The Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) passed two democratic reform motions and voted against selling lottery tickets at the convenience store Abstentions during a virtual meeting on Jan. 26.
RRRA president Sami Islam’s motion to require RRRA councillors to undergo free naloxone training passed unanimously. Training will become mandatory next school year.
“Substance use is a thing that happens on campus and we’d like to take preventative measures ahead of time to ensure student safety,” Islam said.
When the first on-campus naloxone kit was installed in November 2019, faculty and advocates criticized the lack of training for residence fellows. Islam’s motion makes good on his campaign promise to provide residence fellows with naloxone training.
RRRA vice-president (administration) Mira Gillis said that free period product dispensers would be installed in residence commons bathrooms by Jan. 28. Free access to menstrual products was one of Gillis’ campaign promises.
Planning for upcoming elections, council unanimously voted to strike the requirement for all executive candidates to form a slate, giving candidates the option to run independently. Council also voted to change the executive elections from first-past-the-post to ranked voting, a system that allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, instead of selecting just one.
RRRA is not the only student government working to make executive positions more accessible to independent candidates. Last year, the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) faced criticism over its slate system and implemented electoral reforms this year as a result.
Council met RRRA’s new chief electoral officer, second-year public affairs and policy management student Saiyara Elahi, and deputy electoral officer, second-year political science student David Coaker. RRRA also hired second-year political science student Ashley Bhukhan-Matthews as another deputy electoral officer, who was not present at the meeting.
The group of three will be responsible for making the “upcoming executive election as fair and impartial as possible,” Gillis said.
While council was united in slashing slates, it was divided over a motion to sell lottery tickets at the RRRA-operated Abstentions convenience store.
Stormont councillor Davin Caratao, who created the motion for the lottery, said the sale of tickets could help fund RRRA.
“Selling lottery tickets in our convenience store on campus could be a great way to net a decent amount of revenue which we can use hopefully to reinvest in the residence community,” Caratao said.
Frontenac councillor Gabriel Paraskevopulos said a lottery would be exploitative to students who may be vulnerable to gambling.
“Abstentions is there to be a service to them, and not to ever have any detrimental effect on them,” Paraskevopulos said.
Councillor Isaac Ozer also criticized the motion and president Islam asked councillors to vote against it. The motion failed 14-6.
Islam said the he was working with the cafeteria to accommodate Muslim residence students during Ramadan, which falls in April this year. Muslims who observe Ramadan tend to fast during hours of daylight, making coordination with the cafeteria’s hours difficult. While the cafeteria switched to a takeout-only model in December due to spread of the Omicron variant, it resumed eat-in only service on Jan. 31. Islam suggested that students may be allowed to take food out of the residence cafeteria during the holy month.
RRRA is scheduled to meet again on Feb. 23.
Featured graphic by Sara Mizannojehdehi.
