Lauren Butters, vice-president (finance) of the Carleton Communications Society, said the new Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) clubs and societies bursary reduced the financial burden of their Drag Me to Trivia event.
RRRA announced their club intitative fund, which will provide clubs and societies at Carleton University with a bursary for events on Nov. 1. The bursary will allow clubs to host more events, with the goal being to increase engagement among residence students.
The bursary will provide CUSA-certified clubs and societies with up to $500 in funding for events held in Teraanga Commons or another residence building, and up to $300 in event funding for events held off residence.
Two main sources of revenue fund the bursary. The first is from the money made from the Abstentions, the convenience store on campus owned and run by RRRA. The second source of revenue is $80 from each student’s tuition per academic year.
The Carleton Communications Society is one of the societies that has applied for the RRRA bursary. The society applied for the bursary to host one of its winter events, Drag Me to Trivia.
“Everything was a pretty smooth process, and the turnaround was really quick for them to get back to us,” Butters said.
Butters said the RRRA club and societies bursary saved the Carleton Communications Society a lot of money on the Drag Me to Trivia event and helped cover the costs of hiring a drag queen and buying decorations and snacks.
RRRA president Kamran Azizli, said he created the bursary after observing a lack of community and social events for new and returning students after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.
“I noticed a huge loophole after the post-COVID era where many students are not able to find events that suit their needs,” Azizli said.
Azizili said the bursary honours RRRA’s mandate to serve the residence student body.
Keana Cavero, RRRA vice-president (programming), said she hopes the bursary will enhance the residence student experience.
“My main hope with this fund is that it makes events and initiatives more accessible to residence students,” Cavero told the Charlatan in a text message.. “Our number one goal is to enhance the residence experience.”
Cavero said providing residence students, who are mostly first-year students, with the opportunity to join clubs and societies helps build a sense of belonging and community.
“Additional funding will help take a little bit of the burden off a group’s back to ensure their events can be a success,” Cavero wrote.
Clubs and societies who apply for the bursary can expect a short wait time for funding to be released, Azizli said.
“You’ll get a yes or no from us in two weeks. And we’ve so far been abiding by that rule,” Azizli said. “We had our first board meeting, which evaluated applications […] in that meeting, we approved funding for, I believe, six or seven clubs.”
Clubs and societies that are interested in applying for the club initiative fund can find the form and an information package on the RRRA Instagram’s Linktree.
Featured graphic by Sara Mizannojehdehi.
