All Posts Tagged With: "CUSA"
Playing favourites with ideology
Carleton student union upholds decision to ban anti-abortion group
The Carleton University Students Association (CUSA) has decided to uphold its judgment that Carleton Lifeline, an anti-abortion club on campus, is unworthy of group status.
CUSA threatened to strip the group of its status back in November, alleging that the club violated CUSA’s anti-discrimination policy. The policy states that “any campaign, distribution, solicitation, lobbying, effort, display, event etc. that seeks to limit or remove a woman’s right to choose her options in the case of pregnancy will not be supported.”
When the decision was being weighed, I argued that CUSA’s ban would amount to little more than discrimination based on religious and political belief. Yes, I used the “D” word. Here’s another word: humiliation. CUSA is no stranger to that one; it got plenty of it in 2008 after deciding to discontinue its Shinerama fundraiser for cystic fibrosis. Why? Well, members looked in their belly buttons and somehow landed upon the erroneous conclusion that the disease only affected “white people, and primarily men.” That little blunder cost CUSA some of its pride, and this one should too.
CUSA’s own constitution states its aim to uphold an “environment free from prejudice, exploitation, abuse or violence on the basis of, but not limited to, sex, race, language, religion, age, national or social status, political affiliation or belief, sexual orientation or marital status.” Indeed, on paper CUSA purports to defend a campus environment where prejudice based on political affiliation or belief is not tolerated. However, in practice, CUSA not only yields to such intolerance, but acts as perpetrator by denying club status based on the beliefs of its members. Ironic? (That creaking sound you hear is the collective twinge of CUSA’s decision-makers cocking their heads.)
Carleton Lifeline has been criticized for its methods—particularly its graphic displays and comparisons of abortion to Holocaust. I happen to agree with many of those criticisms. I really don’t see the need to invoke Hitler in the discussion of terminated pregnancies, especially when doing so is a pretty sure-fire way to shoot one’s self in the foot. But CUSA should not be the one to take away the gun. Pro-choice positions were once in the spot pro-life positions find themselves on campuses today; that is, in the minority. Imagine we forced those students silent for fear they would infringe on the rights of the religious majority? (Actually, that was often the case.) While Carleton Lifeline is not being silenced today, it is effectively being sent the same message by being denied club status.
The union needs to stand by its principle of defending the rights of all students, regardless of ideology. Or else, it should stand by none at all. While Carleton Lifeline’s message might make us feel a little uneasy, it does not infringe on a woman’s right to choose. CUSA should be ashamed of its blatant ideological favouritism, and lambasted for its discriminatory action towards its own students on campus.
Carleton student union to enact discriminatory ban
Threat to decertify pro-life group ignores union’s pledge to protect campus diversity
The Carleton University Student Association (CUSA) has made a farce of its own supposed values by threatening to strip an anti-abortion club of student group status.
CUSA issued a notice to Carleton Lifeline Monday saying that the group will been banned for failing to comply with CUSA’s anti-discrimination policy. It helpfully informed the club that it has the opportunity to be recertified, so long as it adjusts the terms its constitution.
“We invite you to amend your constitution to create one that respects our anti-discrimination policy,” wrote Khaldoon Bushnaq, CUSA’s vice-president of internal affairs. CUSA’s anti-discrimination policy essentially states that “any campaign, distribution, solicitation, lobbying, effort, display, event etc. that seeks to limit or remove a woman’s right to choose her options in the case of pregnancy will not be supported.”
In sum, Carleton’s anti-abortion club must now support abortion rights if it wants to remain a student group on campus. The thought police at CUSA have given Carleton Lifeline until tomorrow to amend its constitution.
CUSA is the same student organization that famously and erroneously characterized cystic fibrosis as a disease only affecting “white people, and primarily men” back in 2008. The student savants who made up the council at that time deemed the disease not “inclusive” enough and voted to discontinue its Shinerama fundraising campaign. The burden of national embarrassment (and, you know, the actual facts about the disease) eventually prompted council to reverse the decision, but it seems the discomfiture of being a Canada-wide laughingstock back in 2008 has settled for the CUSA of late, and it’s getting back to making outrageous moves.
