The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) executives provided councillors with midterm reports mapping their progress over the course of their term in office so far at a council meeting held Jan. 8.
Here’s a breakdown from the Charlatan about what each executive reported on accomplishing and what’s in progress this winter before the end of their year-long term.
President
David Oladejo, CUSA’s president, said he’s made 10 big promises for the year, which included a referendum to reduce student fees by $16.75 by defederating from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). While the referendum did not result in defederation, Oladejo said the process of initiating the referendum, as promised, was completed.
Oladejo also said the number of student jobs on campus have been increased through grants and honorariums.
“For our big programming events in the fall semester, we had our street team present at the events, and we were able to hire to help with the support and logistics when it came to those events,” he said.
Another achievement for Oladejo in the fall term was the increase in coverage by the student health and dental plan to $5,000 from last year’s near $2,000. The improved plan also covers more types of therapy such as physiotherapy, psychotherapy, and athletic therapy.
During the provincial and municipal elections, Oladejo lobbied for lower tuition by writing letters to candidates describing issues students face, with the cost of tuition being at “the top of the list.”
Oladejo’s plans for the second semester include continued lobbying for lower tuition, arranging more CUSA town halls, and increasing experiential learning opportunities on campus in collaboration with the university’s vice-president (academic) Jerry Tomberlin.
Vice-president (finance)
Luke Taylor, CUSA’s vice-president (finance), said The Wing—CUSA’s new food store located in the University Centre atrium—is one of the biggest projects from the fall term.
Taylor said the location and variety The Wing offers makes it helpful to students.
The Wing is “a spot where students can grab and go—it’s on the path for students to classes,” he said. “The products are healthier, with different options for students like a taste of Africa and sushi.”
In terms of academics, Taylor said he worked on strengthening student scholarship success through ScholarPro, an online service that helps students earn scholarships. According to him, CUSA had originally planned to subsidize 1,000 ScholarPro accounts for students at the start of the term, but has “actually been able to do 1,500, and over 1,400 have been used at this point.”
In addition, Taylor said he is currently working with Jacob Howell, president of the Rideau River Residence Association, to create a service called “Enhance Residence move-outs,” which will allow students to request a moving crew—similar to those provided during frosh through frosh facilitators—to help students move out at the end of the year.
“At the end of the year, people are stressed out from exams,” he said. “The last thing people want to do is worry about how they’re going to move out.”
Moving forward, Taylor said he hopes to finish the renovation of the Haven Books café, which will give students more job opportunities.
Vice-president (internal)
Throughout the fall term, CUSA’s vice-president (internal) Natalie York worked to improve the student-councillor relationship by implementing an accountability committee. The committee was suggested by the association’s engineering councillors, and provides a way for students to give feedback to CUSA as well as create increased awareness of council to students.
There has been “a lot more promotion of council opportunities this year,” York said. “We’ve seen a lot more students get involved with council through committees.”
York also introduced funding for business and engineering clubs, which was not done previously because these clubs were exclusive to business and engineering students.
York’s plans for the rest of the term include increasing club storage and an equipment rental service for clubs.
Vice-president (student issues)
Lily Akagbosu, CUSA’s vice-president (student issues), said one of the biggest projects she worked on in the last term was Wellness Wednesdays, which encourages clubs and centres to promote awareness of mental health issues and mindfulness, and creates safer spaces for students to engage in discussions about it. Akagbosu said the event is ongoing with many clubs hosting weekly mental health-focused events.
Additionally, throughout the fall term, Akagbosu lobbied for a better gym which is now “enlisted as one of the priorities for the university” and “went a step forward by looking to bring a live tracker.”
A live tracker in the gym is a software that will allow students in any location to keep track of the number of people using the gym in real time.
Akagbosu said this would be helpful to students because they would “know the best times to schedule their workouts.”
Through the second-half of her term, Akagbosu said she wants to improve the Study Snacks program, and open more channels for communication.
“I really want to increase the number of hours I can meet with students one-on-one and address their issues,” she said.
Vice-president (student services)
Diana Idibe, CUSA’s vice-president (student services), said she provided CUSA service centres’ coordinators with social media training, and implemented service centre class talks throughout the fall term.
Idibe also said she implemented new programming for students in the winter semester through the Winter Welcome Week from Jan. 8-11, which includes a University Service Fair.
Idibe said the University Service Fair is very important for students to learn about the resources available to them.
“It gives students the opportunity to interact with folks who can support them early in the semester,” she said. “Students are being supported right away and know what’s available to them before the semester progresses.”
In the upcoming term, Idibe said she is still working to expand CUSA’s sexual assault and awareness support efforts. Partnered with the sexual assault and awareness support services in Robertson Hall, Idibe said they are “able to provide peer support three days a week, but the goal is to have that service five days a week.”
She also hopes to improve mental health services through a revamp of the Wellness Centre.
Vice-president (student life)
CUSA’s vice-president (student life), Abdullah Jaber organized many events for the fall term including Pandamonium, which included concerts and tailgates as well as a campus-wide kickoff party in celebration of the Panda game between Carleton and the University of Ottawa. In addition to the events, Jaber worked with the Student Experience Office to offer perks, like mugs and free shirts, to students sporting Ravens wear on campus.
“I set the bar so high—I don’t know how the VPSL [vice president student life] is going to do that next year,” Jaber said on the fall kickoff events.
Jaber also noted that in the next term he hopes Oladejo and Taylor, who will be absorbing his position, will be able to implement multi-faith events and academic events into student life.
“We were only able to kick off African night,” Jaber said. However, he mentioned that a multi-faith event with the Muslim Students Association and a Christian group called Transforming Life at Carleton is currently being planned.
At the meeting, Jaber announced his resignation as vice-president (student life), as he will be leaving Carleton to pursue school in New Zealand.
The CUSA executives’ midterm reports come shortly before CUSA election season, which officially begins on Jan. 16.
File photo
