The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) is revising an executive position ahead of their upcoming elections and in light of the Student Choice Initiative (SCI).
After internal talks over several months since September about potentially cutting the vice-president (student services) position, CUSA council unanimously voted on Dec. 5 to instead change the title and duties.
The 2020 executive team will feature a newly created role, dubbed the vice-president (community engagement).
“Ultimately we decided it just makes more sense,” said CUSA president Lily Akagbosu. “Cutting someone would weaken our efficiency as an executive team, so we decided to maintain the number of executives so that more students can engage and benefit from our services.”
The new role will be similar to vice-president (external) portfolios in other university student unions like the University of Alberta, Regina, and Guelph, according to Akagbosu.
The role shares the exact same title of an executive position at the University of Manitoba’s Students’ Union (UMSU). In 2017, the Charlatan reported the winning slate in a UMSU election shared an uncanny resemblance to the winning “One Carleton” CUSA slate in the same year. The slates were similar in branding, platform points and even their names, with the UMSU slate being called “One UMSU.”
Akagbosu said the revised role is a step in the right direction to ensure CUSA maintains financial stability, given the uncertainty surrounding the SCI.
“At the end of the day, we realized that we don’t want the SCI to define us,” she said. “Sure, it happened. But we have to fulfil our duties and maintain the work we want to do. And for that, a role like this is highly important.”
The vice-president (community engagement) position will be dedicated to maintaining relationships across university departments, student bodies, and with the greater Ottawa community to foster possible revenue opportunities like sponsorships and funding partnerships.
A motion to amend the role as it stands came just in time before the writ of elections for 2020. The writ was dropped at an emergency meeting right after council voted to change the executive role’s portfolio.
In motivating council to vote on the motion, Carleton Academic Student Government vice-president (operations) Matt Gagne said “it metaphorically represents a new Carleton.”
“If you look at the way our campus was built, all the old buildings face inwards to the university quad,” Gagne said. “I’m a big fan of the new role, because it presents a unique opportunity to start looking outwards.”
Current vice-president (student services) George Owusu-Mensah will maintain his role on the executive team for the rest of the year, after which he will help transition the newly elected vice-president (community engagement) later in the winter semester.
CUSA’s 2020 elections kick off Jan. 15, running until the last voting day on Jan. 30.
Featured image from files.