In what can only be perceived as an ironic push for progressivism, CUSA has turned its own constitution on its head; a constitution which explicitly states its aim to uphold an “environment free from prejudice, exploitation, abuse or violence on the basis of, but not limited to, sex, race, language, religion, age, national or social status, political affiliation or belief, sexual orientation or marital status.” Despite Article I of CUSA’s constitution, which states that the organization “shall act as a representative of the entire undergraduate student body attending Carleton University” (emphasis mine), CUSA’s decertification of Carleton Lifeline is little more than a discriminatory move toward a segment of its populace.
Some students at Carleton University believe that abortion is wrong. Shall I pause for dramatic effect? Though perhaps an unpopular position among members of CUSA’s council, it shall nevertheless seek to uphold an environment where pro-lifers can express their political and ideological beliefs free from discrimination. That’s according to CUSA’s own stated principles. Perhaps council has forgotten, but clauses protecting individuals’ rights to association and free speech are precisely so important as to protect those unpopular opinions. Concepts such as a woman’s right to cast a vote or the freedom for gay partners to express affection in the streets were once unpopular and/or offensive positions too, after all.
Not only is CUSA failing to protect its student from discrimination based on political and possibly religious belief (anti-abortion positions are often faith-based, after all), the group has taken on the role of oppressor itself. By mandating a “think like us or else” ultimatum, council is not seeking equity for all students, but rather, is playing favourites with group ideology. Short of CUSA declaring that pro-life attitudes plague only “white people, and primarily men,” I should think this latest hypocriticial CUSA move has just about pushed limits of reason.
Related: Money, not free speech, at issue in Carleton pro-life dispute
-Photo shows Lifeline members being arrested during a demonstration on campus last month.
Students fight admin over control of frosh week
Admin wants a more academic-oriented experience for new students
Despite a firm stance by administration over controversy surrounding control over Carleton’s frosh week, student groups vow to keep the annual event controlled by students.
Amid exam writing, Carleton students have gathered twice on the Ottawa campus in past weeks to protest the recent decision by administration to assume control of frosh week, starting next year. The administration informed student organizers of their decision via an e-mail sent by director of student affairs Ryan Flannagan.
The e-mail, addressed to the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) and the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA), who have historically run frosh, commented on the “limited accountability for volunteers,” and a “lack of academic focus,” RRRA president Chris Infantry told the Charlatan.
Though he wouldn’t give a specific example, Flannagan told Maclean’s concern was raised over conduct by orientation volunteers at last year’s frosh.
“Leadership from orientation last year wasn’t exercising appropriate leadership and appropriate accountability with respect to how the orientation program was delivered last year,” he said. “We want our program to be aligned with other universities.” He said that most Canadian universities typically have control over frosh week. “The university has liability for the program so it’s appropriate the university has the accountability for it,” he said.
While they will have control over the planning, the administration is looking at ways to partner with current orientation planners to bring more accountability and academic-focused activities to the week, Flannagan said.
While student leaders have argued the point of frosh week is to meet peers through ice-breaking activities, such as the canal group games and beach day, a press release issued by the school stated new events proposed by the administration include “a student success panel, a theatre play put on ‘surviving university,’ key note speakers, workshops on campus engagement and volunteering, and information on academic integrity.”
The release also makes special note that Shinerama, the nationwide frosh week fundraiser to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis research will still be a key element of the week.
But incoming CUSA president Alex Sirois said student’s will have plenty of time to participate in academics during the four years they are students at Carleton. What’s more important is for new students to adjust to their new surroundings. “Carleton residence is your new home and Carleton is your new home and to be able to meet your new family is something that is very important,” he said.
Sirois said the decision was unexpected after administration participated in frosh week preparation, including the hiring of orientation volunteer leaders, something Flannagan said has been true of the past two years. “It’s pretty disgusting of them to do,” Sirois said.
Sirois says CUSA is looking to run an independent orientation for incoming students. He said their biggest obstacle to running frosh without administration approval would be the events normally held on campus, like the end-of-week concert would have to find a new venue. Typically, 50 per cent of frosh events are held on campus, he said. He said ideally the student leaders would like to see the frosh take place as normal, even with admin overseeing and finalizing all decisions. But, where the two groups differ, Sirois said, is over the types of activities they will introduce to new students.
