With the end of another semester fast approaching, the Charlatan sat down with Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) president Eric Hitsman to discuss which of his team’s campaign promises were upheld, which weren’t, and what’s to come for next year’s team.
Promise: improve mental health support for graduate students.
Yes: According to Hitsman, the introduction of an outreach co-ordinator proved highly beneficial in advocating for mental health support.
He added that this year’s executive were able to convince the university to look into mental health resources tailored to graduate students.
“Rather than fund it immediately, they’d rather go into this research mode, and I honestly think it’s just stalling,” Hitsman said.
Following this, the GSA launched a petition urging the university to provide graduate students with more mental health resources. Hitsman explained that the GSA will be collaborating with the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs (FGPA) in order to identify the unique mental health needs of graduate students.
Promise: increase graduate student involvement on-campus.
Ongoing: When the Charlatan spoke with Hitsman previously, he cited the GSA’s inability to communicate with graduate students via email as a major barrier to encouraging campus involvement.
As of now, Hitsman said getting an email list of members from the university was delayed by the just-ended Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 2424 strike.
“We’re trying right now to schedule a meeting between the FGPA and senior administration to strike a kind of a confidentiality agreement that would give us access to this list,” he said.
Promise: increase solidarity with CUPE 4600 and other unions.
Yes: Hitsman explained that maintaining solidarity with CUPE 4600, as well as other unions like the Carleton University Academic Staff Association, and CUPE 2424 has remained a top priority for his executive team.
“Our members are students, our members are employees on campus, our former members are now administrative employees on campus and the whole point of the GSA is to be an advocacy group for those people,” he explained.
In the wake of the CUPE 2424 strike, Hitsman said that curating ties to campus unions has become increasingly important. He added that the GSA has extended physical support to the union, such as joining strikers on the picket line, and ensuring that the needs of picketers were met.
Promise: improving Mike’s Place.
No: While plans for improvements to Mike’s Place are in the works—such as a new entertainment system and new flooring—Hitsman attributed delays to the recent CUPE 2424 strike.
“We had hoped to get [improvements] started in early April and then the strike happened the following week, which kind of took away a lot of our capacity to actually start work on this,” he said.
Hitsman said the GSA will be seeking student input for renovations and that they would be postponed until the summer when traffic is lower.
Promise: advocate for more opportunities for international students.
Ongoing: Hitsman said the GSA created an International Students’ Committee and looked for ways to promote the interests of international students. He cited high tuition fees as a main concern for international graduate students, but noted that their concerns extend beyond the financial. He concluded by stating that he confident that these concerns will be addressed by the incoming executive team.
Photo by Meagan Casalino
