As president and vice-chancellor Benoit-Antoine Bacon wraps up his first fall semester at Carleton, the Charlatan sat down with him to discuss what he was able to achieve in his first six months at the university and what’s still to come.
The Charlatan (TC): What have been some of the biggest highlights in your time so far at Carleton?
Benoit-Antoine Bacon (BB): Just even starting with orientation on campus, the energy around campus and having students coming after seeing the campus so empty in my first months in the summer was just great.
You know, in a completely unexpected way and despite all the major policy changes this year, I’m actually really proud of the work we put into the free speech policy. I think the Senate showed really great leadership in getting it approved and passed with the tough deadline.
I’ve also been tweeting this year—students may have seen me doing that a lot. But of all the tweets I sent out this year, students liked the one about announcing Yaprak Baltacioğlu as the new chancellor the most by far. It’s definitely a highlight seeing that happen.
TC: It’s been a big year for changes and updates to Carleton’s policies. Why has it been important to you to see these policies become updated?
BB: I’m of the view that you’re tasked by the community to do the things that are important, in a timely fashion.
I wanted to do, at the very least, a review of the Sexual Violence Policy (SVP) as soon as possible, especially in the current context of everything happening around the #MeToo movement. We went ahead, and I think we’re on the right track.
Post-Truth and Reconciliation, I also thought it was more than time for Carleton to refresh our Indigenous strategy. Personally, it was one of the first things I wanted to do—to show commitment to these issues.
These three policies have been staggered quite well since our timelines are working well, and as the Indigenous policy wraps up this year, we’ll move onto strategic planning for our Coordinated Accessibility Strategy for next year.
TC: In the beginning of this year, you mentioned a challenge that could be foreseen in your first year at Carleton would be working with the government in Queen’s Park. How’s that been like?
BB: We’re still in the waiting pattern with them, and that might not be a bad thing.
I think they’re taking the time to understand both our sector and their broader portfolio, and they’ll make decisions about funding us and others universities in due time—latest by March they’ve said when the budget is expected to be announced.
TC: Looking back at when cannabis was legalized and when Carleton policies were updated to reflect that federal change, how has it been so far with the current policy?
BB: Pre- and post-legalization of marijuana, we’ve seen very little change on campus, so that’s definitely been a small surprise.
And if there’s any changes on a city-wide level, I don’t think that will change much on campus either. I think people live their own lives independent of institutional policy–people make their decisions based on their own circumstances and their own personalities.
It’s been literally status quo with cannabis on campus, and I don’t think that will change.
—With files from Temur Durrani
Photo by Aaron Hemens
