Ahead of the upcoming Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) presidential election for the 2025-2026 term, candidates discussed their policy priorities, advocacy plans and finances at a debate on Jan. 28.
The candidates running for CUSA president are:
- Nagam Abuihmaid: a third-year neuroscience and mental health student
- Sean Joe-Ezigbo: a fourth-year commerce student
- Chas Nuhn: a third-year public affairs and policy management student
The debate was held in the Nideyinàn Galleria and was moderated by the Charlatan and campus radio CKCU-FM.
Policy priorities
The candidates were asked what their priorities would be as CUSA president.
Joe-Ezigbo said he wants to restructure CUSA finances through a levy review and a “summer operational adjustment program” to adjust the summer schedules of CUSA businesses.
He also said he wants to create an off-campus housing support centre, enhance student advocacy initiatives and implement a programming audit to determine which CUSA supports are most impactful to students.
“We’re going to [give] parking reimbursements for students with accessibility needs, and we’re going to do an academic project fund,” Joe-Ezigbo said. “We’re going to increase collaboration between faculties to provide career advancement for students looking to cross-collaborate across the different faculties.”
Abuihmaid said she wants to create a direct bus transportation system in collaboration with student associations at Algonquin College and the University of Ottawa to connect campus bus routes to other major bus stations.
She also proposed the creation of a CUSA mobile app and newsletter to provide students with information about CUSA services, as well as a new committee for current club presidents to provide their opinions to the club oversight committee.
Nuhn said that he wants to “put the U back in CUSA,” explaining that students do not see the benefits of CUSA. He said he wants to withdraw from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), which he said will decrease students’ tuition by $20 per year.
According to the CFS website, the organization “provides students from across the country with an effective and united voice, provincially and nationally.”
Nuhn said that to legally leave the federation, a student referendum must pass by 50 per cent. The Ontario Superior Court overruled CUSA’s previous attempt to leave the CFS by referendum in 2022.
Nuhn also wants to increase CUSA’s free printing services from 100 to 150 pages, create a student phone plan and reduce executive salaries by $5,000 per year.
Currently, the CUSA president makes $45,000 a year, which will increase to $49,000, according to the 2025-2026 president job description on CUSA’s website.
Advocacy
Candidates were asked how they would advocate for students on issues including transit and divestment.
All three candidates agreed they would advocate to OC Transpo to reduce U-Pass fees.
Joe-Ezigbo said he would advocate for reduced U-Pass fares or for those funds to be used to provide “more bus routes to regional areas that would affect students more positively.”
He said he would do so by leveraging the “working relationship” he and CUSA built with OC Transpo during his time as vice-president (finance) in the 2023-2024 term.
In addition to advocating for direct campus bus routes to other major stations, Abuihmaid said she will also advocate for reduced U-Pass fares.
Nuhn said he will “warn” OC Transpo to adhere to the original deal made with CUSA, which caps U-Pass yearly fare increases at 2.5 per cent.
In December 2024, OC transpo asked CUSA to breach the agreement.
During the debate, candidates were posed a question sent by Independent Jewish Voices Carleton regarding the continuation of the divestment policy stance which was passed at CUSA in April 2024.
Joe-Ezigbo and Abuihmaid both said they will advocate and put pressure on the university to divest.
Abuihmaid said this is an important cause for her as a Palestinian woman.
“I will work my hardest to continue advocating for issues like genocide, for issues like ethnic cleansing … I don’t care whose background it is, I’m going to continue advocating,” she said. “Especially because it’s my people, that’s what I’m here for.”
Nuhn said he would also push for divestment through an initiative called University Network for Inclusion, Training and Youth (UNITY), which would “provide a hub for marginalized international students or anyone who does not currently feel at home.”
He said he will use the network to “listen to students and their values.”
Nuhn said UNITY will be incorporated into the Racialized & International Student Experience services, which offers a safe space for students of all ethnicities.
CUSA finances
Candidates were asked how they would manage CUSA’s current financial challenges.
In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, CUSA ran a budget deficit of $1.2 million.
Joe-Ezigbo said one of the biggest issues facing CUSA is allocation of student fees, adding he would create a system to ensure proper allocation of funds.
“Sometimes … money is sent to the wrong places and not allocated properly,” he said.
He also said his proposed summer operational adjustment program would review CUSA businesses’ summer operations to identify peak times and adjust scheduling to reduce costs during those off-peak months.
Abuihmaid said she wants CUSA businesses to break even. She said she will help businesses do so with student collaboration and menu revisions to fit student preferences.
“I think with the collaboration of students, understanding what students prefer and their preferences put[s] their voices on the table to consider their considerations [and] understand where they’re coming from,” she said.
Nuhn said he will make “financially savvy decisions, not like building a bowling alley or building a new building.”
Part of current CUSA president Sarah El Fitori’s campaign last spring was a plan to construct a student union building on campus.
Nuhn said he might close CUSA businesses for an extra day each week to save money.
“This is not the best option. However, it would help save money and it could help reduce deficits,” he said.
The candidates were also asked whether they support a referendum that would increase CUSA’s student levy by 90 per cent, from $25.12 per term to $47.80 per term.
Joe-Ezigbo said he “thinks it’s necessary” and that it will allow CUSA to operate better.
Abuihmaid said she also supports the levy, as it will give back to students through CUSA service centres and businesses.
“When students are paying thousands of dollars, what’s $25 more?” she said about the proposed per-term increase.
Nuhn held a different view, but also said he thinks it “necessary” because of CUSA’s financial challenges.
“Morally no, I do not support the fee increase,” he said.
Students will be able vote in the CUSA general elections between Feb. 4 and Feb. 6 through an emailed ballot.
Featured image by Murray Oliver/the Charlatan
