Anew and improved Douglas

> Renovations near completion, including gender neutral washrooms

Mercedes Deutscher
News Editor

 

fter an entire semester filled

with blocked-off hallways,
students can expect an entirely
new south side of the New
Westminster campus.

The renovations, which
began in mid-February, were
completed just in time for
the Fall semester. They will
allow the New Westminster
campus to provide space for
engineering courses, which
will be part of the college’s new
Engineering Diploma program.

The differences made by
the renovations are already
noticeable when entering
the first floor hallway in the
South building. The grey of
the old carpets was replaced
by a vibrant black and
green. Formerly windowless
classrooms now have access
to natural lighting. Five new
classrooms were installed,
and another 22 classrooms
were renovated, according
to a Douglas news release.

 

All renovations managed
to be completed on schedule,
and managed to keep to
its $9.3-million budget.

 

However, it did require

the college to request the
city of New Westminster
to allow an exception for

 

late night construction.

While Douglas is now better

equipped to accommodate
engineering students, it

Illustration by Ed Appleby

is also better equipped to
accommodate students from all
areas of the gender spectrum.
The college announced
on August 16 that it would
be converting all single-stall
washrooms at both New
Westminster and David Lam
into gender-neutral ones.
Most off these washrooms are
wheelchair accessible as well.
Two former Douglas
students—Milo Leraar, former
DSU Pride Liaison; and Brett
Collins—helped to bring the
change, along with Jamie Yard,
who instructs an Anthropology
class on gender and sexuality.
All three were inspired to
push for the gender-neutral
washrooms after hearing
the demand firsthand from
other Douglas students.
“Students, faculty, and staff
need to know that they can get
their biological needs met on
campus without hassle. This
is a big piece in making our
campuses safe and inclusive
places to learn and work,”
Yard said to Douglas is Here.

Committee formed to create sexual violence and misconduct policy

> UFV student union looks to other campuses for guidance

Vanessa Broadbent
The Cascade (University
of the Fraser Valley)

 

Forewing the recent passing
of Bill 23, the provincial
government’s Sexual Violence
and Misconduct Policy Act,

all post-secondary institutions

in BC are required to create

an official sexual violence

and misconduct policy.

As stated in the bill,
the policy needs to include
procedures for making, and
responding to, complaints or
reports of sexual violence.

While the bill is already in
place, institutions have one year
to create and implement a policy.

In order to create the
policy for UFV, a committee
will be formed, which will
be co-chaired by UFV’s vice-
president students Jody Gordon
and Student Union Society
(SUS) president Sukhi Brar.

“We're just in the phase
of putting that team together,
but in preparation for that,
Sukhi and I have sat down and
looked at a number of best
practices,” Gordon said. “There’s
some good work that’s been
done throughout Canada that
we have been reviewing.”

While the committee will not
be in place until the fall, Gordon
noted that it will include faculty
and staff with related research

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backgrounds or work experience.

The bill does not specify
how the policy should be formed
and Gordon saw this as an
opportunity to include student
feedback by involving SUS.

“Just from the conversations
Pm having [with other student
unions], we're definitely helping
a lot more and have a lot more
student involvement and input,”
Brar said. “Having us involved
from the start in shaping
this policy helps students

understand how this serves

our student population best.”

While Gordon also noted
that including student feedback
helps students learn outside
of the classroom, she saw
student input as a way for the
university to be open with
their intentions on the issue.

“It needs to be very
transparent,” she said. “This is
not work that’s done at all in
secrecy; it needs to be work that
is out there for people to see

  

what stages we're at, and when
various consultations will occur’

While the writing of the
policy won't be starting until the
committee is formed, Brar noted
that there are already challenges
that she is anticipating.

“It’s a very complex topic
and there’s a lot of opinions and
a lot of different approaches
that people have taken in
approaching how this policy
might look,” she said. “It’s going
to be challenging to identify

»

Image via Wikimedia

what works for our campus.”

“At the end of the day
policy is just paper,’ Gordon
added, “but it’s really what it
will mean to us in terms of how
we approach it, how we talk
about it, how we engage with
these very difficult issues.”

After the committee has
drafted the policy it will be sent
to Senate for consultation and the
Board of Governors for approval,
with a tentative implementation
date of April 2017.