How to Get More Involved?

GSA Departmental Events

A good way to introduce the GSA to grad students in your department is to host a meet and greet event. To help you out we can provide free food, book a room, and provide a speaker from the GSA to speak briefly about who we are and what we do.

This is a great space to introduce yourself as a departmental representative and for students to get to know more about the initiatives being taken by the GSA. Additionally, it provides us with an opportunity to hear about some of the successes, challenges, concerns, and academic issues that grad students in your department are facing.

How can we help?

  • Poster for the event
  • Food and drinks
  • Resources (buttons, campaign materials, ect.)
  • Room bookings
  • Speaker from the GSA

For more information email mc@gsacarleton.ca


Posters and Materials

The GSA has a variety of posters, buttons and other material available free of charge. Come to the GSA office and browse our ever expanding collection!

For more information email mc@gsacarleton.ca.


GSA Committees

There are lots of ways to get involved in the GSA. We are always looking for volunteers to help with various campaigns, caucuses, and committees. To learn more about our committees visit the committees page.

Graduate Academic Caucus (GAC)
Political Action Committee (PAC)
Organizational Review Committee
Scholarships and Rewards Committee
Graduate Residence Caucus
International Student Committee
Accessibility Committee


Campaigns

One of the roles of the GSA is to represent and advocate for graduate student interests both on the Carleton campus and within the broader community. This involves the executive sitting on several Carleton committees and boards, including Senate, the Grad Faculty Board, and the Board of Governors, to ensure that the collective grad voice is heard and valued.

Our campaigns are another way we advocate for graduate student interests and students in general. We address issues ranging from post-residency fees and lower tuition to student-worker solidarity, equity, and student union autonomy. The GSA works both independently and in partnership with the Canadian Federation of Students on a number of these issues, as well as on various campaigns and issues that the GSA Council has endorsed.

Several of these campaigns are designed and implemented by the GSA Political Action Committee (PAC), which is chaired by the VP External and is open to all students. For example, PAC organized a campaign around challenging high tuition fees at Carleton, which included over 1,250 postcards signed by students urging the Board of Governors to vote to freeze tuition. Current campaigns that PAC is working on include challenging all forms of discrimination and oppression on campus. Racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and all forms of oppression can affect how certain groups of people access post-secondary education, and perpetuate inequities in society based on gender, race, socio-economic status, (dis)ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, citizenship status and other factors.

If you have any questions, would like to get involved in any of these campaigns, or learn more about PAC, contact vpx@gsacarleton.ca.


Other ideas?

Our biggest priority is fostering a healthy and active campus community for grad students. And we want to hear from you!

Do you have any ideas/initiatives/issues that concern you or other graduate students?  Let us know by contacting our membership coordinator at mc@gsacarleton.ca.