The Carleton Academic Student Government (CASG) is hosting elections for executive positions, and two slates are competing for the positions.
Investing in Students First and United for CASG are the two slates running in the election.
According to CASG’s website, the organization acts as an intermediary between undergraduate students, faculty and administration, dealing with issues around student academics on the university Senate.
Only CASG council members—about 80 representatives for Carleton’s academic departments—are eligible to vote in the election, according to Chloe Miller, the president of CASG.
The Charlatan sat down with each slate’s presidential candidate to learn about their platforms and plans for the association.
INVESTING IN STUDENTS FIRST, EMILY GRANT, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
Emily Grant, a second-year global and international studies (BGINS) student and the presidential candidate for the slate, currently serves on CASG Council as a BGINS councillor.
According to Grant, her goal is to make sure students’ voices are heard by increasing CASG’s presence online and on campus. She said students didn’t have their say in the eviction of neuroscience students and staff from the life sciences building, and this harmed research and academics.
“The students were kind of just ignored and no one really cared about their opinion, which is why we want to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again, by making sure that we’re taking a strong stance for students,” Grant said.
She said all candidates in “Investing in Students First” have been CASG councillors and three of them are currently in the position. Grant added that three candidates—including her—are residence fellows, a job she said has given her slate a “unique look” into what students need from their academics.
She said CASG’s freedom of speech debate earlier this month was so successful that Liam Callaghan, a third-year criminology student and the vice-president (operations) candidate, promises to hold five debates—one per faculty—next year.
“It’s all about the students so we want to make sure they are included as much as possible,” she said, adding students would choose the debate topics.
Grant said Fatemah Ebrahim, a second-year public affairs and policy management (PAPM) student and the vice-president (academic) candidate, has promised to expand CASG’s study snacks program into residence and is considering partnering with the Rideau River Residence Association to make the move.
“Right now it’s just usually in the UC Atrium so it’s only reaching people who are going through there. If it’s in residence then all the residence students are getting that too as well,” Grant said.
According to Grant, Zachary Parkkari, a second-year BGINS student and the slate’s vice-president (internal) candidate, plans to assign each CASG co-ordinator to a specific committee to help plan events.
She said CASG needs to focus more on a “student-centred approach” to benefit the average student as opposed to catering to specific groups. Grant added her slate would take a proactive approach to fighting for students before issues boil over.
“That way, the students know that they’re represented properly and that they shouldn’t feel slighted by anything that happens in the university because they always have someone who’s fighting for them,” she said.
UNITED FOR CASG, MITCHELL GOLDIE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
Mitchell Goldie, a second-year political science student and the presidential candidate for the slate, served as the interim vice-president (academic) this academic year.
Goldie said CASG only has an observer seat on CUSA Council and he said he plans to introduce a voting seat. To cut costs and save money, Goldie said he would slash CASG executives’ salaries by a quarter.
“We would love to use that money to put it towards scholarships and better funding for programs, and we think that the 25 per cent number is something that is really manageable and would really help our budget,” he said.
“United for CASG” boasts candidates with diverse experiences and backgrounds, Goldie said, a point he said he is most proud about.
Goldie said Mahmoud Sabry, the current vice-president (academic) of CASG and the vice-president (operations) candidate, has plans to introduce office hours for CASG co-ordinators.
According to Goldie, CASG’s freedom of speech debate was inexpensive and a “massive success” so the vice-president (academic) candidate Christopher Wright—a third-year chemistry student—has promised to introduce monthly debates after consulting students to determine discussion topics.
“Not only does it promote CASG to the community, but it also helps engage in important ideas that students come to Carleton to talk about and to learn about,” he said.
Vida Ebadi, a second-year communications and media studies student and the vice-president (internal) candidate, has promised to fill every seat on CASG council and committee to increase student involvement.
“By having every single faculty represented on council, it will help represent all students and that goes to one of the central themes of our campaign overall: representing all students.”
According to Goldie, the biggest issue facing CASG is a lack of awareness about the organization among students. He said hosting more debates and filling all council seats would contribute to students’ knowledge of the group.
“CASG plays an important role in lobbying on academic interests of students and the fact of the matter is most [students] don’t know what CASG is,” Goldie said.
“Getting the word out on what CASG is, and not just what it is but what is does, would play to be really valuable for students who are looking to have representation academically on campus.”
