With the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) executive election set to take place on June 25 and 26, candidates participated in a virtual debate Wednesday focused on accountability, inclusion and the function of RRRA during COVID-19.
The standout moments of the night came in the interpanel question session, when each of the slates’ president, vice-president (administration) and vice-president (programming) candidates posed a question to their counterparts.
All six questions asked by the Elevate and Action slates were directed towards the Forward slate, mostly directed at presidential candidate and 2019-20 vice-president (programming) Jaden Slawter, insisting that he account for the problems that his executive team faced last year.
Transparency and accountability
Last year, the RRRA executive broke numerous bylaws with the late passage of the budget for the second consecutive year, the late formation of committees, and lack of monthly budget updates.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the association was also unable to pay rent to the university for Abstentions, the convenience store in Residence Commons.
Slawter said that the budget was late because of a financial audit and low involvement in council, which he believes should have been communicated with the residence community.
“It’s important to take accountability, as the budget [delay] was due to a past member of my team,” Slawter said. “You learn from your mistakes, and that’s why I think I’m a standout candidate. I know where we went wrong this past year, and I can come in and hit the ground running with my new team.”
Forward’s platform includes a biweekly newsletter to keep students involved and the creation of an executive compensation committee to hold the executive accountable. However, other slates said increased communication may not be enough to ensure accountability.
“We plan on holding the executive accountable by passing the budget on time,” Action president candidate Angelica Zagorski said.
Zagorski also advocated for cutting money for calendars and programming.
Action vice-president (administration) candidate Tyreike Reid said following bylaws starts with accountability.
“It starts with the three executives in power,” he said.
Elevate presidential candidate Mikaela Baumann said her slate has created a mock budget to prepare for the financial strain of fewer residence students next year. Baumann also proposed cutting executive benefits to make room in the budget for programming.
Outreach and involvement
The Elevate slate plans on lowering the amount of seats on council to allow quorum to be more easily reached, while Forward proposed increasing the number of council seats to engage more students.
Elevate committed to holding monthly town halls and providing budget updates, as required by the RRRA constitution. Elevate also committed to creating an equity committee.
All three slates said they are focused on improving education on diversity and mental health with programming and training.
“We’ll prioritize issues that matter to students by requiring RRRA volunteers and employees to take anti-oppression training, and offer the same training to students living in residence,” Baumann said.
“Coming into Carleton, it was hard being a Black gay man,” Slawter said. He said the Forward slate wants to break barriers with education and diverse events, similar to the first drag show in residence, which he organized last year.
Adapting to COVID-19
With the fall semester moving online and residence looking different from previous years due to COVID-19, conversation around programming and events centred on how each slate will aim to support students.
Forward vice-president (programming) candidate Smith said that the most important factor in planning events is the safety of students, and the slate plans to push events to the winter semester. Smith proposed holding trivia and online speed dating events, and she committed to sending newsletters to students and their families to update them on these events.
Action vice-president (programming) candidate Coughlan proposed holding a virtual concert, while Elevate vice-president (programming) candidate Matthews said that with some students still expected to live in residence, safe in-person events should be held.
Coughlan said that Action will use the Remind app to notify students about events virtually.
If elected, the Action slate aims to replace existing keypad card swipes with tap card machines to lower the risk of infection, Reid said, a plan that was criticized by Slawter for its cost. Action added it will provide free masks, gloves and hand sanitizer to residence students.
The debate can be watched in full on RRRA’s Facebook. The election will take place on June 25 and 26 with online ballots sent to the Carleton emails of residence students.
Read the Charlatan’s profile of the three slates here: Action | Elevate | Forward
Featured image by Mark Colley.