The press release indicates the approximately 400 frosh volunteers who had already signed up to participate in running next year’s frosh are still welcome to continue that role.
As for funding, Sirois said the administration would still be looking to CUSA and RRRA to fund the week, but Flannagan said it’s a choice they’ll have to make. “We’re not going to ask CUSA to do anything financially or volunteer-wise unless they want to do it,” Flannagan said. He explained that 90 per cent of the money for frosh comes from voluntary student registration for the events, and he said the administration would use the same funding model for next year’s frosh.
Last year’s frosh week cost $135,000, RRRA president Chris Infantry told the Charlatan.
Flannagan’s e-mail also said the university’s decision is partly based on poor student participation in events. A survey released by Carleton’s Office of Institutional Research and Planning shows 61.8 per cent of first year undergraduates sampled participated in last year’s frosh week.
Of those who participated, just over 60 per cent said their overall satisfaction was “high,” 25.2 per cent said it was “medium” and 14.4 per cent said it was “low.”
Flannagan said increasing numbers over time is one of the administration’s goals. But for next year, if CUSA and RRRA decided to run a separate frosh off campus, numbers may be lower than they hope for, he said.
Break out the bullhorn
Student papers out questionable campaign practices
It seems that many Canadian universities each experience their own bout of political fervor and drama during student government elections.
Well, ‘tis the season for hopeful student politicians to hang posters, hand out pamphlets and make speeches in their respective student centres.
For some political hopefuls, like those vying for spots on Carleton University Students’ Association executive, last year’s elections didn’t exactly go smoothly.
After Carleton took the world stage under profound criticism for a badly worded motion to drop the infamous Shinerama frosh fundraiser, Carleton’s student population was looking for a government who better represented them. However, as is often the case with student elections, scandals and subsequent disqualifications plagued what was one of the school’s most anticipated political races.
In the end, the incumbent slate won out the president position, but now shares executive seats with one third of the opposing slate in what was a somewhat anti-climatic finish.
But for those who cared then and care now about what’s going on behind the scene, there is the student paper.
At York University, the Excalibur already has its nose in some potential issues with the newly announced chief returning officer. Casey Chu Cheong will serve again as the York Federation of Students CRO, who also filled this position last year. The YFS board of directors selected Chu Cheong by vote, facing no opponent to gain the title, the Excalibur reports.
As with many schools, the appointment of important election officials who face allegations of bias and friendly relations with current executives or running slates becomes a heated issue that carries throughout the election season. And it is likely, if you’re following the York election, this won’t be the last you hear about Chu Cheong.
Meanwhile, the Fulcrum, the University of Ottawa’s student paper, in a recent editorial, outlines some strange poster campaigning to encourage candidates to run in the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa. The “BE FAMOUS” posters look more suited to American Idol audition calls than to student government, and as the Fulcrum points out, perhaps the road to executive seats is all about the glamour, but maybe it should be about the responsibility these students find in office.
Remembering that students executives not only vie for a slice of the large executive pay pie, but also control hundreds of thousands of dollars in student funds, paid through tuition, these top spots come with a lot of power. While arguably many respectable, rule-abiding candidates have run, many of them have lost as a result of scandal or failed democracy.
While this isn’t the Hill, the results still affect often large student bodies, so for once, a fair student election at a Canada institution would be welcomed. I dare you.
- photo by Carol Browne
What are your student politicians up to on your campus? E-mail me at jenniferpagliaro[at]gmail[dot]com or leave a comment below.
Age cap on student bus passes reversed
In rare unanimous decision, Ottawa city council votes to remove 28+ age limit on student passes
Ottawa’s city council has voted unanimously to allow students 28 and older to purchase student bus passes again.
City council set the age limit on student bus passes last December, and once the policy took effect in July students began protesting the decision.
Students from Carleton University and the University of Ottawa presented council with 2,400 signatures demanding that the policy be reversed. Student groups argued that all students face the same type of financial barriers, regardless of their age.
