Last week, the idea of neutrality among student representatives suffered a blow when Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) president-elect Will Cathcart openly supported keeping the mandatory student levy for OPIRG-Carleton. Instead of staying neutral, Cathcart caused a stir by stating that he “will continue to advocate for their [OPIRG’s] voice in every way, shape, and form.”
Cathcart and his team United are best known for being the victors in the recent RRRA elections after Sidney Otoboeze and his team A New RRRA were disqualified for several infractions after initially winning the election. Running on the platform of uniting students, Cathcart promised to be active. Apparently he meant by this, he would be active for only some of us.
OPIRG-Carleton receives an annual $6.84 levy from undergraduate students and $3.34 from graduate students. In total, they take nearly $152,000 from students every year.
So where does the money go? Cathcart claims they are a “student voice movement that advocates for many causes.” But he’s wrong. OPIRG-Carleton is a self-described radical organization that is neither accountable nor unites the student voice; they divide it.
OPIRG-Carleton has a number of “Working Goups” which they fund. One such example of their divisiveness is their sponsorship of the student group Students Against Israeli Apartheid. Annually, this radical group hosts the Israeli Apartheid Week and even shut down a Carleton Board of Governors meeting in 2011. As a Jewish student in my first year of residence, having the RRRA president-elect support this club is personally offensive. Cathcart is meant to support a peaceable, safe, and inclusive environment for every student in residence. Instead, he is alienating a large group of students he is meant to represent.
Students who disagree with these events are currently given the option to opt out during a short five-day period early in the winter semester. Yet the fact remains that those unaware of this period have their money taken to fund groups they may not agree with.
But even those who agree with OPIRG-Carleton’s politics distrust their spending. Simply put, they don’t spend money on progressive causes. Out of $152,000, OPIRG-Carleton spends only $3,000– less than two per cent of their total budget— on working groups. They plan on spending merely $2,000 on “Radical Frosh.” Only $1,000 will go to their library. They spend no money on research and nothing towards combatting racism, sexism, or other forms of oppression.
So where does the money go? The vast majority of OPIRG-Carleton’s expenses go to wages, benefits, and bureaucratic necessities.
More than 62 per cent of their budget ($93,000) goes to pay the salary and benefits of an unknown number of staff members, and $15,000 goes towards OPIRG-Carleton’s rent each year. They even pay more for consulting fees ($5,500) than their activism!
So where does the money go? Waste. We must hold OPIRG-Carleton accountable, even if the RRRA president-elect won’t.
Voting Yes on April 3 and 4 to eliminate the mandatory student levy is a start to moving away from this divisive and unaccountable form of politics. But we must also fight to regain our democratic tradition of having neutral student representatives. RRRA has a mandate to give the residence community financial and social services, not to play wasteful politics with our money. This organization must speak for all students in residence, not just the minority.
Will, move away from the divisive and unaccountable OPIRG-Carleton, and start serving the student body like you’re supposed to.
— Ryan Olshansky,
second-year public affairs and policy management
