CUSA Website

With members of two opposing slates in the same office, the executives of Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) have mixed responses about their achievements so far this year.

CUSA president Erik Halliwell said one of the executives’ biggest achievements was to remove the age cap on student bus passes. Last year, OC Transpo changed its policy to only allowed students who were 27 and under to buy bus passes at student prices, but CUSA lobbied for the successful reversal of that decision.

But executives still have to make good on their biggest election promises. Last year, Halliwell ran on the Because It Matters slate, and part of his platform was to get a student representative on the city’s transit committee.

 “I think our ability to reverse the age cap shows our level of influence on city council,” Halliwell said. “This is one of the things we think we’re going to be very successful in.”

But vice-president (student issues) Nick Bergamini, who ran on the opposing slate, Demand Better, said he still thinks getting a student representative on the transit committee is impossible.

Bergamini said he followed through on his own promises, meeting with city councillors and the mayor to try to make OC Transpo an essential service. Though that hasn’t happened yet, he said it’s enough since OC Transpo is now under binding arbitration and can never strike again.

Last year, Halliwell and the other executives from the Because It Matters slate also promised to create an Academic Appeals Centre. Students would get an advocate to help them appeal their grades.

But as to when the Academic Appeals Centre will be ready is still a mystery.

“I don’t really want to speculate on that, just because I don’t want to give you a firm date. It should hopefully be up and running during second semester,” Halliwell said.

Halliwell also promised to set up computer stations in Rooster’s, but he said the executives have now scrapped that idea since the coffee shop is already crowded.

Instead, CUSA will focus on getting student space in some of the older buildings like Loeb, which will be emptied out when some Carleton departments move to the newer buildings on campus.

In light of these unfulfilled promises, Halliwell said he still feels CUSA has achieved a lot.

“Some are ongoing, but we’ve actually done really well. I think we’ve been able to deliver on quite a few things.”

Some of CUSA’s other achievements include holding the annual Drop Fees campaign.

CUSA has also tried to diversify its programming by hosting poetry nights and holding events with the Muslim Students’ Association.

“We’re trying to do as much as we can to meet the needs of as many students as we can,” said Halliwell.

CUSA will also have a re-orientation week for first years this semester, and March will be Charity Month, which was part of the platform of Alex Sirois, vice-president (student life).

In an effort to become more environmentally friendly, Rooster’s encourages the use of mugs by providing a discount on coffee. CUSA’s frosh week was also one of the only ones in Canada to ban bottled water.

Bergamini also said there’s room for improvement. He said he thinks CUSA should hold town halls earlier in the year, before executives even start their term in office, so they can find out what students really want.

“CUSA is a lot better than it has been in the past, there have been no scandals, there’s more accountability, there has been greater results like with the student bus pass, but it can always be better,” he said.