Many city councillors spoke in favour of the motion, some admitting they had made a serious mistake. Others also took the opportunity to criticize council’s decision to reject a universal bus pass proposal earlier this year.
The move will cost OC Transpo $220,000 per year, but saves students 28 and older about $20 on a monthly bus pass.
Ottawa students demand reversal of age cap on bus passes
City council will decide Sept. 9 if it will reverse policy forcing students 28+ to purchase pricier adult pass
The City of Ottawa is one step closer to removing an age limit for student bus passes, a move that student groups have criticized since the policy started in July.
The Ottawa transit committee voted unanimously to recommend city council reverse a policy that prevents students 28 or older from purchasing a student bus pass. Council will revisit the issue on Sept. 9, but a reversal will need the support of 75 per cent of council as it has already been debated once this year.
“It’s going to take some convincing,” says Nick Bergamini, vice president student issues with the Carleton University Students’ Association. “But we’re going to be lobbying really hard in the next few days.
“It’s our top priority.”
The age limit means that students 28 and over will have to pay the $84.75 adult price for monthly bus passes, instead of the $65.25 student price. In an eight-month school year, this would mean an additional cost of $156 per student. Students who normally purchase semester passes will pay an additional $194 over two semesters, while those who purchase a yearly pass will pay an extra $268.60 per year.
The age cap affects thousands of students across the city, including Will Samuel, a 32-year-old anthropology student at Carleton University. He says he is going to have to make sacrifices to pay for his bus pass this year.
“Every year I rely heavily on every penny pinched,” says Samuel, who is in the fourth year of his honours degree. ”I can either not afford books, a new winter coat I desperately need or glasses and contacts to replace my four year old glasses that are damaged.”
Many local student groups made presentations to council, including both undergraduate and graduate student associations at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, the Algonquin College Students’ Association and several other smaller universities and colleges.
Over 50 people showed up to the transit committee meeting to support a reversal of the age cap policy, says Bergamini. He says representatives from CUSA will be collecting petitions and meeting with city councillors throughout the week to try and win support, while similar initiatives are underway at other schools.
Over 2,300 people have joined a Facebook group condemning an age cap on student passes
The age limit on student passes would save OC Transpo, Ottawa’s transit provider, $220,000 per year, according to internal estimates. But students have argued that they are already overburdened with tuition payments and living expenses, and that an age limit is an unfair cash grab.
OC Transpo has been struggling to balance the budget since a 51-day transit strike last winter cost it millions of dollars in revenues. A recent OC Transpo report also revealed that it spent nearly $2 million over budget paying workers overtime to repair and recertify buses after the strike.
OC Transpo spends nearly $2 million over budget on overtime work
Northrup’s return is proof of a broken system
Bad decision is a small part of the bigger picture, as democratic deficit on Carleton’s campus grows
The student who proposed a controversial motion declaring cystic fibrosis only affects “white people, and primarily men” is back as a councillor with the Carleton University Students’ Association, bringing back memories of the scandal which tarnished the university’s reputation last year.
For those who don’t know, last year Donnie Northrup proposed a motion to replace a fundraiser for cystic fibrosis with one that is more “inclusive.”
The motion, despite being factually inaccurate and offensive to most, passed quite easily at council. The students’ association suffered through weeks of intense media coverage and public scrutiny as a result, deservedly so.
Northrup resigned at the next council meeting as students presented signatures to impeach him. It was quite clear that the students did not want him back.
Yet somehow, he finds himself sitting on CUSA council again, this time as a councillor for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
To me, this is an absolute proof of a democratic deficit that exists on many campuses today. The students would likely never support the man who embarrassed their school on an international scale.
But it wasn’t up to the students. After the last election, three seats remained vacant for Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences students. And instead of leaving them vacant until the majority of students returned to school and holding a by-election, the three seats were filled in the summer.
And what kind of fair, democratic method was there for selecting the students who would fill those seats?
Students were given 10 days to apply and collect enough signatures to get nominated, and council would vote. Well, students who walked by the CUSA office every day were given 10 days. Or those who checked obscure sections of the rarely updated CUSA website.
And funny enough, only four people applied for those three CUSA seats. Three of them, including Northrup, are CUSA employees. The other applicant was told their nomination papers were forged.
