The end of the semester is here. We have exams to write, assignments to turn in, and a break ahead of us to look forward to. For returning students we also know there is a Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) election ahead.
What fun it will be to be bombarded in the halls by potential candidates wanting signatures for their nomination forms and someone to listen to their plans for Carleton, CUSA, and the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA).
As I’m sure, at this very moment the candidates who will be asking for our support are ready with their slates. It is time to ask ourselves who we are going to be voting for. I am writing this today not to remind you of the election season that will be coming up, but to get to think about the possible outcome and to ask yourself, “Can we afford to go back?”
During my first year at Carleton, I found myself with one of the most useless CUSA executives that I could think of. Plagued by draconian leadership, it launched a legal battle costing us students $200,000 of our student fees.
That executive did nothing for our student body. It spent over $3,000 of our money for a website, which is an overpriced online propaganda outlet whose content we have no control over, a pile of partisan protest signs, campaigns created by a centralized, multi-million dollar corporation, and an overpriced membership to be a pawn of that corporation.
This year students asked for a change and got it. On Nov. 23, I had the opportunity to go and meet therapy dogs, sit back in the atrium, and play video games with fellow students. It was a pleasant surprise that for once, CUSA, the once protesting, puppet organization had done something simple and fun for stressed-out students.
A few weeks ago I have had a great opportunity to attend CUSA’s own Trans*formative Justice Week workshops in the Carleton GLBTQ centre. Not only was this effective, it was truly for students by students, rather than a multimillion-dollar corporation based in Toronto that the Graduate Students Association seems to think is in touch with students.
CUSA has come a long way. It is more fiscally responsible than it had been under previous executives and now are we looking at the possibility of a student building and more programs for students by students that everyone can enjoy instead of a handful of partisan hacks.
So think about it: Can we afford to go back? Are we ready to? Does anyone miss the partisan politics of the past? Do we want an organization that specializes in draconian scandals and lawsuits? Do we really want to only hear about when and where we can protest next?
As we go to the polls in two months, think about it. Do you want to go back and kill the progress we have achieved? I certainly do not and I hope that fellow students would like to continue to move forward as well.
— Ryan Husk,
second-year global politics
