Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) launched its revamped website last week to make it faster and make more information regarding CUSA services accessible.
Fahd Alhattab, CUSA president, said the website is meant to act as the CUSA hub for students so all the information on clubs and societies can be found.
The website was in the works for two years to be built from scratch when CUSA realized building off a template could not get all of the functionalities they wanted.
He said the website will cost up to $6,500 in total by the end of the year and preliminary work was done to make the cost less.
Alhattab said various student groups were consulted when embedding the website.
“[The website] was very much based on consolation from the different student groups that we serve within CUSA,” he said.
Since the website’s launch, multiple service centres have said they like the update.
Victoria Dark, Health & Wellness Resource Centre coordinator, said the website looked similar to the official Carleton website.
“I think it’s very synonymous with the Carleton website . . . It definitely has more resources available than before. I think it’s a good update,” Dark said.
Shawn Humphrey, Bill Ellis Centre for Mature & Part-Time Students (BECAMPS) coordinator, said the website has improved from its predecessor.
“It’s a really good improvement over the old one [website] . . . As far as I can tell, the governing documents, policies, bylaws, all that—it’s all there and the same. I just think that the overall speed of the website is very, very fast and so it’s easier for students to use,” he said.
Alhattab said the website was very important in making CUSA a strong student union because students often look for CUSA regarding information CUSA might not have and will refer students to the services which provide them.
“We’re a consistent information hub, we refer students to where they need to go and . . . having a website fully functional, fully self-serviced for everything that they need from bookings to clubs and societies funding process and so on so forth is very key for us to be a strong student union,” Alhattab said.
Although many service centres seemed to like the website’s update, there are some students who didn’t know about CUSA’s website and some students who criticized the lack of information provided on its website.
Samantha Fernandes, first-year social work student, said she didn’t know CUSA had its own website.
“I thought there’s an overall Carleton website but I didn’t know about CUSA’s,” Fernandes said.
Charissa Feres, law and psychology student, said on Facebook she found little information regarding each CUSA executive member’s mandate and job descriptions on the website and she wishes the information was included.
“What good is it to have their email if you aren’t sure which executive you’re supposed to be emailing?” she said.
Feres said she believe providing that information would increase students’ knowledge of what CUSA executive’s do, especially with all the controversy surrounding them this year.
Alhattab added the new website will increase the transparency of the organization, with records and minutes going back to 2007 now publicly visible.
