Executives of the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) will get reduced compensation for tuition starting in the 2019-20 school year.
The new change in payroll comes in the wake of discussions within CUSA over how to potentially accommodate decreases in student union funds due to the new opt-out ancillary fee option by the Ontario government.
According to Travis Lindgren, CUSA’s general manager, language in the association’s bylaws formerly allowed for executives who are international students to claim up to 2.5 credits worth of free tuition along with their salaries and parking passes in past years.
At Carleton, most full-time students take up to five credits of classes spread over a year. Domestic students pay between roughly $1,500-$2,000 per credit, while international students pay $5,500-$5,700 per credit.
This new change in executive compensation means potential savings of up to $8,750 per international student executive in tuition reimbursement.
“This is a favourable change for money management within CUSA, I think. The committee itself zoned in on this and they were quite astute about this change,” Lindgren said, adding international students can still claim the domestic equivalent of 2.5 credits next year.
“There’s a difference in price [per] credit for each faculty, and international credits are worth a lot more monetarily. So, if in the worst-case scenario we saw all six executives as international engineering students for instance, that’d be a lot of compensation.”
The committee—struck this past year at a council meeting held Oct. 29—is composed of three students-at-large and three councillors along with Lindgren who chairs their meetings.
Up next is a motion to strike and fill the executive compensation review committee, raised by York and seconded by Taylor. There is no debate, and a motion passes to elect three students-at-large and councillors for this committee. @CharlatanLive #CUSACouncil #CUSAOct29 #CUSA2018
— Temur Durrani (@temurdur) October 30, 2018
“The committee typically meets once or twice every fall semester and goes over the compensation packages for executives,” Lindgren said. “The goal at the of the day is to attract the best candidates, and so packages for executives are kept competitive especially in comparison to other Canadian universities.”
CUSA executives were paid an annual salary of $32,563.25 this past year, according to this year’s budget. That salary is increased by roughly two per cent per year due to inflation.
Luke Taylor, CUSA vice-president (finance), said given the recent changes to tuition proposed by the Ontario government, which would allow students to potentially opt out of CUSA ancillary levies, “this might not be the only change we would see.”
“Given what’s happening everywhere around us, I do think we need to understand our roles better,” he said. “And under the current government, with the proposed changes, I do think there needs to be a stronger focus on the way we show students the work we truly do every day.”
After Abdullah Jaber, CUSA vice-president (student life), resigned in January, several concerns arose about executive pay and who would fulfil the role for the rest of the term.
According to previous Charlatan coverage, the roughly $10,000 which would be saved in executive pay this term due to Jaber’s resignation was to be used elsewhere. CUSA president David Oladejo and Taylor have since absorbed the role for the rest of the semester.
Natalie York, CUSA vice-president (internal), said a possible combination of executive roles could be in order if councillors raise a motion next year.
“I mean, looking at the Student Choice Initiative, I do think we’re going to see roles get cut down altogether at CUSA next year if students opt out,” York said.
York added that the bylaws saw such a change several years ago when the role of vice-president (academic) was removed to create the Carleton Academic Student Government.
“I definitely think something like that could happen next year if council decides to combine exec roles . . . there’s precedent there,” she said.
Taylor said there’s also been a “more scrutinizing eye” placed on CUSA, given the recent financial scandals at student unions at Ryerson University and the University of Ottawa (U of O). He said these events could affect student opinion on executive pay in the future.
“As a student leader, I think it’s quite shocking to see these things just because I think you have so much power to uplift and initiate, and do good. Using that for your personal gain isn’t something you should be doing,” he said.
Lindgren said he agreed, adding when student unions at other schools undergo major scandals such as the ones at Ryerson and U of O, students begin to lose trust in unions at their universities as well.
“I don’t know enough about those organizations to say whether they were managed well or not,” he said. “But, it’s really unfortunate because we do get painted with the same brush, and the only way we can defend that is by being transparent—which, at CUSA, we’ve always been when it comes to where our money goes, and how it’s spent.”
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