The two candidates running for president in the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) general elections debated student fees, accessibility, engagement and diversity on Monday.
Mohamed “Faris” Riazudden, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student and current CUSA vice president (student issues), and Raiden Dean, a third-year environmental science student, are running for the contested position.
Held in the atrium of Nideyinàn (formerly the University Centre), the event was moderated by the Charlatan news editors Mark Ramzy and Dominique Gené, as well as CKCU FM executive director Kwende Kefentse. Questions were generated by the Charlatan.
Voting will run from Feb. 7 to 9 through emailed ballots.
Student fees and tuition
Students will vote on three referendums currently on the ballot: increasing levy fees for clubs and societies, creating a levy fee for the Unified Support Centre (USC) and removing the Millennium Promise levy fee.
Riazudden said he does not support the continuation of Millenium Promise ancillary fee but does support the two others.
“The service that [the USC] provides our students is highly essential. With rising inflation, students are finding it difficult to find affordable groceries,” Riazudden said, adding he believes clubs are an important part of student life that also deserve equitable funding.
The USC has faced record demand since the beginning of the 2022-23 school year.
Riazudden said he would look to implement the “tried and tested” method of keeping students’ tuition fees the same until their graduation, depending on the length of their degree.
Dean said he agreed with Riazudden’s stance. “It’s not a good thing that we’re not seeing the money come back from the Millennium Promise, so what we could do is just take that fee and move it to clubs,” he said.
Dean added he would consult with the university to discuss the possibility of installment payments on tuition for international and domestic students.
Neither candidate expressed a personal stance on the removal of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) levy fee, which was included as a recent call to action from CUSA in support of the Carleton Ukrainian Students’ Club.
Accessibility on campus
Riazudden said that if elected, he would focus on holding the university accountable to remedying “structural inaccessibilities.” He also said he would advocate for a “structured, triaging [mental health] system,” as well as a “mental health practitioner who works part-time within our [CUSA’s] service centres” to increase students’ access to care.
Dean said he pledges to ensure functioning handicap buttons and elevators if elected but said he is “not super familiar with” the barriers associated with accessing mental health services on campus, though he added he would look into the issue.
CUSA has also faced concerns about ensuring digital accessibility, such as on its website and online services.
Riazudden said digital accessibility is as important as physical accessibility. He said his “goal would be to work with the director of communications to make sure that [the CUSA] website is accessible” by considering features such as accessible colour schemes and closed-captioning.
Dean said he would prioritize making Carleton Central more user-friendly, as well as the addition of a search bar on the CUSA website.
“We should put our engagement [efforts] towards our service centres, our clubs,” Riazudden said. He said he plans to open a new service centre for hairstyling and salon services to create more student jobs.
Riazudden added leveraging pre-existing CUSA partnerships, such as with “transportation facilities” and the Ottawa Food Bank, is one of his priorities.
Dean said in order to bolster student engagement, “[CUSA] needs to up the game when it comes to advertising events” and its presence on campus.
“The pandemic caused a huge gap in engagement, and a lot of people are coming in, even in their second or third years, having never done any CUSA events,” he said.
Dean added he hopes to see more external community engagement, but that “our priority really should be in-house … We have a lot of problems to fix within our walls before we start looking externally.”
Diversity and representation
Last week, an open letter from the Carleton Ukrainian Students’ Club detailed a rise in anti-Ukrainian hate on campus. Riazudden, said he hopes to create a new coordinator position that specializes in ensuring CUSA is able to advocate for students more equitably.
Dean said he would ensure groups interested in booking space on campus for events go through a “screening process” before being approved.
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For more information on the CUSA election, read the rest of the Charlatan’s coverage or visit the CUSA elections website.
Featured image by Arno Ryser.
