After a year of uncertainty, Carleton’s Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) has hammered out a new contract with the university guaranteeing its office and business spaces for five years, in a major achievement for the new executive that has been in office only four months.
The agreement marks a fresh tone in the residence union’s relationship with Carleton’s administration, after several disagreements over space last year.
“RRRA hasn’t had a space agreement since 2009,” RRRA president Will Cathcart said.
“We wanted to make sure that there is a set agreement with the university as to how much we pay, what we’re paying for, what our spaces are, and what the limitations and usages for those spaces are,” he said.
The new agreement governs RRRA’s offices, which are currently under construction, and student-run convenience store Abstentions, which it rents from the university. The agreement also guarantees space for RRRA’s bike-share program, its newspaper for residence students—the Resin—an operation manager’s office, and two storage rooms, all of which the university is providing for free.
“We got this agreement signed within three months of us coming in,” Cathcart said.
The achievement is especially significant given the contentious way Cathcart and his executive came into office.
Cathcart’s team won the first RRRA election, but the results were overturned after another team’s disqualification was succesfully appealed. Another election was called, in which Cathcart’s team came second but were declared the winners after the winning team was disqualified.
But Cathcart said he wants to put RRRA’s fraught history behind him, and said he got along with the university executives—housing director David Sterritt and vice-president (university services) Ed Kane.
“My understanding is maybe that isn’t how things have gone historically, and they were just phenomenal to work with,” Cathcart said.
Kane said that the university decided to have a better working relationship with RRRA after doing a “Rez Life review.”
“It’s been an on-again off-again relationship because a new executive comes in each year,” Kane said. “They have different agendas. Things work out, things don’t work out.”
The five-year agreement, however, promises to give some more stability to RRRA’s relationship with the university.
“We got a five year agreement so we don’t have to do this every year,” Kane said.
RRRA represents about 3,500 students who live in Carleton’s residences, and is the largest such union in Canada.
Construction on the RRRA spaces in Residence Commons is expected to be completed Aug. 28, Kane said.
