Fifteen candidates from five slates running for executive positions in the 2019 Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) elections squared off in a highly contested debate held in Fenn Lounge on March 20.
The five slates in this year’s elections are Excellence, Forward, For Change, Student Alliance and United Students.
This year’s debate began with a moment of silence for the 50 victims who were killed in the March 15 terror attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, followed by a land acknowledgement.
Some of the topics brought up during the debate included concerns for next year’s executives about accountability, mental health issues, and changes under the Student Choice Initiative (SCI) proposed by the Ontario government, which will give students the option to opt out of ancillary fees for student groups such as RRRA.
Vice-president (programming)
Jaden Slawter from the Forward slate and Isabella Mallon from the United Students slate talked about improving the sense of community in residence.
“I’m trying to create things like talent shows and intramurals that facilitate a nice environment so we feel comfortable,” Mallon said.
Marshall Wilson, presidential candidate for Student Alliance, served as a proxy for vice-president (academic) candidate Morgan Beatty who he said couldn’t attend because she was sick.
Wilson spoke about Beatty’s ideas to improve RRRA’s presence on campus by improving the group’s use of social media and engaging students for more attendance at association-held events.
“Making sure students know who we are and what we do, and when events are happening because that’s something we received a lot of feedback on—that students don’t even know when events were happening until 48 hours or 24 hours before, and you can’t buy tickets that late,” he said.
Hannah Raymond from Excellence said she hopes to bring back the Res Cup and increase the number of Wellness Weeks.
Darian Agapay, candidate in the For Change slate, said she wants to increase the number of volunteer opportunities available to students in residence, and the grants and scholarships for students. She also wants to advocate for transparency and open communication.
The first prepared question of the night asked candidates how they would increase the number of events in light of the opt-out option that may affect RRRA’s budget and programming.
Wilson answered the question by saying Student Alliance will work towards diversifying RRRA’s businesses and hosting smaller events that are not expensive.
Agapay said her slate will work on advanced registration for events and open a platform for students to share the events they want to have in residence.
“This will reallocate the budget and help us understand what events students really want to see,” she said. “With the events that students don’t want to see, we can reallocate that budget for more scholarships and grants.”
Raymond said she plans on increasing the number of events by “going out to local businesses.”
“We can get sponsorships without having to rely on student money if residence students want to opt out,” she said.
Slawter said he wants to collaborate with CUSA to bring its clubs and societies into residence and split the cost of hosting events with them.
Mallon said she will increase the number of events in residence by using the facilities RRRA already has.
“We don’t feel that you guys should have to pay for the activities we bring in because it’s supposed to benefit you, not take away anything from the students,” she said.
Vice-president (administration)
A common theme among the candidates running to become next year’s vice-president (administration) was creating a stronger community within Carleton residence, which multiple candidates said they did not necessarily find in their experiences. Struggles with mental health in residence were also brought up with almost every single candidate running.
Both Victor Olaitan of the For Change slate and Dylan Sova of the Excellence slate highlighted the importance of budget transparency.
“Transparency is a topic I know a lot of us are talking about. For us, it means showing you our budget up front and personal—how exactly we are spending our money and asking you guys how you want it to be spent,” Sova said.
Jon Moore, candidate for Student Alliance, stressed the importance of focusing on the issue of sexual assault. He said he hopes to work with a variety of student services to ensure safety on campus.
Stanley Mossrich of the United Students slate was the only candidate to address issues regarding international students living in residence. In his opening statement, he shared his experience with having a culture shock when he came to Carleton from Ghana.
“I want to create experiences for students on campus, especially being an international student. We do not have many opportunities from where I come from,” he said. “Where I am now, I feel like I can build opportunities for international students on campus.”
Lina Ceron of the Forward slate began by addressing how she wants to improve the Frosh experience for students in residence under RRRA programming.
Both Sova and Olaitan spoke from personal experience as residence fellows about how they’ve seen rampant issues of a lack of timely mental health and sexual violence support in residence.
“We need updated policies in RRRA that, honestly, they should have had a long time ago,” Sova said.
“We need to create a safe environment for people to come together and talk about their experiences in a peer group support,” said Mossrich, answering a prepared question about how he’d improve these services in residence.
Ceron echoed these sentiments. She said she wants “to make sure that every student here is safe and comfortable and if they need to talk to someone, they can.”
In response to how they would improve student support services, Moore and Ceron discussed the importance of making these services more accessible to students.
“We want to hire more [mental health] counsellors and extend their hours. If someone needs help, they shouldn’t be waiting weeks on end to see someone. If they need someone, they need it now. That should be how it is,” Ceron said.
Olaitan said he hopes to address mental health issues in residence by raising awareness during Frosh.
The candidates also discussed the importance of increasing floor representative involvement in community meetings.
President
Most presidential candidates in this year’s elections talked about putting students’ money back into their pockets, remodeling Abstentions, and offering them discounts to help combat the SCI.
The first prepared question to presidential candidates was how they would ensure that RRRA’s operations are not affected by the opt-out option, if elected.
Marshall Wilson from the Student Alliance slate said he hopes to diversify RRRA’s business ventures by introducing a program called “Campus Eats.”
“It’s a food delivery service on campus for those late-night study sessions when you don’t want to have to walk down and wait in line at Abstentions,” he said.
Frank Davies Jr. from the United Students slate said he wants to provide low-cost events to cut down RRRA’s spending on events.
Kieran Lacroix from For Change said his slate hopes to combat the SCI by offering students discounts and offers at Abstentions and for events if they have a RRRA membership.
“With this plan, people will continue to purchase RRRA memberships and we’ll not lose that revenue,” he said.
Douglas Cochrane from Forward said he wants to look at a scenario analysis and partner with other campus groups.
“Throughout the summer, we would like to pre-budget so that when students do decide to opt in or opt out of RRRA, we’re able to still have those events,” Cochrane said.
“When you partner with individuals in groups such as the Student Experience Office (SEO), such as Housing and Residence Life services, and such as CUSA, you’re able to cut costs,” he added.
Mohammed Ali from the Excellence slate said he wants to reach out to Ottawa businesses for sponsorships but also helping students realize the importance of RRRA.
“It’s not just a random organization present on campus—we are there to serve students—and as long as they realize that, they will opt in,” he added.
In the question period, a question from the audience was how the candidates plan on making RRRA more inclusive with women given that all the presidential candidates this year are men.
Wilson said he hopes to make RRRA more inclusive by engaging with all students and selling female hygienic products at cost at Abstentions.
“Res fellows I know can give out condoms right now, but they can’t be giving out pads or tampons, which is not gender equality,” Wilson said.
Cochrane also said he wants to improve student engagement.
Davies Jr. said his team will work towards inclusivity by hosting more workshops for women, and then asked to pass on the question to the next candidate.
Lacroix said he is disappointed there are no female presidential candidates this year and hopes to make RRRA more inclusive by encouraging women’s leadership within the organization.
Ali said that race and gender don’t matter, and “as long as you’re living on res, you belong here and are a part of us.”
Residence students can vote in this year’s elections via online ballot on March 22.
Photo by Spencer Colby
