The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) held its first State of the Union event on Dec. 1, in collaboration with other campus and student government organizations.
The event gave student leaders the opportunity to update the campus community on their past, current and future initiatives. This included a focus on increasing scholarship and bursaries as well as job opportunities for students.
Rideau River Residence Association
Kamran Azizli, president of the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA), said his organization has been working to improve supports for residence students.
Azizli referred to RRRA’s initiatives this academic year, including its bike exchange program, which offers bike rentals for $3 per day.
RRRA’s club initiative fund also provides financial support for clubs while fostering community engagement.
“Noticing a knowledge gap regarding RRRA’s services and programs, our team has worked day and night to increase RRRA’s presence in the residence and campus community,” he added.
Azizli said RRRA’s full council seats are a testament to its achievement of this goal.
Francesca Lepore, president of the Carleton Academic Student Government (CASG) said CASG has increased its council engagement this year.
“This year we had three times the number of councillors on our council during our first council meeting in comparison to [last] year,” she said.
Lepore also highlighted CASG’s increased scholarship budget, which has increased from $11,000 to $16,000. These scholarships are based on equity and academic achievement.
She said one of CASG’s main objectives for the year is its course outline initiative, based on responses from a survey the student group administered.
“Students expressed a desire to have more information available when registering for courses,” she said.
Lepore added that after meeting with Carleton’s administration, CASG has agreed to posting past and current course outlines on faculty websites.
CUSA president Mohamed “Faris” Riazudden concluded the event, discussing initiatives such as the USC levy referendum and advocacy for tuition guarantees.
“CUSA has made considerable efforts to modernize and organize itself,” he said. “Everything from updating our governing documents to dispersing decision-making, overhauling elections and returning dignity to the top offices within CUSA.”
Riazudden highlighted several initiatives that CUSA has implemented this year.
Riazudden focused the bulk of his speech on international tuition fees, which has been one of his priorities since his presidential campaign.
“I propose that Carleton has the chance to be among the first wave of universities in Canada to offer a tuition guarantee.”
This tuition guarantee would inform international students of their tuition fees for the first five years of their degree, which Riazudden said would offer financial stability.
Riazudden said his own experiences influenced his advocacy efforts on tuition fees.
“I imagine a future where opportunities I have had are available to all international students,” he said.
The Unified Support Centre (USC) levy referendum was another intuitive implemented by CUSA this year, for which Riazudden thanked vice-president (internal) Logan Breen and associate vice-president (executive relations) Aidan Rohaceck for their efforts in the campaign.
The increased levy will provide more funding for the USC, allowing them to accommodate increasing demands from students for food and basic living essentials amid high costs of living.
“Students at Carleton now have a stable safety net if they ever find themselves experiencing food insecurity thanks to these students, and we all owe them a debt of gratitude,” Riazudden said.
Riazudden said CUSA’s team has greatly expanded this year, including the new associate vice-president positions.
“Whether it is an AVP, a barista at Rooster’s, a service centre co-ordinator or a member of the security team at Ollie’s, we are a proud student employer, with more opportunities available than ever before.”
Featured image by Anya Swettenham.
