“What is happening at the University of Ottawa is not about white folk’s right to access reclaimed verbiage by communities outside of their own, nor about academic freedom, as we have been so led to believe. What we are collectively bearing witness to is about power; namely who can access it, and who must succumb to it,” writes Shadé Edwards, a second-year common law student at the University of Ottawa.
“How do we make progress from here at the University of Ottawa? If by terming it as a good crisis, Jacques Frémont is going to make transformational changes in the U of O landscape, I am all behind him, but if it is going to be talk, PR, and no action, then his legacy will be harshly judged by all generations,” writes Rony Fosting an international student at the University of Ottawa.
“How are you protecting me—how are you protecting us? I implore all of you to interrogate your activism: who have you been leaving behind? Who have you failed to hold space for? In your silence and complacency, whose lives have you decided no longer matter?,” writes Shadé Edwards a second-year law student at the University of Ottawa in the common law section.
“My concerns stem from this mental health crisis which has been exacerbated by the uncertainty of a pandemic; I worry about the mentalities professors have adopted in wake of all classes being shifted online,” says third-year U of O political science and history student Nelson Mahmoudi
“The University of Ottawa has to stop asking students to reach out about their mental health struggles when they won’t listen to what they have to say. Instead of being asked to reach out, students need an official system where they can share their experiences,” writes Kimberley Paradis, a fourth-year computer engineering student at the University of Ottawa.
A few months ago, I read former US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power’s memoir, The Education of an Idealist. In it, she asked a question that has stuck with me since: “What is the nature of individual responsibility in the face of injustice?” writes second-year University of Ottawa Law student Nemee Bedar in a letter to the editor.
I find it commendable that students are taking the initiative to create new spaces to share experiences and demand action when it comes to mental health, but frankly it shouldn’t be their responsibility.
“The Senate, one of the most powerful governing bodies in our institution, should have cancelled classes this Friday. They should be tasking themselves with assembling a campaign aimed at promoting further education, organization, and collaboration to address this problem,” writes U of O student Lorin Clive D’Arcy Van Dusen.
Tiyana Maharaj, one of the founders of the UOSU, writes in response to the carding and arrest of a U of O student by campus security many are condemning as racist
We do not need a new student union to make student politics more democratic, transparent, and accountable.
Thursday morning the Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities, Hon. Merrilee Fullerton, announced that tuition would be cut by 10 per cent, OSAP would be returning to the 2016-17 funding levels and the six-month interest-free grace period was eliminated.
The administration has a lot of questions to answer in the coming months and negotiations will be intense, but this needs to be readdressed with a proper overhaul of the SFUO. With only two executives currently serving, students need to come together to make sure that the SFUO does what it can to regain the trust of students at the U of O.
We must resist the urge to scrap the whole organization. The SFUO can and should play a positive role in the lives of students. We can’t allow ourselves to become lazy and decide that the SFUO isn’t worth saving.
Just like a country, a student union that neglects its history becomes short-sighted and ineffective.
On Sunday, there was an opportunity for members of the BOA, on behalf of the students they represent, to stand up and do the right thing. What happened? BOA members failed to protect students and fight for us at the table, leaving myself and many others feeling frustrated and angered.
Your money was allegedly stolen from you by someone you should have trusted. Be angry about it, talk with your friends about it and make it an election issue. But what you should never do is make this a partisan issue, and that’s what one of my colleagues did. Contrary to his attempt, Alexei Kazakov’s letter does nothing to galvanize students and if his advice is heeded, the student body will be worse off for it.
First off, I would like to apologize to you, the student body. Most of us in student politics go into it because we want to improve your experience at the university, not make you stress about scandals and the acts of certain individuals. We do not all go out and buy expensive sunglasses or shoes, nor do we go off on expensive trips. Most of the student bodies are volunteer run, i.e. no money goes to your elected officials—it goes straight back to you.
I write to you in the wake of the latest SFUO scandal to tickle the part of our brains concerned with righteous indignation, i.e. president Rizki Rachiq engaging in large-scale embezzlement of SFUO funds to buy himself luxury goods, including but not limited to visits to a haute-couture hair stylist in Montreal, Louis Vuitton shoes, and a $950 pair of glasses.
“With such a great reputation to upkeep, the university should cover basics, such as providing food services on its campuses year round, rather than sending its own students, faculty, and staff roaming and searching in lack of sustenance and nourishment, in the name of summer hours and summer savings.”
Making sure that our student-athletes are fit to play and perform, both mentally and physically, remains our utmost priority at Sports Services.
There is no “right” versus “wrong”. There are policies that occur that must be discussed and debated. These policies are important to people here in Canada, but also to the lived experiences of Palestinians and Israelis. However, we must have the opportunities within an academic institution to fully discuss and explore these implications of policy.
The reality is, Israel, like every single country in the world—including Canada and the United States—is imperfect. A nation always has room to improve, from its justice system to its economic equality to its treatment of minorities; and Israel is no exception to that.
Until you acknowledge all the ways in which academia intersects with our identities, our lived experiences, our health, and our socioeconomic status, then there is no way you can be “fully committed to ensuring the well-being of our students.”
It’s long past time to say it clearly and loudly: the SFUO needs radical reform, and it needs it now.
On behalf of the University’s administration, I want to respond to the recent letter to the editor concerning uOttawa’s mental health services.
