In the recent elections for both the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) and the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) current executives have run for a new position on the executive or as incumbents. Zameer Masjedee and Alexandra Noguera, both current CUSA executives, were re-elected to the 2017/18 executive, and Hyder Naqvi, current RRRA president, is running for re-election.
While neither organization has term limits in their constitutions, there should be a one-year limit on executive members. The values and ideas students care about, and the population of students who make up the membership of the student body, are always changing—for this reason, so should the executives.
When student association executives—also students—run for re-election, they stop new ideas from coming into the association and prevent new students from having the same opportunity to improve Carleton in the same way they did.
A term limit would prevent executives from getting too comfortable in their position and give everyone a fair shot at the job. It would also stop people from failing to accomplish their campaign promises in their first term and running on the promise to finally get it done in their second. They also reduce the impression around Carleton’s student associations that it is the same people controlling the executive year after year.
A lot of talk around campus has been revolving around reforming CUSA’s electoral process—term limits would be a good start.
