The Carleton Academic Student Government (CASG) held a series of online and in-person consultations from Nov. 14 to 25 to receive feedback from students on the university’s sexual violence prevention program and grading reforms.
The goal of these consultations was to create a connection with students and to ensure voices are represented accurately, CASG president Dakota Livingston said.
“We created this opportunity just for students to have that voice and to use our powers as student leaders,” Livingston said. “When we are invited to things like the Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Committee or Senate, we are actually advocating on behalf of all the students.”
Francesca Lepore, vice-president (operations) for CASG, said the consultations offer students a way to express their concerns.
“We’re here to represent them and want to know what their concerns are with regards to academics and other issues on campus.”
Livingston said students engaged more in the online consultations than the in-person ones because students are now more accustomed to being online.
“That is why we offered the virtual options” said Livingston, “because for so many years that’s all that’s been offered.”
CASG’s executive team plans to leave the online consultations open until the end of the year.
“We want to be as accessible, approachable and welcoming as possible to students,” said Lepore.
Livingston said sexual violence prevention and compassionate grading are the organization’s top priorities right now.
However, compassionate grading was found to be an issue that affected more people in the Carleton community.
Students were more inclined to share their feedback on grading reforms rather than the Sexual Violence Prevention consultations this week, Livingston said. Livingston mentioned that, moving forward, the organization would consider doing another series of in-person consultations as different issues continue to arise.
By the end of the year, CASG plans to submit a proposal to the Senate with a new idea of what compassionate grading could look like.
“It will not be the SAT/UNS that people might be used to,” said Livingston, “We are going to be working with Senate and with the committees of Senate to find something that is mutually beneficial to the university and to students. We really value the senate’s work and we want to compromise with them to find a solution that works with everyone.”
Featured graphic by Sierra Mclean.
