Members of Carleton Academic Student Government (CASG) are electing next year’s executive in their internal elections March 16-23.
CASG president Heather Page said the organization’s objective is to co-ordinate student representation on different academic faculty boards and to respond to any academic issues they see arising throughout the year.
Page said CASG does less with the actual student body and works more towards university policy. “Our job is to ensure that students attend the faculty board meetings throughout the year and that the student voice is getting heard,” Page said.
“Because the elections are voted internally, you’re not asking the student body to vote, you’re asking them to either nominate themselves or encourage their representative to vote,” she said.
Page said a big initiative for CASG this year is building up academic societies.
Representatives from the societies “can speak for the people that are actively involved in their departments,” Page said.
According to Page, CASG has established an academic initiative fund, which will be worked into next year’s budget so student groups on campus can apply for funding for any academic initiatives they wish to hold on campus.
Page said CASG is a low-profile organization and it struggles on a year-to-year basis to receive nominations. Page herself said she had never heard of CASG at all until her second year when she volunteered as a representative.
Page said voting will last for four days starting March 23.