Carleton’s Board of Governors (BoG) held their second meeting of the year on March 28, discussing changes to ancillary and tuition fees, university expenses, and the Sexual Violence Policy (SVP).
The BoG approved the 2019-2020 ancillary budget at the meeting, which will see increases in prices for on-campus services such as meal plans and parking. According to the budget, there will be a 1.8 to three per cent price increase in residence dining plans, a 10 per cent price increase in parking permits, and a 2.5 percent increase in health and counselling fees.
Debra Alves, vice-chair of the BoG’s finance committee, said all expected increases have been carefully assessed to ensure that they align with set regulations.
“Ancillary fees are reviewed on an annual basis to make sure that they are competitive and that they comply with government and ancillary protocol,” she said. “Most fees, if there are any, that are proposed to be increased, are in line with the consumer price index.”
Alves added that of the budget’s expected $1.4 million surplus, $1 million will be transferred “to the university’s operating fund to recognize and help the university address the challenges it is facing, particularly with tuition prices.”
Carleton president Benoit-Antoine Bacon said a transfer of funds from the ancillary budget to the operating budget is unprecedented at Carleton, but is a rational response to the university’s current financial circumstances.
“This year in particular, due to our revenue compression, I thought there was a practical argument to be made,” he said. “The transfer is a way for ancillary to contribute to our academic mission [by planning] to invest $1 million in student success.”
Carleton’s planned 10 per cent reduction of tuition fees, in accordance with Premier Doug Ford’s new tuition fee framework, was also approved at the meeting. The reduction will be held until 2021 and will cost the university four per cent—$20 million—from its operating budget.
Bacon said that due to the government’s understanding of higher education as a “public good,” as well as the financial support given to universities from their provinces, tuition is rendered a government-regulated cost.
“This is the way this business works,” he said. “People have different views about whether it’s good or it’s bad. My view is that it just is. This is what the government decided, and this is what we’re doing.”
International students, added Bacon, will be excluded from this tuition decrease. International student fees will be adjusted “based on our long-term strategy, which allows us to gradually increase our fees to where we think they should be based on our competitors and market value.”
New construction at Mackenzie
Additionally, the BoG also approved the construction of the Engineering Student Design centre on the recommendation of the BoG’s building program and finance committee.
The centre, which will cost the Faculty of Engineering and Design $11 million, will be built as an extension on the northern face of the Mackenzie Building. Construction is expected to be completed in 2020.
Dale Craig, the chair of the BoG’s building committee, said that the construction of a new Design centre will “provide additional space to accommodate student projects” while bringing external attention to Carleton’s facilities.
Report on campus sexual violence
Bailey Reid, equity advisor and coordinator of Sexual Assault Services, continued the meeting by presenting the university’s 2018 Annual Report on Sexual Violence.
According to the report, Carleton increased its training programs by 150 per cent in 2018, which included a gain in on-campus facilitators, counsellors, and safety officers. Special focus was also placed on increasing student awareness about the development of the university’s Sexual Violence Policy (SVP), particularly through educational outreach to first-year students and athletes on topics such as “the terms of consent.”
Reid said Carleton also saw a larger number of sexual harassment and assault disclosures from survivors, with 168 students seeking support services this year as compared to 61 last year. Of these disclosures, 38 took place on campus, and 50 involved a Carleton respondent. Five cases went through a formal investigation process as requested by the complainants.
While an increase in disclosures is an encouraging sign that the policy has been impactful on campus, Carleton’s Sexual Assault Services has no interest in pressuring complainants to pursue formal examination.
“Our philosophy here is that survivors are the experts in their own lives,” said Reid. “When they come to us for support, we give them all of the options that they have. They’re the ones who are empowered to choose what happens next.”
Reid added that the university still plans to undertake an extensive consultation and review of the SVP, which will include modification to disclosure procedures.
Revisions will be presented at the BoG’s next meeting on April 25.
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