After winning the 2017-18 Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) elections following the disqualification of Fresh RRRA slate, members of The Next Step slate said they feel confident and still deserving of the win.
Hyder Naqvi, the incumbent RRRA president, said all students are at Carleton to learn from their mistakes.
“[A] part of learning is making mistakes and we must be respectful to the people that make them,” he said.
The Next Step’s win will see Naqvi return for a second term as RRRA president, while Jacob Howell will serve as the vice-president (administration) and Brittany Galler as vice-president (programming).
Fresh RRRA received the most votes in the election, 405 votes, but was disqualified the day before voting after a member of the slate was recorded trying to bribe another slate. They will, however, be appealing their disqualification to RRRA council.
Howell said it was a nice experience to win, but he is now ready to move on past the election outcome and focus on next year’s plans.
“It is unfortunate they did get disqualified,” Howell said. “Things happen in an election, people make mistakes, it is part of the entire process and you have to realize that . . . We were all very friendly towards each other and it is just [an] unfortunate event.”
Naqvi said in order for RRRA to be successful next year, they have to be open to everyone.
“You need to be respectful to the people that make mistakes because they learn from them and that is what we are here for,” Naqvi said. “Part of the message we want to send out is that students make mistakes and it is okay.”
Naqvi said his team reached out to the other slates about the different ideas they wanted to bring to residence next year, and offered to work together in the new year to improve RRRA.
“We want to make sure students feel more welcome,” he said.
The Next Step focused their platform on inclusion, student services, and food options.
Next year, Galler said she wants to improve special events, such as the Residence Formal, based on student’s reactions and feedback to this year’s event. She added she wants to have more student performances like open mic night, and greater awareness of the events.
“We would like to see some live music in Oasis, if that is possible. Probably not all the time, but on the rare occasions,” she said.
Galler said the team also wants to promote a more welcoming environment for students, and will have canal games around Frost week (in the winter), as well as re-commit to the Social Justice Fair and bringing back intramural sports for the Residence House Cup.
The slate said they want to continue to offer open study spaces for students in the RRRA office and host pre-game events, such as face painting in the quad.
“We want to make sure we deliver on our promises and still find new ways that we can improve student life,” Naqvi said.
Another campaign promise was making feminine hygiene products available to students in residence. Howell said he has been considering the company Playtex for sponsorship.
“I’m just trying to find time to ideally go to their office in Montreal and work something out in order to fulfill this campaign promise,” Howell said.
Last year, Naqvi’s team promised to replace the MacDaddy’s in Oasis. This is again one of his slate’s promises.
“We have been in contact with the university and they are interested in having a place that has more students visiting,” Naqvi said. “We are currently looking [at] how we can find a better replacement for MacDaddy’s and we want student’s input.”
At the same time, The Next Step will try to improve cafeteria food services by providing suggestions to Carleton Housing Services, Howell said.
The slate also said they want to focus on long-term plans for RRRA by working on the relationships they have already built, and improving the programs that enhance the residence experience.
“Just introducing more things for people [and] more services [to] make the whole residence experience as amazing as possible,” Galler said.
– Photo is provided
