The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) announced its upcoming election and amended its electoral code and bylaw in an emergency virtual meeting on Jan. 17.
CUSA will be holding a presidential election in February. The campaigning period will take place from Feb. 7 to 17 and voting will be held virtually from Feb. 16 to 17.
Unlike last year, the campaigning period will overlap with the voting period. While this is not prohibited in CUSA’s electoral code, section 17.5.3 states candidates may not introduce new campaign points during the voting period.
For the first time, vice-presidents will be selected by council rather than through elections. CUSA executives will also now be compensated for 35 hours per week instead of 25 and be limited to serving only one term.
Council approved the democratic reform committee’s final recommendations to council including electoral reform and overhauling of the governance structure of CUSA. CUSA will merge its association and corporation and create a new Board of Directors consisting of eight students-at-large and the president of CUSA.
Public affairs councillor Gray Simms said the committee’s final report and CUSA lawyer John McNair’s recommendations on electoral reform should be made available to the public to maintain the student body’s trust.
The association’s elections have received similar criticism. Students campaigned for a vote of ‘no confidence’ during the 2018 executive election due to a lack of candidates. Last year, former executives and staff spoke out against the electoral officer hiring process.
Vice-president (internal) and acting president Ahmad Hashimi said McNair’s letter would be made publicly available after the meeting. At the time of publication, three days later, neither the letter nor the report were publicly available. A previous draft of the report is available on CUSA’s website.
Council also filled its council policy and constitution review committee, which regularly reviews CUSA’s governing documents. Three students-at-large filled the spots: fourth-year political science student Anthony Blejdea, fourth-year communications and sociology student Kevin Caswell and council chair Davin Caratao.
Blejdea said he was nominated and confirmed to the committee during the meeting without his knowledge or consent. Upon learning of the appointment, Blejdea resigned.
CUSA’s council awards committee, responsible for granting students financial awards, was also filled with three students-at-large and three councillors. Students-at-large Gabe Paraskevopulos, Veronica Dhindsa and Anshul Tipnis will fill the committee with science councillor Alexis St. Pierre, engineering and design councillor Sara Hubbard and arts and social sciences councillor Tyson Scott.
Students-at-large Hiwan Bayru, Anna Maria Khalil, Korry Brankin and Liam Clarke filled the four positions making up the CUSA Constitutional Board, which is responsible for ensuring CUSA adheres to its constitution.
Simms said he was concerned about nepotism during the nomination process for all three committees, due to an outstanding number of the students being nominated by one councillor.
“It’s beginning to feel a little bit like committees are being filled by friends of councillors, as opposed to people who are necessarily seeking to be on committees because of genuine interests,” Simms said at the meeting.
Science councillor Greg Dance said he was also concerned.
“I think it would be best if we try to get some […] diversity in our nominations,” Dance said. “Hopefully another councillor has someone else they can nominate.”
Simms and Dance have scrutinized the association’s lack of outreach to involve the student body in decisions before. Last year, Simms expressed concern CUSA did not make its budget public and Dance requested more transparency from the democratic reform committee.
The democratic reform committee’s report also acknowledged the history of nepotism concerns within CUSA and suggested implementing executive term limits.
Council voted to post all future open committee positions on CUSA social media accounts seven days before the council meetings in which they would be filled, effective immediately. The association already posts positions on its website.
CUSA is scheduled to meet again on Jan. 31.
A previous version of this article incorrectly identified Kevin Caswell as a former Board of Governors representative. The Charlatan regrets the error. The article was last updated on Jan. 23 to reflect this change and include information on Anthony Blejdea’s resignation.
Featured image from Screengrab.
