The Carleton Student Association (CSA) Senate has struggled to meet its constitutional transparency and accountability requirements for many years. Some current and former CSA Senators argue, however, that other modes of communication are more effective, even if they do not strictly follow the CSA Constitution and Bylaws.
The CSA Senate is composed of four executives, two class representatives for each class, over a dozen liaisons to various committees and departments across campus and an appointed secretary.
CSA is responsible for many things such as chartering and funding student organizations and clubs, advocating for and enacting programs to benefit the student body at large, and funding campus wide events such as Sproncert. The organization is also responsible for facilitating communication between and advocating on behalf of the student body to the various organs of Carleton’s bureaucracy.
Many CSA Senators ran on platforms of increasing communication and transparency. Some concede that there is room for improvement. Secretary Floyd ’28 said, “More active communication is actively necessary.”
Former CSA Senator Graci Huff ’25 said, “It’s really hard to reach students.”
“It’s sometimes difficult to get students interested in what the CSA is doing, both because they feel like it’s redundant, or it doesn’t matter,” said Second-term Communications Officer Geroge Lefkowicz ’25. “At times, it can be somewhat confusing and in the weeds.”
Multiple current Senators said their attempts to reach students through the formal means established in the Constitution rarely were effective.
The Constitution and Bylaws obligate Class Representatives to, “hold biweekly office hours of at least one hour per session.” (CSA Bylaws; Article I, Section 1.4.D). To the Carletonian’s knowledge no class representative regularly holds these sorts of sessions. Despite the Constitutional obligation, some class representatives argue that these meetings aren’t effective.
“The reality of [office hours] is people don’t really stop by. I was tabling every other week in Sayles, every Tuesday during Common Time, and people weren’t stopping by,” said Class of 2025 Representative Talia Marash ’25. I found that people felt more comfortable reaching out virtually.”
Marash said that as a consequence of this lack of attendance, she sent out a Google Form where her constituents could reach out.
The communications officer, under the current governing documents, is responsible for publishing the weekly CSA Newsletter and “disseminat[ing] information about CSA initiatives and activity via social media.” (CSA Constitution; Article II, Section 2.2.).
When asked about CSA’s Instagram account, Lefkowicz said, “I found somewhat early on that engagement was pretty low. It is difficult to dedicate the sufficient time and resources to pump up the engagement among the student body…We’ve attempted, at times, to utilize the Carleton College Instagram which reaches far more people. Thousands of people look at it.”
The CSA newsletter has also changed. Lefkowicz said that the reformatted newsletter sent this Winter Term was the result of conversations among the Execs to, “make it a little more visually appealing and to try and highlight what various offices are doing and highlight different events that are happening.”
The CSA secretary is obliged to post the minutes of CSA Senate meeting and Budget Committee meetings on CSA’s website. Secretary Eli Floyd ’28 explained he tried in good faith to post the minutes in a timely manner, but prioritized other secretarial duties such as attending meetings, editing and managing the Campus Announcements system, which take up the bulk of his paid eight hours, over the sometimes late Senate and Budget Committee minutes.
Both current and former Senators stressed that the most effective way of listening to student needs is by being present around campus. Lefkowicz said, “We don’t represent someone, and then move 1000s of miles away to our capitol building and never come home. I mean, we live in dorms and we are on campus.”
Other Senators shared moments when people would approach them in the dining hall or after class with questions and issues.
The CSA Constitution’s Preamble lists among its reasons for existence “to advocate for student interests” and “serve as a forum for the discussion and advancement of student ideas.” CSA’s capability to genuinely reflect the interests and opinions is the reason why the CSA President meets bi-weekly with the President of the college, the Dean of Students and is a liaison to the Board of Trustees.
Former college president Professor Steven Poskanzer described CSA as “the broadest, most collective, most accurate window to capture student voices.”
Dean of Students Carolyn Livingston described her rationale for having regular meetings with the CSA President: “this is an elected role, so I just want to make sure that I honor that election and the will of the student body by having the CSA president. So I want to make sure that they are most informed about everything that the administration is thinking about, or again, might be coming through the pipeline.”