The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) will be holding a referendum on Feb. 8-9, asking students if they support the implementation of a summer U-Pass. The Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) will be asking the same question of grad students Feb. 24-25.
Voting will be by email, with the following question:
“Do you support extending the mandatory universal transit pass (U-Pass) program into the Spring/Summer semester (May-August) if you are enrolled in 1.0 or more course credits during the Spring/Summer semester, at a cost of $192.70 plus a $4.26 Carleton administration fee per semester with maximum annual increases of 2.5% beginning May 2016?”
Students will be able to vote yes, no, or abstain during the voting period.
Maddie Adams, CUSA’s vice-president (student issues) and chair of the “Yes” committee, said the summer U-Pass has been “in the works for a while.”
If it passes, the U-Pass will begin May 2016 and will allow students to opt out only under the conditions held by the current U-Pass, or if they are taking an online course. Students who do not take summer courses at Carleton will not qualify for a summer U-Pass, and will incur no fee changes because of it, although they will be able to vote in the referendum.
The summer U-Pass will be available to students who are enrolled in 1.0 or more credits during the summer months. CUSA president Fahd Alhattab said the one-credit threshold was set to benefit the greatest number of students.
“With one credit, you have about two-thirds of the students who take summer classes eligible for the U-Pass,” Alhattab said. “It’s OC Transpo’s rules. They want only full-time students getting this discount—that’s what it’s meant for.”
Alhattab said the 1.0 credit condition as a “big win” for Carleton students.
“Majority of students will take at least two classes in the summer,” he said. “We knew that that would be the most beneficial, optimal point for students, so a lot of negotiations back with the University and OC Transpo got us to get to that point.”
Carleton student Nina Nesboly said she will be voting “yes” in the referendum, although she does not take summer classes.
“I think it’s a great idea. Living in Ottawa, to have a bus pass for the summer is about $100 per month for a Presto pass, and the U-Pass is a fraction of that cost,” she said.
She said she would like to see the summer U-Pass extended to Carleton students who are enrolled only in the fall and winter terms.
“Just because you’re not a student during the summer, it doesn’t mean that you’re not a [Carleton] student. Summer courses are optional—I think that it’s an extra expense that comes in the summer, and I think all student should have the option to have the same discounts,” she said.
She said she spends a lot of time on campus during the summer, even if she is not enrolled in classes.
There is no “No” committee for the referendum. Alhattab said students were invited to form the committee, but no students attended the meeting.
“There was some criticism in the last referendum that maybe we should have been more clear [about a ‘no’ committee],” Alhattab said, “so with this one we said ‘okay, show up in this room if you want to be on the “No” committee, this day, this time,’ and no one came.”
GSA president Michael Bueckert said negotiations have been ongoing with the university and OC Transpo for some time. He said offering the summer U-Pass question to graduate students is important.
“The GSA does not have an official stance on the summer U-Pass, but we do think it is very important to bring the question to graduate students to see what they think,” he said.
Much like CUSA, the GSA will offer students the option of joining “Yes” and “No” committees. The deadline to join those committees is Feb. 5.
“It is impossible to predict [the outcome of the referendum]. There are opinions on both sides, but I do know that a lot of students see the U-Pass as very valuable in making public transit affordable,” Bueckert added.
