The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) council conflict will not affect students’ access to service centres, said Karim Khamisa, CUSA vice-president (finance).
CUSA is relying on past budgets to allocate funds to students’ services, Khamisa said.
CUSA vice-president (internal) Ariel Norman sent an email out July 28, which stated that 16 council seats had become vacant because the councillors had missed two summer council meetings.
The 16 councillors have maintained that they’re still active members because the meetings in question didn’t follow CUSA bylaws.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled Aug. 18 that CUSA council cannot conduct any business until it resolves a dispute over the status of the 16 council seats.
Several service centres are scheduled to be renovated, like the Womyn’s Centre, the Carleton Disability and Awareness Centre, and BECAMPS, which provides services for mature and part-time students, Khamisa said.
Some of the renovations have already begun, he added.
Public affairs councillor Michael De Luca said that half of the 16 council members have volunteered to help complete the renovations on time.
Khamisa said he hopes the conflict will not affect CUSA’s “No Means No” campaign, a week-long project designed to educate Carleton students about gender-based violence. The campaign is run by the Womyn’s Centre and Foot Patrol.
The conflict has not affected preparations for the campaign so far, Khamisa said.
If the conflict isn’t resolved soon, the campaign may have to be pushed back into October, CUSA president Obed Okyere said. “But that’s the worst case scenario,” Okyere said.
CUSA will start allocating funds to service centres “as soon as next week,” he added.
CUSA executive members have offered to mediate with the councillors and are waiting for a response, Khamisa said.
Okyere said he has offered mediation to both parties, and that he hopes they will be able to settle out of court, as the legal cost for both sides will be about $40,000-$60,000, according to Okyere.
De Luca said the councillors sent a settlement offer Sept. 2, which asked the defendants “to recognize [their] seats as not having been vacated and to deem the meetings of June 30, July 18 and July 26 as invalid.”
The offer was promptly refused by CUSA’s lawyers, De Luca said, adding that his next step will be to have an expedited hearing before the court.
“I hope this all gets resolved very soon, outside the courts,” Khamisa said.
“It’s unfair that they’re politicizing and not co-operating,” De Luca said. “Not because they’re right, but because they don’t want us on the council.”
