for approval, which they hope to do at the November meeting.

“We hope it could be ready by next fall,” he said.

In Abbott’s favour is the powerful support it has garnered, as Dave Atkinson, president of Kwantlen and chair of the senate supports the creation of the program.

“When you look at the demographic of Kwantlen campuses, this is a program that is long, long overdue,” he said.

Women’s soccer team’s spirit unbroken

Through the Kwantlen Eagles’ women’s soccer team has started their season off 1-4, their spirit isn’t broken, said head coach Vladimir Samozvanov.

The young team, made up of 10 rookies and nine returning players, is in the middle of a rebuilding season, but they’re making progress every game.

“Yes, we are in a rebuilding year, but I hate to call it that because I don’t want to write off the season,” said Samozvanov. “I want to accomplish something.”

The team might do that. Samozvanov said this is the best team he’s had in his three years of coaching Kwantlen’s women’s team.

Last weekend in Kelowna and Kamloops served as a “very valuable maturing experience” for the team as they played the two top teams in the league, UBC-Okanagan (UBCO) and Thompson Rivers University (TRU).

Against UBCO, the Eagles had an even match with the Heat, the score 1-1 until the 85th minute, when the home team scored the winning goal.

In Kamloops, it was another tight game, but after key injuries to goaltender Amelia Ng and midfielder Christina Henderson, the TRU offence found the back of the net. Kwantlen kept the WolfPack on their heels, but couldn’t find an equalizer, dropping the game 1-0.

Samozvanov is optimistic about upcoming games though, saying that his team’s mental toughness and their talent will be the solution to their early-season struggles.

The Eagles have three home games over the next two weekends, the first of which is this Saturday, Sept. 26, against the Douglas College (DC) Royals.

Samozvanov knows that DC will give them a tough, physical game, but he isn’t worried.

“Our team has shown over the last two games that they’re here and ready to play,” he said. “I haven’t made any specific preparations for this weekend, but I haven’t seen Douglas play this season.

“Once the game gets going, I might have some ideas about where to put everyone, but…we need to rely on skill and determination and we have both.”

Men’s soccer season off to a slow start

The 2009 season hasn’t started the way the Kwantlen Eagles men’s soccer team had hoped.

Their 0-5 record doesn’t look great, but head coach Richard Goddard said the team has played better than it looks.

“We’re a young team and getting progressively better. The final scores, especially our last game against UNBC, [don’t] dictate the chances we’ve made,” said Goddard.

He said that because this year’s team is young – there are only eight returning players, two of them goalies – some players will make mistakes at the worst times. What needs to happen is getting the players to work through their  learning curve and have them ready to play at any time.

The fact the players come from different leagues is part of it, too. They still have to learn to play together.

The Eagles have lost twice to UNBC and once to Capilano College this season but Goddard said that they haven’t lost to just any team. He’s been impressed with the play of both Capilano, a powerhouse in the university men’s soccer world, and UNBC.

Kwantlen looked to turn things around this weekend in Kelowna, against UBC-Okanagan (UBCO), and in Kamloops, against Thompson Rivers University (TRU).

Goddard, who started coaching the team at the beginning of the season, made changes to the line-up for the trip because of many players returning from injury and thought that these changes would make a difference on the field.

“We’re hoping to have a vast majority of players available who are coming back from injury,” he said, going into the weekend. “I believe we will be better prepared.”

Those changes didn’t make much of a difference. The Eagles lost 4-0 to UBCO Saturday and 3-1 to TRU Sunday.

The Eagles’ next home game is this Saturday, Sept. 26, against the Douglas College Royals at noon at Newton Athletic Park.

The fashionable folk

Kwantlen’s fashion students showed off their creations at their annual fashion show, Wednesday, April 1, at River Rock, and reporter Alicia-Rae Light was there to capture the moment, and the creativity of the students. Her photo slideshow, with a soundtrack by the duo Lights Go Blue:

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