I’m not going to lie — I’m disappointed in the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA).
CUSA councillors are charged with the daunting responsibility of making objective decisions while carrying the weight of thousands of students’ opinions on their shoulders.
Can you always get it right? No. Should you always try? Yes, of course.
Right now, the halls are buzzing with drama surrounding CUSA’s membership in the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), with two sides bitterly divided in a battle of right and wrong.
In this “battle,” one would assume that CUSA would be standing in the middle offering students the options and implications of either decision.
Because, after all, the association wants what’s best for the students, right?
Wrong.
CUSA took a side, choosing to stay with CFS, no matter what. In fact, if you haven’t noticed, CUSA councillors make up the most visible of the pro-CFS petitioners.
Why is our student union fighting against the students?
I don’t quite know where I stand on the CFS shenanigans. I expected my CUSA to inform me and educate me, remaining unpartisan to either side, and help me make the right vote.
CUSA shouldn’t be out in the hallways bad-mouthing and twisting the words of the very students it represents.
Councillors should allow these students to voice their genuine concerns and help to educate them.
Whether or not staying with CFS is the right choice, it doesn’t matter, as long as the students get to choose.
Not you, CUSA. You represent us, remember?
Please, remember that.
— Rob Nettleton, second-year journalism student, former student government president at Algonquin College