Elected student representatives to Carleton’s Senate have maintained a poor attendance record in the 2013-14 academic year, with a total collective attendance of less than 50 per cent and two student senators not showing up to a single meeting.
These statistics are based on attendance records for undergraduate student senators at the Senate meetings for which records are available. Meetings are held about once a month, starting in September 2013, and records for five of them are available, until February 2014.
The Senate is the university’s highest academic decision-making body, and has the power to approve curriculum and calendar changes. It is made up of professors, staff, and student representatives from various faculties.
There are 10 positions for undergraduate student senators, who have full voting rights and the ability to debate, ask questions, and introduce motions at Senate meetings. They are directly elected by students in their respective faculties to represent student interests at the Senate.
Priya Kumar, Senate secretary, said Senate can vacate a senator’s seat if they don’t show up to more than two-thirds of the meetings in a particular year, without notifying the Senate office—but this can only be done at the end of the year, and student senators are elected for a term of only one year.
Kumar said she is aware of the issue, and it’s something the Senate is looking into changing.
“It doesn’t make any sense. It makes sense for faculty members because they are there for three years,” Kumar said.
“So we’re going to tell the student leaders, ‘Look, this has been happening with the students, and we really appreciate if you can let students know that if you are going to serve on Senate, there is a responsibility that comes with it, which is to attend Senate meetings,’” Kumar said.
“And that’s not too much to ask, I think,” she said.
Student senators Sarah Cooper and Lauren Larmour have both not been to a single meeting, according to the Senate’s records. Cooper declined to comment on her attendance record. Larmour could not be reached for comment.
“I think it just reflects on how much they value their constituents. That’s all I have to say about that,” said Harrison Boyd, president of the Carleton Academic Student Government (CASG).
CASG’s function is to co-ordinate student representation on academic bodies such as Senate.
While student senators get a place on CASG, Boyd said CASG has no power to actually force student senators to attend Senate meetings.
Boyd himself is an ex-officio (non-voting) member of the Senate and is supposed to act as a link between the Senate and CASG—but he has only been to one of the five meetings for which records were available.
Boyd said he interacts with the Senate through Senate clerk Katharine Kelly.
“She’s a member of [CASG’s] executive, so when I deal with Senate I would deal with Dr. Kelly. I also deal with Senate executives, so that’s how I interact with Senate,” Boyd said.
Ayesha Landon-Browne is a student senator who has attended all but one of the meetings while she was a member. She said as Senate meetings are always scheduled at the same time—2 p.m. on the last Friday of the month—they could conflict with a student’s class schedule.
The Senate removed an honorarium of $400 for student senators in 2011, according to meeting minutes.
In April 2013, then Graduate Students’ Association president Kelly Black proposed reinstating the honorarium, that he said was removed in 2011, at a lowered amount of $200. A motion was passed calling on the clerk of Senate to look into the feasibility of such an honorarium.
No honorarium has been established to date, and student senators—like other senators—work on a volunteer basis.
