Langara student club members feel “strangled” by college restrictions

By LYDIA OCHIENG

Langara clubs say that room booking difficulties and a new 28-day advance notice of event policy are “strangling student life.”

Rae Parsons, president of the Langara Genders and Sexualities Alliance, said in a written statement they were shocked by the new policy and pointed out that it is impacting student life.

“Room bookings have been perfectly fine in the past, which is part of why this has been a shock,” they wrote.

Clubs help students find community

Langara College student clubs were surprised this semester by a new requirement to give the college 28-days notice for events. Clubs also experienced a one-week freeze in booking rooms earlier this term.

Akashdeep Singh, vice president of events and operations at the Langara Punjabi Association, said that recent room booking issues and the notice policy have reduced the frequency of their events.

“We have a passion to create cultural awareness…. So we try to organize events, but like, planning it in 28 days of advance is not feasible,” said Singh.

Singh said that his club is run by volunteers who need to focus on academics and part-time jobs.

A common trend for Langara

Nankling Dazel, president of the Nigerian Community at Douglas College, says that she feels well-supported by the student union and her club is only subject to a three-day minimum notice requirement for booking rooms.

“Any email we send to them we just get like a straight response and all that stuff … their responses have just been like, amazing,” said Dazel.

Ayla Maxfield, former president of the Langara Kinesiology Association, was not surprised to learn about the hold.

“I find things are changing very frequently and it’s hard to keep track of what’s policy, what we’re supposed to do as a club,” said Maxfield.

Context behind the room booking freeze

The college’s student engagement office said the freeze in room bookings was due to a miscommunication between various college departments. It said in an email to the Voice that the requirement for 28-day notice for events has been a “longstanding guideline for event booking requests by the college events committee.”

It said in June it informed staff and faculty that any event under four weeks notice would be automatically refused, with some exceptions.

Clubs at other institutions face similar policies

Kwantlen Polytechnic University clubs face similar challenges such as a six-week notice requirement for booking most rooms and occasional interruptions to room booking services.

Vanshika Jain, clubs and outreach coordinator at the Kwantlen Student Association, said in a written statement that their organization emphasizes transparency and collaboration:

“We work hard to support clubs in their operations, from event planning to funding, while ensuring that they adhere to [student union] policies. Our goal is to create a thriving environment for student engagement and learning,” said Jain.

Mansukh Sidhu, the founder and former president of the Kwantlen Bhangra Club, said he had problems with booking rooms on campus even when he booked the room within the required three to four weeks. 

“For the clubs, there was only one dedicated room where they could book it like do their meetings or do all the activities which their club is supposed to do,” said Sidhu.