Organizing and keeping momentum were at the top of the agenda at the Carleton University General Assembly’s (CUGA) first general meeting March 26.
Roughly 70 people attended the meeting, which aimed to increase “democracy, accountability and transparency” at Carleton, said organizer Chris Hurl.
“We wanted to show how undemocratic the university administration has been, and we wanted to begin establishing a direct democratic process,” Hurl said.
The assembly was a response to the lack of power that students have over the decisions made by the university administration, Hurl said.
“I think a lot of students feel decisions are made behind closed doors without their feedback,” he said.
The group actually started in April 2011, Hurl said. However, attendance was low in the summer.
The group was inactive until the Canadian Federation of Students’ (CFS) National Day of Action Feb. 1, which served as a new starting point for the assembly, he said.
The five people who make up CUGA’s organizing committee had been meeting regularly since then to prepare for the March 26 meeting.
The assembly has received support from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 4600 and Carleton’s Graduate Students’ Association (GSA).
CUPE 4600 co-president James Meades said the union got involved because their goals and the goals of the assembly overlapped.
“As students, as workers on this campus, we have a commitment to foster a stronger Carleton community, and there are several of our members here that really support the idea [of the assembly],” he said.
During the meeting, organizers explained that the purpose of the assembly isn’t to bypass administrative bodies like the university administration or the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA), but to focus on issues they felt needed addressing.
“The general point of the general assembly is not to bypass any organization, it is to create a venue where everybody on campus, not just undergraduates, but graduates, staff, faculty, we can all have a place to begin discussing how the university should operate,” Hurl said, comparing the assembly to the Occupy movement.
Board of Governors secretary Anne Bauer said in her opinion, the administration is open to student input. Anybody can attend the board’s open sessions, she added.
“As long as we’re not up to fire code in terms of capacity, anybody can attend,” she said.
Additionally, student representatives provide a student perspective at the board level, she said.
“They provide a lot of really good input on different matters on the agenda,” she said. “I think there’s a very good outlet for the students to come and from what I can tell at my end, it looks very, very good.”
Organizer Christian Belisle said keeping the momentum is the assembly’s most important goal going forward.
“A lot of these things fizzle out in the summer. We want to emphasize that people can stay mobilized during the summer even if they’re not in Ottawa,” he said. “We’re also encouraging people to be active in their own right, and just to try to help them find their political side. Not their politician side, but their political side.”
Belisle is also a CUSA councillor-elect for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, but he said that being a part of CUSA doesn’t interfere with his work at the assembly.
“We’re not exactly bypassing CUSA, we’re offering a different avenue for change,” he said. “CUSA is definitely important. We definitely don’t want to challenge their legitimacy.”
Tabatha Armstrong, who is also a part of the organizing committee, said once things get rolling, the assembly can use different methods to incite change.
“It could be a strike, it could be a protest, it could be a manifestation of some kind. It could be a campaign to raise awareness, all kinds of different venues,” she said.
She emphasized that the assembly is still young and things still need to get organized.
“Again, before we get going, it’s chicken before the egg.”
