The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) board of directors faced lengthy questioning over its decision to close Haven at the end of the fall semester during a Nov. 25 CUSA council meeting.
Councillors, Haven staff and Carleton students shared their concerns about the closure and questioned CUSA board members on the decision.
Significant financial deficits drove the decision to close the café, according to information shared by CUSA president Sarah El Fitori and board chairperson Noah Goodgie at a Nov. 12 CUSA council meeting.
Haven is expected to close on Dec. 6, according to a statement released to CUSA’s Instagram on Nov. 15.
Kiran Niet, a Haven employee and fourth-year Carleton student, spoke on behalf of the Haven delegation. Niet created and posted the “Save Haven” petition on Nov. 16, which has since garnered more than 1,300 signatures.
Niet shared testimony from students and community members about the importance of Haven as a “safe space” and “a home away from home.”
“The lack of clarity, deliberate misinformation and mismanagement displayed through the past two weeks have seriously eroded students’ faith in CUSA’s competency as a representative of students’ interests on campus,” they said.
Niet said any claims that Haven’s staff was involved or informed about the decision to close Haven prior to Nov. 15 were “categorically false.”
There was a “failure to communicate” with Haven staff about the decision to close, according to a document prepared by the Haven delegation and obtained by the Charlatan.
The timeline of events on Nov. 15 presented in the document is as follows:
- 12:49 p.m. — the Charlatan publishes an article about CUSA’s decision to close Haven, based on information shared in CUSA’s Nov. 12 council meeting.
- Around 1:30 p.m. — Haven supervisors begin receiving concerned messages from Haven staff who had seen the article.
- 2:10 p.m. — Haven supervisors receive notice of closure from Haven’s manager Sam Prentice in a leadership group chat.
- Around 2:30 p.m. — Haven’s manager sends an email to the staff announcing CUSA’s decision to close Haven.
- Around 3:30 p.m. — CUSA releases its public statement.
CUPE 1281, the union representing CUSA employees, was also not informed of Haven’s closure prior to Nov. 15, Niet said.
There are 12 Haven employees, but Niet said CUSA has only offered nine possible on-campus job positions. Of those positions, Niet said only four currently exist at Ollie’s and Rooster’s Coffeehouse. They said the other five jobs offered are proposed but not confirmed positions in those businesses or the Wing, which CUSA’s board has not yet approved as a business.
Goodgie assured all student staff at Haven that they will have the option to transition to an on-campus positions, if they choose.
“If you want to come to campus and you want to work here, that option is available to you,” Goodgie said. “Guaranteed.”
In a Dec. 3 email statement to the Charlatan, Goodgie said CUSA has “identified several positions on campus for Haven’s employees.”
“Few of these positions currently exist, while the remaining are new roles that are being created to accommodate affected staff,” Goodgie wrote.
The employment transition process is underway, he added, with offers being made “based on seniority and alignment with employees’ current roles and skills.”
Goodgie said Haven employees will not face pay reductions or significant changes to their employment unless they voluntarily choose a different role.
Staff members will receive detailed employment offers this week, he said. This comes three weeks after the first announcement of Haven’s closure was made at a Nov. 12 CUSA council meeting.
“CUSA has failed the staff of Haven, taking away students’ sources of income just in time for exams and the holidays,” Niet said.
Niet called on CUSA council to: dissolve and re-hire the association’s board of directors; impeach El Fitori and all other executives involved in the closure decision; hold a student referendum on a levy to fund the café; and defer the decision to close Haven.
At the meeting, council did not put forward any motions to dissolve and re-hire the board or impeach any executives. It did pass a motion recommending to the board that it stop transitioning Haven into a rental space and look into having a student referendum on a nine-dollar levy to fund Haven.
In response, Goodgie said CUSA owes an apology to Haven’s staff given they were not properly informed about Haven’s closure and their employment.
“That is our fault and we’re sorry that that happened,” Goodgie said.
He said the board chose to close Haven due to current and projected financial deficits. Haven ended the 2023-2024 year with a $228,000 deficit, according to information shared at the Nov. 12 council meeting. Financial projections shared at that meeting expect that deficit to continue into the 2024-2025 year.
Goodgie said that a Nov. 25 assessment by CUSA’s financial analyst states Haven has already lost $128,000 since May 1.
In a Nov. 26 statement to the Charlatan, Ben Kissner, Haven’s former events and programming co-ordinator, said Haven’s own financial analysis predicted $80,000 to $90,000 in losses for Haven this year.
“CUSA’s numbers were very different and they couldn’t offer any explanation as to what factors were being taken into consideration to provide such different numbers,” Kissner wrote.
At the Nov. 25 meeting, Goodgie said CUSA’s financial audits were posted online. He said Haven’s manager did not believe the café would become profitable.
However, Haven staff and the Haven delegation’s document state the café’s manager “was barely consulted and continues to fervently advocate for Haven to remain open.”
Why did CUSA close Haven?
The board’s decision to close Haven was based on information provided by auditors and CUSA managers, according to board member Allan Buri.
“For Ollie’s and Rooster’s and the Wing, [the auditors and managers] saw room for improvement. They did not see that at Haven,” Buri said. “That was the advice that the board was provided.”
In the board’s first meeting on April 28, CUSA’s former director of operations said financial projections left from the previous year were “wrong” and did not align with the budget, Buri said.
“The picture we were painted was exceedingly grim,” he said.
Sam Kilgour, CUSA’s former director of operations, resigned from his position on Sept. 27.
Kilgour did not respond to questions following a request from the Charlatan.
CUSA faced financial challenges that were going to lead the association “to be unable to make payroll by the end of the year,” Buri said.
Buri said the café’s closure, money made from renting the space, salary money saved from CUSA resignations and other business efficiencies would generate enough funds to keep the association’s other businesses and services open.
“[Closing] Haven was considered an essential part of getting that deficit to a sustainable level,” Buri said.
However, he said he doesn’t think the board’s decision gives students confidence in their student government.
“I regret the way that [the decision] was made,” Buri said.
El Fitori said waiting to close the café could mean the association would have to sell the Haven property at the end of the year.
According to Goodgie, the worst-case scenario would have CUSA running a deficit of more than $300,000. He said this would limit the association’s ability to borrow money, and could lead to a closure of all CUSA services and the annulment of its undergraduate dental and health-care plan.
El Fitori said the board was “shocked” when it learned of CUSA’s financial situation at the beginning of their terms.
“We were told [at the beginning] of our term that this is the situation that we are facing, that CUSA could close at the end of the year after 75 years of operating because of the past financial decisions,” El Fitori said.
“I don’t think anybody on the board smiled when we had to make the decision to close Haven,” she said. “We were put in a very impossible situation where we are facing this giant deficit and we have to do anything and everything that we can to make sure that we don’t run this deficit so that the organization can stay open.”
Featured graphic by Sara Mizannojehdehi.