And sure enough, those three CUSA employees became CUSA councillors.
Sound fair to you? It gets worse.
Student who caused Shinerama-gate back in office
Northrup claimed cystic fibrosis only affects “white people, and primarily men”
According to the Ottawa Sun, a group of Carleton University students is trying to get a controversial student politician removed from office. Again.
Last November, Donnie Northrup came under fire when the Carleton University Students Assocation approved his motion to withdraw support from the annual cystic fibrosis fundraiser Shinerama. In the motion, Northrup said the disease only affected “white people, and primarily men,” which isn’t true.
Those five words caused a national uproar. Representatives from the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, along with parents whose white daughters had the disease, spoke out against the motion.
The council’s decision was ultimately reversed, and Northrup later admitted he was mistaken and resigned his council seat. However, this summer, the group acclaimed him, and two other students, to vacant council seats.
Students say they will launch a petition to have Northrup recalled in September if he isn’t removed before then.
CUSA president Erik Halliwell says council was just following procedure, and that no one on council had objections to the three candidates at the time. He says students who object to their appointments can petition for a recall.
Big, fat cheques for student execs
Are students getting their money’s worth from student leaders?
Being a student union executive is not an easy job. It’s (more or less) a full time job that deals with serious issues, with the added pressure of being in the public eye. Balancing the demands of a diverse student population with one’s own beliefs is a difficult task, especially when coupled with fiscal and legal responsibilities.
So imagine how frustrating it must be when somebody like me is sitting across the table, criticizing every move you make and demanding better at every turn.
But when you are getting paid upwards of $30,000 a year like executives of the Carleton University Students’ Association, students have a right to demand better.
And students like myself will, because we care. I care about students, and I care about how my money is spent. That’s why last week I found myself vocally opposed to the CUSA budget, proposed by vice-president finance Meera Chander.
I thought I brought up a pretty good point. The original budget, presented to the financial review committee before the meeting, had a typo – one that meant Chander had an additional $9,000 to spend on behalf of the students. But instead of taking her time and finding the best way to spend that money, she created a $9,000 contingency fund.
I thought Chander owed it to herself and the students to take a little time and review that spending. I suggested we could pass the budget at the next meeting. She’s worked hard on that budget for three months. It hardly seemed fair to make a snap decision on $9,000.
To be honest, I don’t think a contingency fund is a bad idea. In fact, considering how much contingency cash CUSA spent last year during the Ottawa bus strike, it might be a good way to spend that money. But if it was absolutely necessary, why didn’t she budget any money for contingency to begin with?
She didn’t respond to my critique. And neither did any other member of the executive. Not even a council member.
Maybe it’s because the meeting was held late Friday night, and people just wanted to go home. Maybe councillors were genuinely more interested in what was happening on their cell phones. Or maybe they didn’t want to squabble over $9,000 in a budget of nearly $1.9 million.
But whatever the case, they simply didn’t care enough to discuss it. Maybe it would have been different if it was coming out of Chander’s pocket – heck, a $9,000 pay cut would almost bring her down to the average for a student union executive.
But it’s not coming out of her pocket. It’s coming out of mine, and every other undergraduate student who attends Carleton University.
That’s why I care.
I don’t think student executive salaries are too high. But if the average student knew how much student executives got paid, or knew they had multi-million dollar budgets, they might be a little less apathetic.
So I urge students everywhere to consider this question: are you getting your money’s worth?
I am eager to hear your responses.
Student power!
How Carleton council members made such a botch of things
Procedural breakdown. A government tone-deaf to its public. Demonstrations by a usually apathetic electorate. Calls for the leader’s ouster. It’s a familiar theme in Ottawa lately, both on Parliament Hill and up the Rideau at Carleton University where its student association, CUSA, sparked a national furor in late November by dropping Shinerama, its annual frosh week fundraiser for cystic fibrosis, in search of a more “broad reaching” charity.
Media was alerted to the vote by Nick Bergamini, a third-year journalism student who was the only council member present to oppose the motion. He was savvy enough to know the press would seize on the false claim that cystic fibrosis “has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men,” presented to buttress the assertion that orientation volunteers “should feel like their fundraising efforts serve their diverse communities.”
