Carleton’s Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) hosted a virtual town hall on March 20 featuring the 2022 Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) presidential candidates.
The MSA, Carleton’s largest club with more than 4,000 members, has held similar town halls in the past during CUSA elections. All four presidential candidates, Anastasia Lettieri, Mohamed Faris Riazudden, Veronica Dhindsa, and Zaiyaan Esoof, attended.
The candidates began by introducing themselves and their goals for Carleton’s Muslim community. A segment posing questions from the audience followed.
The first subject discussed was a larger prayer room. The MSA feels that their current prayer room in the University Centre is too small, said Saad Babur, MSA vice-president (external) and the town hall’s host.
Babur recounted how the MSA has lobbied CUSA and the university’s administration for more prayer space since 2013 but have only received renovation grants for the current prayer room.
Esoof, Lettieri and Riazudden all said they are committed to obtaining a larger prayer room.
“The needs of Muslim students on campus should be one of the highest priorities of the CUSA president,” Lettieri said. She added that her position on the Board of Governors (BoG) would help with this project, since the board oversees Carleton’s infrastructure.
Dhindsa said she has a long-term goal to have a prayer space in every building on campus. However, Dhindsa acknowledged that such a project would take longer than her time at Carleton.
Many members of the MSA are international students and several questions were related to international students’ tuition fees and difficulty adjusting to life in Canada.
Lettieri said she wanted to create an online job hub for international students. Riazudden said he plans to create more student jobs by increasing funding for services on campus now that Carleton is divesting from fossil fuels.
To help new international students receive guidance from older students, Dhindsa said she would create a mentorship program. Esoof said he wants CUSA to do more to help international students adjust and integrate into the Carleton community.
Islamophobia was the last issue brought up and received a significant amount of discussion during the town hall.
When asked about how the candidates would tackle Islamophobia, the student who submitted the question said they personally experienced Islamophobia at Carleton. All candidates said CUSA must take a hard stance against Islamophobia and work to eradicate it on campus.
They also generally agreed that education is the best way to address it.
“Islamophobia is rooted in ignorance,” Esoof said. “Students should be invited to learn about Islam and its values. This would help remove prejudice.”
Lettieri and Dhindsa also said they will push for more diversity in hiring CUSA jobs and executive positions, which they believe will contribute towards fighting Islamophobia.
Several other issues were also raised in the question period. One student asked about the possibility of office space for the MSA. Another student said they have often skipped campus events because of the presence of secular music and asked the candidates to implement more Muslim-friendly events.
“I want to hear from the students and make sure you guys are being heard,” Dhindsa said. “I want to deliver what you want, not what I think you want.”
The voting period for the 2022 CUSA elections is taking place from March 21 and March 22.
Featured image from Screengrab.
