All executive and Senate candidates for the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) 2015-16 elections are running unopposed.
The positions available are GSA president, vice-president (academic), vice-president (external), vice-president (finance), vice-president (operations), three University Senate seats, and five Graduate Faculty Board seats.
Elections will not be held, as all candidates are running unopposed, according to a statement on the GSA website.
Michael Bueckert, a second-year PhD candidate in sociology and political economy, is running for the position of GSA president. Bueckert is currently the vice-president (academic) for the 2014-15 year.
Bueckert lists his experience working with students to successfully fight the university on issues such as scholarship funding for co-op students as an asset.
In addition to continuing to push for more affordable tuition fees, Bueckert said he wants to continue pushing the university to commit to mental health resources specifically for graduate students.
“[Grad-specific mental health services are] really lacking at the university level,” he said.
Bueckert said he wants Carleton to develop its stand-alone sexual assault policy with the collaboration of both students and faculty, and supports the right of student unions to be free from university administrations.
Bueckert also said he thinks it’s important to find opportunities to collaborate with the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) whenever possible. Currently, the GSA and CUSA are working on re-negotiating the U-Pass agreement for next year.
“We have to recognize that the priorities of the organizations have been widely divergent,” Bueckert said.
“It’s really disappointing that [CUSA] haven’t really worked on the tuition fee file and they’ve kind of ignored the importance of safe space on campus,” he said. “Their absence on these issues has really undermined our ability to work on these things, which is really unfortunate.”
Roxana Barcelo, a first-year master’s student in materials engineering, is running for the position of vice-president (finance). She said despite having differences in the past, it does not mean CUSA and a new GSA executive won’t be able to work together.
“The GSA is working for grads, yes,” Barcelo said. “But an undergrad will eventually be a grad, so it’s important for both organizations to work together.”
Current vice-president (external) Theo Hug is looking forward to keeping his position on the GSA.
“A lot of our focus is on creating inclusive and welcoming spaces, from funding for more child-friendly spaces, to more inclusivity in terms of gender neutral or trans people,” Hug said.
Alannah James, a first-year master’s student in political science, is seeking for vice-president (academic). She’s looking to advocate for more affordable and accessible education, as well as grad-specific services and more inclusive spaces.
Vidushi Gupta, a first-year master’s student in systems and computer engineering, is seeking the position of vice-president (operations).
According to the GSA website, Gupta is “strongly devoted to issues of international students such as regulation of international fees and reduction of flat fees.”
Gupta also lists making graduate school a friendly place for all as one of her priorities.
Ehsan Ghias Begloo, Sarah Phinney, and Alexa Dodge are all running for seats on the University Senate, while Qasim Kareemi is running for a seat on the Graduate Faculty Board.
CUSA president Folarin Odunayo said he hopes the newly-elected GSA executives will collaborate with CUSA and work to amend the relationship between the two associations.
“We really encourage the next executives to break away from what has been the norm over the past two years and try and collaborate and partner with CUSA,” Odunayo said.
GSA council must officially approve the legitimacy of the candidates in April.
