Carleton clubs and societies received their levy money this week in a process that went smoothly despite previous conflict between some groups and the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA).
The levies are built into student tuition, and make up the operating budgets for many groups on campus.
CUSA president Folarin Odunayo said the levy process went smoothly, with funds being passed on to groups as soon as they became available from the university.
“We continue to receive fees from the university as soon as we do that, the group gets an email from our finance office, and then the levy is made available,” Odunayo said.
The Food Collective, which provides pay-what-you-can meals to students, is receiving its levy for the first time in two years. The Board of Governors voted to refund the approximately $2-per-year levy to students in April, deeming the collective was inactive and then failed to provide the appropriate financial documents to access their levy.
Odunayo said the Food Collective was just receiving too much money to not be more accountable to students.
“The problem, initially, with the Food Collective was that they were on-and-off again for a lot of years and we were giving them $60,000 a year,” he said. “It doesn’t sound like a very good practice to just cash out a cheque to a group that may or may not be active.”
Wesley Petite, a member of the Food Collective, said the group received the first half of their levy without problem this week, an amount totalling just over $26,000. The second half will be distributed later this year.
The levy plays a crucial role in the collective’s ability to provide services to students, Petite said.
“It’s our operating budget, it was assigned by a referendum and having a student-led food provider on campus is an important thing for all universities,” he said.
Odunayo said the group has proven its financial accountability, and so the levy was distributed as scheduled.
“The main difference between this year and last year or the year before is that we now have a group that has proven to every party that’s involved that they are active on campus and they can provide the services they claim to offer,” Odunayo said.
The Food Collective will be offering a range of events and services with its full budget this year, going beyond the hot meals the group is known for, Petite said.
“We have servings of course, going on . . . a panel discussion being planned in the second semester,” Petite said. “We want to continue doing collaborations with groups like CUPE 4600, the ISSO (International Student Success Office), other groups around campus. We also want to draw a lot more attention to the collective use of our kitchen.”
Odunayo said the disbursement of levies is good news for everyone, not just the groups getting their money.
“That makes everybody happy. That makes [the groups] happy they’re receiving their funds. It makes the students happy they’re getting the service that they’re paying for. It makes us happy that this group is active,” he said.
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