By Leveller Staff
The Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) signed agreements with the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) and the university administration on Sept. 10, ending a series of long-standing disputes.
A statement released by the GSA outlined that resolutions had been met on three outstanding issues, including fees withheld from the administration, a strengthened Administration Agreement with Carleton which protects the GSA’s “independence and autonomy”, and a GSA-CUSA Service Centres Agreement.
Of significance is the settlement with Carleton which extends for five years.
“Over the past few years, Carleton’s senior administration has repeatedly issued ultimatums and threats against our finances in an attempt to force the GSA to disrespect the democratic mandate of graduate students,” GSA President Michael Bueckert told the Leveller. “At various times the university has withheld our fees, threatened to unilaterally transfer disputed money from graduate students to CUSA, and threatened to refund or simply stop collecting our levy.”
According to Bueckert, the strengthened Administrative Agreement provides a stable and predictable framework for the GSA’s relationship with the university and should prevent future instances of GSA fees being withheld.
“This will allow the GSA to focus on its services and campaigns without threat of arbitrary interference by senior administration,” he said.
Furthermore, the agreement reached with CUSA enables the GSA to commit funding to student Service Centres and is a positive sign that recent years of hostility, levied against the GSA by executives under the “A Better Carleton” (ABC) slate, may end.
“This agreement will allow us to work constructively with CUSA to provide quality services and programming for all students, and protects graduate students against the kinds of actions taken by previous CUSA executives,” he said.
Since coming to power, ABC unilaterally withdrew from the joint health care plan and attacked progressive organizations on campus, including purging the Service Centres of all Canadian Federation of Students’ campaign materials. CUSA was also involved in high profile scandals including the Rick Ross concert controversy and the “Fuck Safe Space” frosh debacle. CUSA’s financial track record under ABC has also come under intense scrutiny.
In this context, graduate students voted in a 2014 referendum to cancel the University levy to CUSA.
The agreement with CUSA establishes “standards and expectations with regard to service levels for graduate students, advertising to graduate students, accountability, and contains strong dispute resolution mechanisms,” according to the statement.
This article first appeared in the Leveller Vol.8., No. 1 (Sept 2015).
