< new Carleton Student Association (CSA) president, vice president and new class representatives come new ideas and goals that are pushed on to the CSA agenda.
On Monday April 1st, the CSA conducted their first official meeting of Spring Term. It included an introduction to the new CSA senate and a presentation by CSA’s new President, Anesua Masakura ‘20, and Vice President, Hibo Abdi ‘20, about this term’s agenda.
Masakura mentioned that one of his priorities is to push for executive pay, which would convert the CSA executive positions into paid positions.
“The CSA presidency, or the CSA vice presidency, or the CSA treasurer position, is a very demanding position and you don’t want someone doing that and also holding a full time job on campus. That becomes too much,” said Masakura.
CSA also hopes to ensure that the organization works efficiently and continues to make things happen for Carleton students. In line with this efficiency goal, the Information Technology Services (ITS) Liaison is no longer a voting member of the senate this term.
“The position will be a non-voting member but it won’t be going away entirely,” noted Abdi. “They will be periodically coming to Senate but to give updates rather than vote.”
“I’m not completely scrapping everything,” said Masakura. “I want to incorporate my ideas and continue conversations of important things of what the previous administrations were discussing.”
CSA Treasurer Brandon Moy ’20 cited exposure as an additional goal. “A lot of students have the impression that CSA isn’t important or valuable or maybe not even aware of what CSA is,” he said. “That’s very understandable and I think that’s something we want to work on.”
The Senate currently has around $38,000 available for events and student organizations on campus, which is a larger figure compared to previous years.
“It’s all thanks to the previous CSA executives who came up with a higher allocations fund,” mentioned Abdi. “It is very unlikely that we will run out of money to give.”
With this money, the current CSA executives are able to fund more events during spring term and will not have to be as concerned about running low on funds. According to Abdi, CSA has allocated $5,000 to various groups so far in the term.
This term’s Senate will try to ensure that Carleton students’ voices are being heard so that all students can feel represented. From Masakura’s point of view, the CSA Senate is a voice made for the students by the students, not the administration, he said. With that in mind, Masakura and Abdi hope to incorporate their campaign slogan, #MakeCarletonHome, into the reforms.
“We’re looking at, ‘How do we make individual narratives be as profound as possible and reflected in the policies we create?’” said Abdi. “We don’t gloss over the nuances when it comes to the people at Carleton.”
