Over the past week, our student body has witnessed three controversies worth noting. The first being the increase of food prices at Aramark businesses, the insensitive and callous wearing of the anti-Safe Space shirts by a number of our frosh leaders, and the disturbing sexual assaults that occurred to three women on campus, reminding us security issues still exist at Carleton.
These three issues have reminded us of the need for strong student advocacy, both for the silent majority of students and for those students who are marginalized and threatened.
A strong student voice on our campus, led by strong leadership by our student association, would go a long way to ensuring our campus becomes a better place, where events like these begin to happen less often.
What should we expect from a strong student association? A clear drawing of lines, a clear and strong stance taken in favour of the interests of students and those who have been marginalized. A clear stance that the three events mentioned were unacceptable, that our campus needs to do better, and that our student association will lead the way to making that change happen. We should expect clear condemnation.
What did we get from this student association? Meekness bordering on cowardice.
There was no condemnation of Aramark for raising food prices at this university, no assertion of the right of students to a decent meal on their campus at a fair price. What we got from them instead was some advertising for Carleton University Student Asssociation (CUSA) businesses.
What about the anti-Safe Space shirts? By wearing these shirts, our frosh leaders threaten to make the youngest in our university, whom they are tasked with welcoming, feel unwelcome because of their identities.
Well, there we learned what it took for these student leaders to step up.
It was only with a massive mobilization of huge sections of the student body that CUSA finally decided it ought to show some spine and issue a statement that indeed, the “Fuck Safe Space” shirts were unacceptable
What was self-evident to countless students of decency took huge protests to become evident to our executive, who failed to lead, and only could follow.
What about the sexual assault of three women on our campus?
Again, no demands that the university do better, merely a meek assurance that we do indeed live in a generally safe campus. And yet nothing was done to address those who did not feel safe after learning of such an event.
What this represents, I believe, is the slow strangling of student advocacy by our student association leadership. It is a fear and submissiveness unbecoming of any people that purport to be leaders.
