Kwantlen University student newspaper threatened with shutdown

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A student petition at Kwantlen Polytechnic University calling for the campus newspaper, The Runner, to delete every mention of the school’s student association and to dissolve, seems to be going nowhere.

For now.

The petition garnered more than the 100 signatures needed to force a special general meeting of the non-profit society Polytechnic Ink Publishing Society (PIPS), which publishes The Runner.

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In addition to the initial demands, the petition also calls for PIPS to get rid of a bylaw prohibiting Kwantlen Student Association executives from being on the PIPS board. PIPS also publishes the school’s literature and visual arts magazine, Pulp MAG.

“The student council does not agree with a lot of what we publish,” said Claudia Culley, The Runner’s editor-in-chief. “I don’t agree with their take on this.”

The petition had put a deadline of “after Sept. 15 immediately, for the PIPS to hold its special general meeting,” but as of Wednesday afternoon there were no repercussions after no meeting was held.

The Kwantlen Student Association also had its own scheduled special general meeting for Thursday postponed after the school withdrew permission to use KPU space. The student association’s bylaws prevent it from meeting outside school property.

“The safety and security of KPU students is the university’s top priority and we were very concerned about the safety of students attending the KSA’s special general meeting scheduled for Sept. 26,” Joshua Mitchell, associate vice-president of student affairs, said in a statement.

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“The KSA had requested KPU provide 18 additional security staff to supervise the meeting.”

Mitchell also expressed “serious concerns” related to proposed constitutional and bylaw changes that were being sought by the student association.

Among the proposed changes, the KSA wanted to severely restrict the amount of time the media and public may be present during meetings, and to increase the terms of student association executives from one year to two.

Mitchell said the university was concerned students were not properly consulted about the proposed changes and that the “changes would restrict the rights of students to exercise control of their society and influence how their money is spent.”

Student elections are held in February.

A lot of Kwantlen’s students are taking two-year diplomas, meaning if the motion were to pass a student enrolling for the fall of 2025 could have the same student association executives throughout their time at the university with no say about who is on the board of directors.

Since both PIPS and the Kwantlen Student Association are non-profit societies, under B.C. law they are independent of KPU administration and are supposed to be democratic organizations that must comply with their own constitution and bylaws.

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Both are funded by student fees, which Kwantlen collects (along with tuition) and passes on.

KPU has a student enrolment of about 20,000, but only seven per cent of students voted in the 2024 student association general election.

The students association did not reply to interview requests, but in a letter to the editor published on Aug. 12 in The Runner, the association collectively criticized the student newspaper for “misleading and defamatory reporting, overlooking positive contributions, and legal and ethical concerns.”

It began, “In solidarity as the Kwantlen Student Association council board of directors 2024 … we assert that The Runner has consistently neglected to highlight the positive contributions and initiatives undertaken by the KSA, instead focusing on controversies and criticisms without adequate context or balance.”

No one knows who is behind the petition.

“I don’t know that the KSA is,” Culley said. “I don’t want to say that they’re behind it because I don’t have any proof of it, but I do know there are motions on that petition that are specifically, directly related to them.”

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Chad Skelton, who teaches journalism at Kwantlen, has trained most of the student journalists working at The Runner.

“So I like them and stuff,” said Skelton, an award-winning data journalist and one-time Vancouver Sun reporter. “But when I read the articles, I feel like they’re very fair.

“They try to give the student association their due, but to be honest I think some of the stuff that the student association is doing is in the interest of the people on the student association, and not really in the interests of the students at Kwantlen.

“When The Runner reports on that, people get upset.”

gordmcintyre@postmedia.com

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