Carleton University’s Academic Student Government (CASG) approved three motions aimed at improving transparency, student advocacy and support in defining academic societies on Nov. 14.
Motion to advocate for course fee transparency
CASG council passed a motion pushing Carleton to improve how it informs students about ancillary fees — extra course-related costs like textbooks and field trips that are not included in tuition.
Last May, the Ontario government passed the Strengthening Accountability and Student Supports Act, which authorizes the minister of education to require that universities publish ancillary fees in course syllabi for transparency on an as-needed basis. CASG president Allan Buri said the legislation is largely ineffective.
“This is not extremely useful because once you get your course outline, you are already enrolled in that course,” he said.
He suggested Carleton should follow in the footsteps of the University of Waterloo, which include these costs in course calendars.
Buri said the change could prevent situations where professors “arbitrarily choose to spring costs on students to … enrich themselves in their own textbooks that they have written.”
The motion, which includes a recommendation for the university to set deadlines for submitting required materials with accommodations for accessibility, passed unanimously.
Still, from past experience, Buri said he is concerned with pushback from the university toward CASG’s advocacy.
“This will not actually get done for years, but this is the start,” he said.
Defining academic societies
Councillors approved a plan to formalize how CASG recognizes academic societies. These societies represent students in specific programs and can receive funding for academic events and seats on the CASG council. However, defining which groups qualify as an academic society has been difficult in the past.
The new accreditation agreement will apply to societies in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Public and Global Affairs, since these faculties lack broader associations like the Faculty of Engineering and Design or the Sprott School of Business have.
The agreement sets clear criteria: societies must support students in a specific program, have a student-led executive team and be in good standing with CASG.
“What this agreement does is it says the definition of academic society is somebody who holds one of these agreements,” Buri said. “It makes it much simpler. Everyone knows what they can expect.”
However, questions arose about whether groups serving specific demographics or groups within faculties, like the Black Students of Public Affairs, should qualify.
Buri said having societies that serve minority groups on CASG could be a violation of the organization’s constitution, which is controlled by the university. CASG is meant to be a “completely apolitical” organization that only advocates for academic-related concerns, Buri said.
“The trouble we run into is that our constitution is owned by Carleton University … we have to meet a specific mandate which is strictly academic,” Buri said.
Kendall Petersen, the co-president of Black Student Public Affairs, said he agrees with the motion.
“I honestly think that as it’s written, that’s largely fair,” Petersen said. “I can’t speak for other groups who represent minority or other marginalized groups, but we do have a lot of academic interest but also social interests.”
The motion passed unanimously.
New form to collect students’ academic concerns
CASG council also approved the creation of an Academic Concern Intake Form to collect feedback from students on academic issues. Buri said students currently have limited options for addressing concerns, which are limited to filing complaints through professor reviews or going to the Ombuds Office.
Buri said he does not think “the university themselves, will advocate to themselves,” and that the purpose of CASG is to advocate for students.
“When we do that right now, they always tell us, ‘Do you have evidence for this? How many people? Give me a course code. Give me a specific.’” Buri said.
The form will collect student information and their academic concerns, which will allow CASG to track patterns and use the evidence to advocate for policy changes. Student information will remain in the database for five years, but the concerns themselves do not expire.
“It gives us a better idea of what areas CASG can do a better job advocating for,” said vice-president academic Alison Kocsis. “If we’re seeing patterns in the types of complaints that we are getting, it just gives us a better idea of what we need to work harder on.”
Nathan Harlan, a European, Russian and Eurasian studies councillor, said the form is a step forward, but is concerned the university would try to stop CASG from continuing this initiative.
“I think this is long overdue. I think there may be a slight risk that [Carleton University] will try and do something,” Harlan said. “Well OK, prove it. Prove that there actually is an issue here.”
Buri said the form is not intended to be a platform for complaints about specific professors in the university, but simply to track policy gaps and failures.
He also said he experienced pushback when talking to the university about creating the form.
“I was expressly told from the university not to do it,” Buri said. “If we’re going to do it, I need council support.”
“CASG has approached the University for feedback on how to proceed with their new proposed Academic Concern Intake Form,” said Steven Reid, Carleton University’s spokesperson in an email.
“The University continues to provide guidance to CASG on this new proposed intake form,” he wrote.
The motion passed with a majority.
CASG will meet next on December 2.
Featured graphic by Sierra Mclean.
