Carleton University’s Board of Governors will no longer withhold membership fees from student unions on campus, according to an agreement reached last month.
In a joint statement issued Nov. 29, the university, the Carleton University Students’ Association, and the Graduate Students’ Association said an agreement had been reached that ensures responsible financial management as well as the independence of the two student groups to direct their funds as their members decide.
The agreement settles a long-standing dispute between the administration and the student associations that attracted national attention. Last fall, the university administration sought new fee agreements with the student unions, including the ability to curtail union expenditures deemed “unreasonable and unnecessary” by the administration. The unions attempted to negotiate mutually agreeable terms that protected the right of their members to decide democratically how to allocate funds. In response, the administration announced it would stop handing over student association fees on Dec. 31, 2010. The fees collected on behalf of the two unions represent their sole source of revenue.
On Nov. 10, CUSA and GSA filed a court application asking that the Carleton administration be held to its existing contract with the student associations. CAUT joined with the Canadian Federation of Students to press for Carleton’s administrators to change their position. The services financed by students fees include almost 200 clubs and societies, service centres for marginalized and underrepresented student populations, an emergency food bank for the campus community, a health plan and financial assistance programs.
Throughout the dispute, the Carleton administration maintained its action was motivated by the need for financial accountability. CUSA and GSA have since published their audited financial statements in the campus newspaper for all to see.
“At its core, the issue was about maintaining the independence of the student unions,” said GSA president Kimalee Phillip. “We were successful in ensuring the democratic will of our membership determines our actions. If we allowed the university administration to control our finances, we would be giving up our ability to effectively advocate for students.”
This is not the first time CAUT has intervened on behalf of the two student associations. In early 2005, the Carleton administration unilaterally evicted the student groups from meeting spaces on the campus that it wanted to appropriate, and arrested student association officials who occupied the spaces while a court injunction was being heard. It was also revealed at the time that Carleton’s president acted to stop students from presenting a compromise proposal to the university’s board.
At its April 2005 Council meeting, CAUT passed a motion of solidarity in support of the Carleton student associations, and donated $5,000 to the legal campaign aimed at preventing the eviction. CAUT also arranged for buses so that Council delegates could eat lunch with student leaders in their partially-demolished pub.