Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) held its first-ever official online meeting amid COVID-19 on May 28. The Zoom call, which included a CUSA Inc. meeting followed by a council meeting, ended just nine minutes shy of five hours.
The first meeting of newly-elected councillors and executives involved logistical work such as presenting the year-end report and filling vacant student-at-large seats and committees. The organization also revealed new measures to engage and support students amid COVID-19.
Due to COVID-19 and the subsequent closure of the university in mid-March, the council’s last meeting took place back in February.
CUSA businesses are being assessed to meet social distancing measures, vice-president (finance) Jacob Howell said.
“[We’re] taking the required steps to make sure that when there are people returning to campus, it will be safe to do so,” Howell said.
He added he hopes to open Haven Books and Café this summer to provide jobs for Ottawa community members and students unemployed by the pandemic.
Many CUSA executives are also working to create digital resources for students.
Because frosh can no longer be held in-person, vice-president (student life) Osman Elmi said CUSA, the Student Experience Office (SEO) and the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) are working together to create virtual frosh programming named ‘CU 1001.’
“It’s going good so far,” Elmi said, but no specific activities have been announced as of yet.
Elmi said over 1,000 students participated in the ongoing online CUSA programming, which “amazed” him. He added he hopes to host more online programming, such as trivia for students, throughout the summer.
Vice-president (internal) Farook Al-Muflehi said he is also working to keep student clubs thriving during the pandemic by creating a new CUSA hub to showcase all campus clubs.
“Obviously it’s a very difficult year — clubs really do thrive on hosting events and engaging students, so this whole change is going to be really difficult for us and for them,” he said.
Al-Muflehi added he loved seeing the creativity of club executives to engage students, such as through Instagram Live mini concerts. He hopes to recognize interactive clubs through an online program soon.
CUSA also recently joined TikTok to reach out to students during the pandemic, vice-president (community engagement) Morgan McKeen said.
“We were challenged essentially by the university to help with recruitment because there’s a lot of uncertainty,” McKeen said. “[We’re] trying to really ensure students that, like, Carleton is still here to support them, and to find fun different interactive ways to pretty much promote the university.”
One of the ways McKeen said she hopes to increase CUSA visibility online is through a brand ambassador program where select individuals would share the organization’s content on social media.
“I’ve kind of exceeded my capacity to pay attention,” councillor Saleh Abdelghany said while fielding his emergency motion to push remaining agenda items to the next council meeting.
Despite voicing his concerns over the council’s attention decreasing over time, the motion did not pass.
“It’s been a very long meeting, but unfortunately it’s something that has to be done,” Al-Muflehi said.
During the voting period of the last motion of the night, council members set off an alarm clock sound in order to get councillors’ attention to cast all of their ballots.
“That actually worked,” CUSA council chair Ryan Boucher said.
Al-Muflehi promised council members future meetings would not be as long.
“That’s got to be some sort of record,” he said. “I promise you, unless something drastic happens, I don’t think any other council will be this long.”
CUSA president Kathleen Weary also thanked the council for the long wait.
“Thank you for your patience,” Weary said. “After this meeting, every future one will feel short.”
Although the lengthy meeting welcomed new members, it also said goodbye to the 2019-20 executive team.
Former CUSA president Lily Akagbosu offered advice to the incoming councillors in her last address during council.
“I encourage you not just to be councillors at CUSA, I encourage you to truly represent what you want to see on our campus,” Akagbosu said.
At the end of the five-hour meeting, Akagbosu became an honorary member of CUSA for life — fulfilling a longstanding tradition among executives.
Featured image by Jillian Piper.