Of course there was the predictable stampede to mock what appeared to be yet another case of political correctness run amok in academe. Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente presumed, as did many, “that no one on the council had the brains to Google ‘cystic fibrosis.’ ” Such reasoning assumes, of course, that CUSA is a rational, democratic governing body, of which evidence is scant. Indeed, council member Michael Monks did have the brains to Google “cystic fibrosis” and relayed from Wikipedia that the childhood degenerative genetic disease afflicts boys and girls of various ethnicities (there’s even a photo of an African-American girl on the site). But CUSA rules don’t allow a motion to be amended after it is proposed, says Monks. So rather than redraft and excise the incorrect clause, council shifted discussion to the need to find a more “inclusive” charity.
Was there proof students wanted a more “inclusive” charity? Well, not really. “We don’t question the student who brings the motion,” CUSA president Brittany Smyth, a fourth-year part-time criminology student, told Maclean’s. “It’s just their own personal idea.” That this “personal idea” was presented by Donnie Northrup, who represents science students, only added to the insanity.
Interesting fact of the day
Ian Boyko, in his role as chair of the Carleton University Students Association, will be deciding if the signatures on a petition to impeach Carleton University Students Association (CFS Local 1) president Brittany Smyth are valid. Boyko is employed by the Canadian Federation of Students as Government Relations Coordinator.
Ian Boyko, in his role as chair of the Carleton University Students Association, will be deciding if the signatures on a petition to impeach Carleton University Students Association (CFS Local 1) president Brittany Smyth are valid.
Boyko is employed by the Canadian Federation of Students as Government Relations Coordinator.
More on the CUSA meeting
As noted, CUSA has voted to reinstate funding for Shinerama and Donnie Northrup has resigned. Another CUSA rep has also resigned, but I am not, as yet, sure which one. Here is a post from a Carleton student who attended the meeting. Additionally, the Ottawa Citizen (via the National Post) is reporting that the required [...]
As noted, CUSA has voted to reinstate funding for Shinerama and Donnie Northrup has resigned. Another CUSA rep has also resigned, but I am not, as yet, sure which one.
Here is a post from a Carleton student who attended the meeting.
Additionally, the Ottawa Citizen (via the National Post) is reporting that the required number of signatures required to have a recall election to replace CUSA president Brittany Smyth have been collected: “Petitions calling for the impeachment of council president Brittany Smyth and other council members were tabled.”
Carleton reinstates Shinerama, councillor resigns
Petition calling for president’s impeachment tabled at council meeting
The Carleton University Students’ Association has voted to reinstate support for the Shinerama campaign. CUSA sparked a storm of negative reaction from Carleton students and the media after the organization voted to withdraw support for the campaign.
Carson Jerema with More on the CUSA meeting
Also read: Carleton reverses course
The motion that saw support for the Cystic Fibrosis charity removed was premised by a controversial wheareas clause that claimed the disease only affects “white people.”
Donnie Northrup, the science councillor who wrote the motion, has resigned.
A campaign to impeach the executive started last week.
CUSA is unrepresentative. Oh well!
Another week, another student union controversy
Of all the complaints being levelled at the Carleton University Students’ Association, I take the most issue with the argument that CUSA is not representative of the student body.
Kevin Eller, a Carleton English student articulated this point in Carleton’s student newspaper The Charlatan:
Could someone please inform me on how CUSA year after year is able to determine what Carleton students want? Is giving former CUSA executive Isaac Cockburn (vice-president student issues) two years’ worth of salary when it seems like all he did was to plan an “All-Out Tuition Freeze Day” one of those ideas?
All I can say is: so what? Of course CUSA is not representative of the student body. It is true but it is also meaningless. In elections earlier this year, president Brittany Smyth was elected with the participation of around 15 per cent of Carleton undergrads (if someone has a more accurate number please let me know).
No organization with such low participation can claim to be democratic. Democracy refers to not just procedures and the holding of routine elections, but also to an electorate that actually participates. If you think CUSA could ever be representative, I have some pyrite to sell you.
