LSU election installs new leadership after shrinking board
Incumbents re-elected amid governance changes
BY VALENTINA BARRERA ARGUELLO
VANCOUVER, B.C. — Langara College students have elected their new representatives for the Langara Students’ Union (LSU) following a week of voting that concluded on Oct. 17. This year’s election filled seven key positions on the LSU board and was marked by recent structural changes.
The LSU’s annual election, held every fall, selects students to serve a one-year term on the LSU board. The students are meant to perform several duties and are paid stipends, which last year ranged from $2,800 for the position of an Indigenous student representative to $44,260 for the vice-president of finance and administration.
Election Results
According to results posted Friday afternoon, Navroop Kaur was elected president with 77 votes in favour, five against, and three spoiled ballots. This marks her second consecutive year serving in the same position. Aman Kaur was elected vice-president of finance and administration with 77 yes votes, six no votes, and two spoiled ballots. She is also returning in the same role.
Parth Singhal was chosen as vice-president of student life with 77 votes in favour, four against, and four spoiled. Singhal previously served as a general representative.
For the position of vice-president internal and external affairs, the only category where there was more than one candidate running, Preet Kaur received the most votes with 42. Vansh Gupta received 36 and Juno Lim received four. Three ballots were spoiled in this category. Gupta previously served as the international students’ representative.
For the position of Indigenous students’ representative, Mateo Kulp Peterson was elected with 80 votes in favour, three against, and two spoiled ballots. Anjali Gaught will serve as international students’ representative after receiving 76 votes in favour, seven against, and two spoiled ballots. Gurkirat Singh was elected diversity and inclusion representative with 82 votes in favour, two against, and one spoiled ballot. Singh also served last year as a general representative.
Board Positions Reduced
Following a special resolution at last summer’s AGM, the number of student board members has gone down from 12 to seven.
The LSU said the change was meant to streamline decision-making and enhance accountability within the LSU. The AGM special resolution to reduce the number of student board members was still posted on the LSU’s website agenda as of Thursday evening. However, the LSU has not posted the results of that vote, nor provided official updates on amendments to the organization’s bylaws reflecting this change. On Friday, the LSU’s bylaws on its website still showed the board composition to have 11 members.
Voting and Ballot Counting
Polling opened Oct. 14 and continued through Friday at 2:00 p.m., with voting stations located in the Lower Lounge of the LSU Building.
As of Friday evening, the official election results had not been posted on any of the LSU’s official websites or social media platforms. However, they appeared on a printed sheet taped outside the LSU offices in the LSU Building, signed by Chief Returning Officer Manpreet Kaur — a name that, until now, did not appear in any official LSU online records or election materials.
Moving Forward
The elections mark an important chapter for student leadership at Langara. For years, students and candidates alike have called for increased transparency regarding election management and governance changes.
Recent elections have been the subject of complaints from students who say they were hindered in their attempts to run. Last fall, a group of Langara students protested the LSU annual election after their petition to cancel the vote was refused. Langara student Dilpreet Mann, who was denied a nomination to run for president by the LSU’s elections committee, had gathered a 250-name petition calling for the LSU elections to be cancelled.
It’s an excellent article, but it seems like it was written by a professional journalist. I’m not sure if it’s permissible for a journalist to comment.
And the heart of the matter exposes an issue that involves budgeting, voting, and interference in the election itself. It won’t be considered the same as the tyrants who rule the world. Is that what our students are taught?