The Carleton Academic Student Government (CASG) officially passed its budget for the 2020-21 academic year at its council meeting on Oct. 20.
The budget, brought forth by CASG vice-president (operations) Vanessa Buecking, saw an increase to both the academic initiative fund and the CASG scholarship fund, with $8,000 set aside for each program this year.
Last year’s budget initially set aside $3,000 for the academic initiative fund and $4,000 for the scholarship fund, but both programs later received an increase in funds after the discovery of a $6,000 misplaced cheque.
Changes to the academic initiative fund
Applications for the academic initiative fund—open to accredited academic clubs and societies to help them fund events—also saw changes to its requirements, and will now include funding for engineering students’ capstone design projects.
“We’re really excited to have that this year, being able to give more money to students that need it,” said Pierce Burch, CASG vice-president (academics).
Applications for the academic initiative fund will close on Dec. 20, and scholarship applications are slated to open sometime in mid-November, Burch said.
The council also set aside $600 to continue their Study Snacks program in December, which offers snacks to students during final exams.
“Since we obviously can’t have something happening in Tory halls like we would every other year, we’re going to be doing a delivery service where we’re going to sanitize everything and deliver goodie bags to your front doors,” Burch said.
A motion was also passed to strike council committees from the previous year to transition into the current year, an annual proceeding for the council.
Grading reform
Matthew Gagné, CASG president, provided an update on grading reform following a meeting he had on Oct. 20 with the senate committee on curriculum, admissions and studies policy to discuss a compassionate grading policy.
Gagné said there will be three motions brought forth to adjust grading for this semester and academic year at an upcoming senate meeting on Oct. 30.
The three motions call for all failed courses to be automatically converted to an unsatisfactory (UNS) designation, all punitive academic performance evaluations to be delayed for another year and a 0.5 credit satisfactory (SAT) designation for the fall term.
While these motions are part of the council’s efforts towards short-term grading reform, Gagné added he is taking part in ongoing conversations to implement permanent grading reform as well.
Privacy, workload concerns
Student’s concerns over CoMaS, an e-proctoring software being used by the school during midterm and final exams were also discussed.
Gagné said an email is expected to be sent out in the coming weeks to all students taking courses that will be using the CoMaS system, outlining informational resources and any frequently asked questions.
“The university does have channels to follow through if you don’t want to use the system or if your laptop isn’t compatible,” he said, adding a tech bursary is available for students who may need to buy webcams.
Gagné said privacy concerns are to be dealt with between each student and their instructor to find another way to ensure academic integrity during exams.
In the months ahead, Gagné said he will continue to address the increased workload concerns brought forth by students in different faculties.
“We know a lot of profs, in the spirit of trying to keep students engaged throughout the year, may have overcompensated with the weekly assignments and we’re hearing that a lot of students are overwhelmed,” he said.
Gagné added that the council is working with the school to adjust students’ course loads for the winter semester.
“This is a very trial-and-error process, no one has written the book on how to do an online semester like this, so we just got to keep working with the university to find the best solutions,” Gagné said.
Featured image from file.
