A referendum to increase the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) levy fee by $22.68 per term has failed, according to official results published on March 13.
Students voted on March 11 and 12 through an emailed ballot. This year, the referendum vote was held separately from the presidential election.
With 2,294 students (59.8 per cent) voting no and 1,545 students (40.2 per cent) voting yes, the election recorded 3,977 valid votes from undergraduate students, leading to a voter turnout of 16.3 per cent.
This is a 3.5 per cent decrease from last year’s turnout of 19.8 per cent for the referendum and presidential ballot.
The referendum aimed to increase the current CUSA student levy fee paid by each undergraduate student by more than 90 per cent, from $25.12 per term to $47.80 per term.
A full-time undergraduate student would have seen the levy increase to $95.60 for the full academic year.
“The existing fee is no longer sufficient to maintain current services and programming levels due to rising costs from inflation, rent and operational expenses,” the referendum question read.
“Without a levy increase, there will be further reductions in CUSA’s services such as free printing, service centers, subsidized prices at student run businesses, and funding for student run initiatives.”
The referendum’s failure means that CUSA will continue to operate under its current budget.
CUSA ran $1.2 million deficits in both the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 fiscal years, according to an operational budget report.
“It is certainly possible that students may see changes whether that’s with services, the businesses, or any future CUSA led events, but it will ultimately be up to the choice of next year’s executive team,” Samuel Easby, vice-president (finance), wrote in a statement to the Charlatan.
“The organization will need to fully assess key priorities to ensure that students and their services are the first priority when it comes to decision making,” Easby added.
Noah Goodgie, chair of CUSA’s board of directors, said CUSA’s priority will always be to support students.
“Changes will be forthcoming, but at this time, I cannot speculate on the specifics,” he said in a statement to the Charlatan.
Easby added the referendum results are a sign for the organization moving forward on its relationship with the student community.
“It may not be the result that the organization was hoping for, but it was ultimately a message from the student body that we have more work to do in terms of gaining trust and presenting ourselves as a beneficial student association,” Easby said.
Featured graphic by Sara Mizannojehdehi.
