Carleton’s Graduate Students Association (GSA)’s decision to not fund the construction of a learning commons tent at Occupy Ottawa was the right one.
A $300 contribution to Occupy Ottawa would have been an inappropriate action for a student organization.
The money would have been used to establish a learning commons tent in Confederation Park, allowing graduate students to keep up with their studies while participating in Occupy Ottawa.
But Carleton graduate students actually participating in the movement as activists only make up a small portion of the graduate student body. The GSA is an organization that needs to keep the interests of all its members in mind.
I’m glad the GSA didn’t fund a movement whose ultimate goals and focus remain vague at best.
According to their website, the GSA offers several services for graduate students at Carleton, including health and dental plans, emergency grants, and travel grants for graduate students who participate in conferences. They also contribute, in conjunction with the Carleton
Undergraduate Students’ Association, to the nine service centres on campus, including the Food Centre, Aboriginal Centre, Womyn’s Centre, and Foot Patrol. With so many important financial commitments, the GSA shouldn’t be contributing money to Occupy Ottawa when it can be instead giving this money to graduate student initiatives here on campus.
Ever since the Occupy Wall Street movement began Sept. 17 in Manhattan’s financial district, and subsequently spread to thousands of cities around the world, it has been an extremely polarizing topic. This holds true among university students who, despite traditionally possessing liberal leanings, cannot come to universal agreement on whether the Occupy movement is a justified case of rebellion against the 1 per cent, or an unnecessary epidemic of civil disobedience.
Activism and donations by individual members to help Occupy Ottawa are acceptable forms of support, but the commitment of a student organization as a whole is an inappropriate gesture.
If the GSA financially supported Occupy Ottawa, they would have been ultimately endorsing and associating themselves with the larger Occupy movement. This is the same movement that has in many cities escalated from peaceful protests to vandalism and violence against police.
The GSA is committed to providing important services and hosting events for Carleton graduate students, all on a limited budget. The organization is responsible for representing the over 3,000 graduate students here at Carleton, both full-time and part-time. Thankfully, their recent decision seems to represent the majority.
– Tyler Difley
first-year journalism
