RE: “No hope for CUSA,” Jan. 12-18, 2012
I think before the Charlatan publishes editorials knocking Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) councillors, it should do a bit of background research into exactly who we are and what brings us to the table again and again.
If they looked carefully, they’d find highly motivated and active members of the Carleton community. Twenty-six volunteer councillors find themselves sitting at the council table on behalf of the many faculties and departments at Carleton. Roughly 25,000 students are represented through these mere 26 faces.
As the Charlatan correctly pointed out, these councillors are the aspiring leaders of tomorrow. All of us are the exceptional individuals within our faculties, the Carleton community, and often the greater Ottawa community.
We’re all devoted to particular extra-curricular causes on top of an already exhausting academic timetable. After it’s all said and done, we still find the time to sit for upwards of two hours around a table discussing the issues that are most important to the average Carleton student.
It’s not an easy task. Carleton is a diverse community with broad ranging political, social, and academic view points. We can’t be all things to all people, and sometimes we get it wrong. We’re still human. It is through these mistakes that we learn and grow, that your views become ours, and that the student association progresses.
The Charlatan too quickly jumped to the conclusion that we’re an unnecessary component, along with the six paid executives, and that by somehow replacing all of council an aboutface will occur within the CUSA landscape.
The editorial would have you believe that with an entirely new CUSA council, students will wake up to a utopian campus where everyone holds hands, sings and dances, and peacefully interacts with one-another.
Speaking from experience, I don’t believe that a change in the volunteer councillors can produce this result.
Council exists as a forum to debate and discuss the issues of the day, and to be informed of the actions of and to hold to account the six paid executives. It is precisely through attempting to hold these six paid executives to account that has led to a rather embarrassing year. Students were often left on the sidelines, not sure what to think, who to trust, or how to react.
It’s no secret that volunteer councillors found themselves at odds with the paid executives this year. Battle lines were drawn early. Some of the 26 supported the actions of the paid executives, while the clear majority opposed their actions.
It was not any of the 26 volunteer councillors that started the fiasco of the past six months. Through thick and thin, however, the 26 councillors have been attempting to continue their volunteer work for Carleton.
We don’t always agree, and we definitely don’t get along around the council table, but we’re all interested in representing students’ best interests.
If anything, instead of lumping the councillors in with the paid executives, they should first look at these over-glorified, popularity-contest winners. For it is within these six that the point of contention lies, and it is without these six that the issues are being and will be resolved.
With a mere 26 faces representing close to 25,000 students, it will take time to resolve all outstanding problems. The end product will be worth the wait.
— Justin Campbell
third year, computer science
CUSA computer science councillor
