Lacretia Antwi is a fourth-year student running as an independent presidential candidate in the 2018 Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) byelection.
Antwi is double majoring in law and communications and media studies. During her second year at Carleton she worked as a residence fellow on a floor of 80 first-year students, an experience that she described in an email to the Charlatan as teaching her “a great deal about being a role model, resource person, helper, community developer and leader.”
She described how since her time as a residence fellow she has missed “the feeling of giving back,” and that she saw her opportunity when the large number of ‘no confidence’ votes in the 2018 CUSA election resulted in a byelection.
Having dubbed her platform “FIX CUSA,” she is campaigning on the central promise of forming “a consensus around every issue the association chooses to tackle so as to truly take into consideration the opinions of the general student population.”
Antwi promised to focus on creating a more accessible and accountable CUSA.
She said, “Carleton students can have confidence in knowing that I will fight tooth and nail for the things they want,” adding, “in voting for me, your voices will matter.”
Antwi’s extensive list of campaign promises include ensuring effective promotion of future CUSA elections, establishing a CUSA desk for students to ask questions and express concern, expanding CUSA’s website to include more information on student services and ongoing clubs, renegotiating OC Transpo bus routes and service fees, and removing bussing fees for Carleton students who don’t use OC Transpo and instead requesting parking permits for those students.
She also wants to remove the cost of the Carleton gym membership for students who don’t use it, implement more microwaves across campus, expand the gym, find a more accessible venue for Capital Hoops, and work with the administration to develop a ‘Mental MindPeace’ space.
“The events of this year’s CUSA election suggests to me that Carleton students want a CUSA that they can trust to support them, an association that is dedicated to its purpose of serving and representing our community,” Antwi said.
