At their final meeting of the academic year, the Carleton Academic Student Government (CASG) prepared for their election, announced an upcoming in-person wellness event and promoted affirmative action scholarships.
Outgoing CASG president Jennifer Ramnarine urged executive candidates to “treat each other with respect and dignity” during her report to council.
“As members of CASG, we are required to uphold certain standards of morals and ethics,” Ramnarine said.
At the time of the meeting, Ramnarine discussed the first-year credit/no credit grading reform that was brought to the university senate at their March 25 meeting. The policy, which was approved by the senate, gives first-year students more flexibility to aid a smooth transition into university. Any courses marked as an F or unsatisfactory (UNS) will be automatically considered “no record” (NR) and will not be listed on their transcript.
Passing grades can be marked “credit” (CR) at the student’s request with a maximum of 2.0 CR credits during their first two terms.
In her update, vice-president (internal) Dakota Livingston told council CASG will be holding a wellness event on April 1 online and in the academic quad to “offer academic resources and give away wellness toolkits.”
Vice-president (academic) Pierce Burch and Ramnarine asked councillors to promote CASG’s affirmative action scholarships.
“We don’t really have a lot of applications,” Burch said.
The five $600 scholarships are available to students who are intenrnational students, students with disabilities, identify as transgender, Indigenous or racialized, and women and gender minorities in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) programs.
Students have until March 30 to apply for the scholarships.
Ramnarine and other executives spent much of the half-hour council meeting thanking councillors and reflecting on the year.
Before becoming CASG president, Ramnarine said she was “scouring CASG’s history to try and see if there had been another woman of colour president.”
When she couldn’t find one, she said she was disappointed.
Ramnarine, who is a woman of colour, said she hoped that “nobody else will ever doubt whether they belong at CASG.”
After the Friday meeting, CASG held a virtual town hall with candidates for next year’s executive positions.
Livingston is the sole candidate for president. At the town hall, Livingston addressed the post-pandemic future of the satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading program.
As president, Livingston said she hopes for “a large-scale campaign,” to collect feedback on the issue.
On March 24 and 25, CASG council held an internal vote to elect new executives.
Featured graphic by Sierra Mclean.
