With one semester done and one more to go, The Charlatan spoke with the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) to see which election campaign promises they’ve kept and which they’ve broken.
PROMISE: The RRRA executives wanted to make the residence convenience store Abstentions more affordable for students.
NO: Arif Jaffer, vice-president (administration) said while prices haven’t gone up, they haven’t gone down either.
The issue stems from the recent summer construction in Residence Commons that delayed the store’s opening, according to Jaffer.
“We didn’t have [the RRRA office] or Abstentions until Aug. 28, so we didn’t have any time to stock Abstentions or set up our new shelving because of construction,” Jaffer said.
“We haven’t had the same profit lines we’ve been having year in and year out because of the slow start to our year,” he said.
PROMISE: Jaffer and the other executives promised to revitalize student spirit and bring more programming to residence.
YES: Jaffer said RRRA has partnered with Housing and Red Zone to get residence students involved in Carleton’s football games, which included free tickets and sign-making sessions.
He said because the association has such a small operating budget compared to larger student organizations on campus, they’ve decided to collaborate with the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) and the Graduate Students’ Association.
RRRA plans on bringing in a performer for Black History Month in February with CUSA’s partnership.
PROMISE: The executives wanted to create a residence-wide student lounge.
NO: According to Jaffer, RRRA looked into getting a space in residence to host students, but it didn’t work out.
“That’s something we’re working on still,” he said.
He said the executive plans on turning their new office into a space for events like coffeehouses and fundraisers to make up for the lack of the promised communal space.
“If we can open up our office, we have a lot of space and can have a lot of people in here. We can use this as a student lounge,” Jaffer said.
PROMISE: The current RRRA executives campaigned on lobbying to make the Fresh Food Company dining hall accept meals by swipe rather than time period.
NO: Jaffer said the issue is moot right now because Aramark, the company that runs the residence cafeteria, isn’t interested. Without the guaranteed money that timed meal periods bring, they said they’ll lose profit.
“We’re not even going to try to look at that anymore. It’s good in essence, but it’ll never work,” Jaffer said.
PROMISE: The executives promised to establish a tenant board to keep Housing informed on maintenance issues in residence.
NO: He said the tenant board idea is out, but RRRA is launching a new way for res students to voice their concerns.
“We’re going to do town hall meetings for each house. Invite a couple people from your floor or house and say, ‘This is an issue,’ and let Housing hear it for themselves,” Jaffer said.
The town halls will begin after the February reading week.
