The organizers of the Garden Spot said they expect a renewal of their levy from the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) and the Graduate Students’ Associations (GSA) for the 2013-14 year.
The Garden Spot, known as the G-Spot, is run by Carleton’s Food Collective.
Both student associations charge a levy of approximately $2 to students through tuition fees annually to run the pay-what-you-can vegan eatery, according to Food Collective board member Wesley Petite.
After a year of inactivity last year, CUSA reimbursed the levy to undergraduate students, CUSA vice-president (student issues) Gina Parker said.
“Last year’s levy was reimbursed to undergraduate students in the fall because the Food Collective was not providing the service,” Parker said.
Parker said full-time undergraduate students were refunded $2.58 and part-time students were refunded $1.04.
The collective elected a board of directors on Aug. 22 and is ready to start serving students again, according to Petite.
“It‘s possible that the undergraduate portion [of the levy] was refunded,” Petite said. “It’s like an omnibus refund so it’s not exactly clear what was in that refund. So it’s very possible that they did, but all we want to do is verify that.”
The Carleton administration refunds students, so Petite said he would be reassured by seeing the statement of accounts from the administration stating the money has been refunded.
The GSA portion of the levy was not reimbursed to students last year, according to GSA executive co-ordinator Phil Robinson.
“I assume if the Garden Spot is active the levy will be collected and transferred to the Carleton Food Collective, as per the referenda questions passed by undergraduate and graduate students,” he said.
The Food Collective will get the levy for 2013-14 at the end of October if they provide bank statements or some other official documentation, Parker said.
The collective’s board of directors is scheduled to meet with CUSA Sept. 24 to discuss ways to help provide their service to students, she said.
“At this time we are not sure what support from CUSA looks like to the Food Collective, but we are willing to attempt to work together to reach a viable solution and to ensure students are receiving the services they are paying for,” she said.
Parker said they will also discuss how to prevent the Food Collective from “disappearing” again.
One solution to that problem would be to hire a paid staff member to allow the organization to grow from year to year, Petite said.
The Food Collective plans to serve food once every two weeks, despite not having a permanent place to prepare and serve meals, he said.
They lost their preparation space because it was zoned as a take-out restaurant and not a caterer, he said.
In addition, CUSA did not renew their lease for a serving space on campus during their year of inactivity.
The G-Spot will be serving chili and tomato salad at the GSA’s ECOfair Sept. 12.
