Legal action between the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) and the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) is still ongoing.
“There have been no developments on the health plan legal case,” said GSA president Christina Muehlberger in an email.
The GSA filed a lawsuit against CUSA in October 2012 after CUSA withdrew from a joint health plan between the two student associations, said a membership advisory on the GSA website.
Despite CUSA opting out of the joint health, dental, and accident plan, graduate students remain enrolled in the same plan until Aug. 31, when it expires, according to the GSA website.
A new health plan for graduate students is set to be unveiled soon, Muehlberger said.
“The GSA is looking forward to unveiling its new health plan this summer, and this week we launched our new website,” she said.
A second lawsuit was initiated by CUSA against the GSA in January 2013 regarding unpaid fees from use of the Unicentre.
“The GSA has tried to negotiate with the university and CUSA with regards to the Unicentre fee,” Muehlberger said. “The GSA has offered a partial payment given that the services CUSA was obliged to provide to graduate students were not rendered or rendered partially.”
CUSA president Folarin Odunayo confirmed CUSA received $105,000 from the GSA in payment for Unicentre use from 2011-12. He said the amounts from 2012-13 and 2014-15 are still owed at a council meeting July 17.
According to a GSA membership advisory, “some graduate students were refused full access to student service centres and clubs and societies.” For this reason, the GSA said CUSA was not entitled to all of the funds they were asking for.
The membership advisory also stated CUSA filed the lawsuit instead of going through a process of mediation regarding the fee.
While no agreements have been reached in either case, Odunayo said CUSA remains open to the possibility of a settlement.
“CUSA has and is always willing to discuss settlement on both cases with the GSA,” Odunayo said in an email.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten to that point yet. It is our hope that we can come to an agreement as soon as possible so we can focus completely on providing quality service to our students.”
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