"Chaos at Kwantlen" - Kwantlen Students Association - SGM - November 30th 2011

The Students of Kwantlen Polytechnic University held a special general meeting on November 30th to impeach their current council, and bring in new by-laws to reduce the chances of corruption occurring within the society. The meeting was impeded at all costs, including by pepper spraying students, and pulling fire alarms.

Details can be found here: http://runnermag.ca/2011/11/students-attempt-to-oust-ksa-board/

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[thomasknudsen7]

Why didn't the opposition get to come inside the meeting? The pictures and videos from the SGM show they were clearly there, but none of them were in the meeting with us. Their actions were reprehensible, but it seems rather odd that we'd make a point of giving them the opportunity in the meeting to defend themselves, but we didn't allow any of them to come in.

[dhollick604]

@thomasknudsen7 I was near the door most the time - and no-one was refused entry... It's a falsity that's been spread around to question the validity of it. So if there was anyone refused, I'd have to say the onus is on them to prove that. The security was hired and under order of the university, so students/organizers had no say who could go in or couldn't.

[dhollick604]

@thomasknudsen7 I'd also think that if anyone was refused... there would have been a scuffle at the door with at least a good shouting match.

[smile221]

@frandogg The sister of the guy who headed the council for the last 4 years came in in april, dropped all legal proceedings against him and carried on doing the exact same thing

[aneelmattu]

@PunjabiPhreshh They did, but the opposition decided pulling the fire alarms and tear gas was the mature way to handle it

[Huesenheimer]

@PunjabiPhreshh Stop pulling fire alarms then idiot

[dhollick604]

@thomasknudsen7 It would be counterproductive to what the organizers wanted. They know that if there was ANY evidence of refusal, it would make the meeting invalid in court - and they expected it to go to court. I too was surprised that there was no opposition to be honest... But I think when you have 350 angry sudents in a room - it's best to pick and choose your battles :P I did see some opposition members there, but they acted merely as observers.

[thomasknudsen7]

@dhollick604 At the time I thought maybe they had decided to boycott it, or they were bright enough to just accept defeat and were laying low, but then some of them reappeared with the clashes over access to the KSA office and that whole Aaron Takhar fiasco/protest.

Perhaps I was too quick to assume that they had been denied entry. I certainly hope that wasn't the case, and it would seem out of character for the organizers to do that.

[thomasknudsen7]

@dhollick604 I didn't see anything resembling refusal of entry either, so that's why I found it so odd.

From the pics in the Runner, it's clear that some of them were there outside, like Nipun Pandy, and I thought I saw Nina Sandhu, but no one voiced any opposition once we were in the meeting. Granted it would have been rather intimidating to go against the crowd, but for any major controversy like this, you'd expect at least some kind of debate, esp when the opportunity was given.

[StevenRNicholls]

This story just keeps getting deeper and deeper lol I am lucky to be a Board member at Brock where we have fail safes in place to stop such corruption