Students voted down two out of three questions in the 2014-15 Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) referendum.
Undergraduate students were asked the following questions:
“Do you support the enhancement of the Carleton University Students’ Association health and dental plan coverage at a cost of $14 per term?”
“Due to the significant growth of the number of clubs and societies on campus, are you in favour of increasing the clubs and societies levy by $3.30?”
And, “Are you in favour of contributing $1 per semester to the Carleton University Students’ Association bursary fund, which helps students in financial need?”
The questions regarding the health plan and the clubs and societies levy were narrowly voted down, with 76 and 154 difference in votes respectively.
Students voted to contribute $1 per semester for the CUSA bursary fund, with 3,154 students voting yes, and 1,335 voting no.
One student raised questions about the level of information available on the referendum questions put up by CUSA.
Jacob Heapy, a second-year aerospace engineering student, created a survey for students to fill out online. It asked them how much they knew about the referendum before the vote. He said he plans to bring the results to a meeting with vice-president (internal) Sofia Dala.
Heapy said he thinks the two main problems with the referendum were lack of understanding and transparency.
“A lot of us didn’t realize that they were holding a referendum to begin with, and the second was the lack of information we had on why we should or should not vote ‘yes’ or ‘no,’” he said. “It was a lack of transparency on why we should vote one way or the other.”
Heapy said, according to the survey, more than three quarters of respondents felt misinformed.
“Currently we’ve had 357 responses to the survey, and the big question I was looking at was ‘Do you believe that you got the information about the CUSA referendum to make an informed decision?’ and something that surprised me was that approximately 78 per cent of respondents said no,” Heapy said. “And this is not just engineering. We have a whole range. This was not just limited to one particular group.”
CUSA president Folarin Odunayo said he feels students had access to the information they needed.
“All the information pertaining to the health plan and the clubs and societies question was online, and those students maybe just didn’t come across the information,” he said. “A lot of work went into the referendum, and a lot of people tried really hard to inform students. I think they accomplished that.”
Heapy said it is important to make sure students are informed going into the referendum vote.
“If they can send out an email with a vote on it, they can send out an email saying ‘There will be a referendum in the next two weeks, please stay tuned,’” he said. “Send out anything, somewhere where we can see the information for the yes and no ourselves because the thing is, when we got the forms we didn’t know.”
Oduanyo said, with the clubs and societies and health plan questions being voted down, the challenge is “to do more with less.”
“With the clubs and societies office we’re now tasked with being more creative,” he said. “We have some very talented people, so I don’t think it will be impossible. I think it will be difficult.”
“It’s not easy, but I think we’re more than equipped to handle it,” he said.