But this isn’t just the situation at Carleton, nor is it necessarily reflective of the current executive. Student governments in nearly every Canadian school, since time immemorial, are elected routinely with 10 per cent of students voting, and rarely does participation rise above 20 per cent.
This is not indicative of an apathetic student electorate. Students are just passing through which means both that they don’t have the time to become truly knowledgeable of the union, and that their long term interests lie elsewhere.
The result is that student government tends to only be truly accountable to those who actually vote, which is often students who are highly interested in all forms of politics and who are often supportive of political activism. It is no wonder than that student executives tend to act as little more than full-time paid political activists.
Nearly every week a student government does or says something that causes onlookers to wonder how these people got into university in the first place, be it with comparing pro-life activists to the KKK, or telling students they are incapable of making their own choices regarding joining the military, or claiming that free tuition will cure cancer.
It is true, as it is with the current controversy regarding CUSA`s support for Shinearama, that students will sometimes organize to challenge the union leadership. Even in such cases, I would surprised if participation rises above 20 per cent.
That’s just the way it is.
Open-letter apology from CUSA president
Smyth set to propose Shinerama be reinstated as part of Carleton orientation week
Issued Nov. 27:
An open letter to all Carleton University students;
I want to take this opportunity to apologize to anyone who was offended by the motion passed at this week’s council meeting. It was never any of our councilors or my own intentions to imply that Cystic Fibrosis was not a worth while charity for Carleton to support. I also would like to apologize to anyone whose life has been touched by Cystic Fibrosis. I am sorry for any pain this motion has caused you.
It has been great to see so many students come out and voice their opinions and support for Shinerama and Cystic Fibrosis. Thanks again for everyone’s feedback. Now, I would like to move forward to rectifying this issue.
I would like to invite all students to attend the council meeting on Monday evening. It will be held at 6:30pm, location will be available on the CUSA website as soon as we secure a space.
At this meeting I will be putting forward a motion to reinstate Shinerama as part of our Orientation week.
Over the last 24 years through Orientation, we have been able to raise awareness about Cystic Fibrosis and over $1,000,000 for research and treatment of this terrible disease. I look forward to working with the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to clear up the incorrect facts caused by the motion about Cystic Fibrosis and who is affected by it.
Again, I would like to apologize. There are a lot of reasons to have pride in our school and I look forward to working with everyone in continuing to strengthen the Carleton community.
Sincerely,
Brittany Smyth
President
Carleton University Students’ Associatio
Finally, an apology
The president of the Carleton University Student Association, after days of public outrage and with a petition for her impeachment on its way, finally apologies for the blatant sexism and racism of the motion. The letter is online here: http://www.cusaonline.com/Downloads/shinerama_letter.pdf
The president of the Carleton University Student Association, after days of public outrage and with a petition for her impeachment on its way, finally apologies for the blatant sexism and racism of the motion.
The letter is online here: http://www.cusaonline.com/Downloads/shinerama_letter.pdf
Dalhousie Student Union: We don’t support CUSA decision
From the blog of the DSU president on the Carleton University Student Association motion: Myself, other executives, councilors, and students all wanted to make it very clear to the CUSA’s student council that we did not support their decision and to the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation that the DSU will continue to support Cystic Fibrosis [...]
From the blog of the DSU president on the Carleton University Student Association motion:
Myself, other executives, councilors, and students all wanted to make it very clear to the CUSA’s student council that we did not support their decision and to the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation that the DSU will continue to support Cystic Fibrosis research now and in the future.
The DSU also sent CUSA a letter stating they are “deeply disappointed with their council’s most recent motion and that we hope that they will reconsider their decision.”
Well done. Many good student unions have seen their reputation damaged by association.
Coleman on air: CHQR 770AM Calgary. Topic: CUSA
First it was off, then it was on. A discussion on “Shinegate”.
I will be live on The Rutherford Show at 10:30am Mountain Time. (12:30pm Eastern)
The topic will be the Carleton University Student Association situation.
You can listen to the live stream at http://www.qr77.com/ and click on the Listen Live link.
