The Carleton Academic Student Government (CASG) elected a new president and approved their budget for the current academic year at their meeting on Oct. 12.
Chloe Miller, CASG’s new president, previously served as interim vice-president (academic), but was elected after the previous president stepped down over the summer. Miller, a third-year communications and media studies student, said the previous president did not say the reason for resigning.
She said one of her main goals for this year centres around making CASG more visible to the student body.
“A lot of people just don’t know about us,” she said. “It’s something we want to focus on this year, getting CASG visibility. Everyone knows what [the Carleton University Students’ Association] is, not many people know what CASG is.”
CASG deals exclusively in academic matters of undergraduate students, Miller said. This includes mediating interactions between students and faculty, and promoting academic freedom and success amongst undergraduates.
CASG receives its funding from a $0.57 levy from each full-time undergraduate student, which it then splits between funding its own events and providing funding for other university clubs or departments that are hosting academic events, Miller said. Any extra funding goes into student scholarships.
The council itself has 100 seats available for student representatives from each department, but Miller estimates only around 65 are currently filled.
Miller said this is due to a lack of awareness amongst students about CASG’s existence.
“A lot of people don’t know what we do so we don’t fill those seats, and that means that there are departments that don’t have that representation,” she said. “We’d really like to make sure that come next year and it opens up for elections, all of the seats are filled.”
Some of the events CASG has already attended on campus include the canal games held during Frosh week. Miller said events such as these are essential in making connections with students and making them aware of CASG before they even begin university.
According to Miller, it is easier to get representatives from departments that have prominent student societies.
Representatives from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Public Affairs are elected at the beginning of the year, however, other departments fill the seats on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Miller said some smaller departments, like the Institute of African Studies, don’t currently have representatives on CASG.
In an effort to increase CASG’s visibility, Miller said she has met with the presidents of each of Carleton’s student unions with the hope of collaborating with them for future events.
Matthew Pelletier, a third-year public affairs and policy management student and member of CASG, said providing study snacks to students in the week before final exams is one of CASG’s more well-known events.
“The only outreach that the majority of students are aware of is the study snacks, and I think this is a golden opportunity to expand on CASG’s limited recognition,” he said.
Miller said she is hoping have this event occur around midterms as well.
Pelletier said he believes events such as these will allow CASG the chance to get on the same level of involvement as CUSA.
“By having more outreach and events they can get their name out there,” he said. θ
—With files from Drew May and Anna Sophia Vollmerhausen