Why Dumb Things Happen Around Smart Students
What we can learn from the Carleton/Shinerama debacle
I don’t tend to blog on student politics. That’s Joey’s beat and I don’t have time to hunt up hard news stories. But I do have an extensive background in student politics and I maintain a strong interest in the subject. I really try hard not to be that old “student leader” who looks over everyone’s shoulders and goes on about how I used to do it better. That’s just obnoxious. But when I see things going off the rails as they did just recently in the whole CUSA/Shinerama debacle, I can’t help but think about why. So I’ll share a theory.
It’s too easy and reductive to suggest CUSA simply elected a board this year that’s stupid or ignorant. I don’t know anyone on that board but I’ve rarely met any student leader who is truly stupid or ignorant, much less twenty of them in a room together.
Sarcastically, people have been asking how university educated students could do anything so bone-headed. But that’s actually a good question. Rather than use it to imply these university students aren’t really as smart as you might expect, I’d rather assume they are pretty smart and try to answer the question from that perspective: Why do dumb things happen around smart students?
Student unions are big organizations and multi-million dollar corporations. Student media is also often quite large, as are some residence groups, athletic associations, and a variety of miscellaneous organizations that may develop into major players on campus. Students who step into leadership roles in these organizations may well not have a lot of experience doing similar things, and may be surprised at how quickly and easily they find they’ve occupied major positions. They may also lack a full sense of their real obligations – especially when they serve as directors of incorporated entities. But that’s another issue.
Despite the fact that these organizations count their membership in the thousands or tens of thousands, it typically requires only the support of a small minority to get voted into office – or hired or appointed or whatever. And over time, as organizations seem to be uninteresting or inactive or simply invisible, student participation tends to decline. Much as I might wish every student would care about their union, the fact is they don’t. As long as the union stays quiet most people won’t even notice it’s there. So participation declines, and the small minority it took to elect someone last year gets even smaller the next year.
In a small circle of opinions, all kinds of things may sound good that would never survive wider discussion. People get comfortable with their ideas and come to imagine they must be more widely held. Either that, or representative organizations lose sight of the fact that they contain thousands of members and not just the couple dozen people who are in the room.
Either way, once the circle of participants has shrunk the positions of the organization tend to become even more marginal, and divorced from the views of the majority. This contributes to a cycle of disengagement until something dramatic finally happens, that wakes people up and causes them to start paying attention again.
Carleton reverses course
Cystic fibrosis benefit back on; students aim to boot student gvt after “white people” controversy
In the face of national outrage, Carleton University Students’ Association says it will reverse its decision to cancel Shinerama, the school’s popular fundraiser for cystic fibrosis after it passed a motion saying the fatal disease is not “inclusive” enough.
The original motion, which passed 17 to 2 at the association’s Nov. 24 meeting, read: “Whereas Cystic fibrosis has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men…Be it resolved that: CUSA discontinue its support of this campaign.”
Read: Carleton cancels Shinerama; says disease only affects “white people”
Jeff Rybak on Why Dumb Things Happen Around Smart Students
In an interview with Maclean’s OnCampus, Smyth distanced the council from the controversial sentence on race and gender. Because it was a “Whereas” clause, she says they had no power to modify the sentence.
“It’s how our council has always operated. Even if we had wanted to change it we couldn’t have,” she says.
After the lightning-fast mobilization of Carleton’s student population, Smyth says the council will be holding an emergency council meeting to reverse their decision Dec. 1 at 6:30 p.m. at the school’s Porter Hall.
Immediately after the disputed vote, thousands of Carleton students flocked online in an effort to both organize and support grassroots rallies and fundraisers in support of the popular event.
“There will definitely be some resignations over this,” says graduate student Ashley Darch, who went to the school as an undergrad and is following, and participating in, the online controversy.
“Some people are saying we need a rally, some are saying that we need to make a very bold statement, and there is even an element that wants to impeach the CUSA executive.”
Darch says students are dismayed at how the media firestorm surrounding the issue has hurt the reputation of the university. A fundraising pub night is being held in Ottawa for tonight, and a “mini-Shinerama” rally is set to be held at the university tomorrow.
There have also been specific calls to impeach Donnie Northrup, the councilor who brought forward the motion in the first place. In an online statement, he says he still stands by the motion and CUSA’s decision to pass it.
