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Pride collective talks non-gendered washrooms

Pride Liaison discusses
aims for next school year

By Dylan Hackett, News Editor

ast week, the recently elected

DSU Pride Liaison, Milo
Leraar, discussed aims for the
coming year within the pride
collective including a push for
Douglas to incorporate non-
gendered washrooms and for
better queer representation
and understanding within the
college.

“The last collective meeting
was really awesome. There
was a lot of diverse opinion in
representation at the meeting,”
said Leraar. “I’m hoping that can
continue on so that we can put a
lot of intention into making this
not only a queer safe space but
safe for people of all identities.”

Leraar noted the plans shift
towards collective decision
making, preferring for those
who use the space to make
decisions together.

‘Right now, [as Pride
Liaison] you’re also the
coordinator for the centre. With
that, Ihave heavy involvement
but I like to do things on a
friend-to-friend, peer-to-peer
basis,” explained Leraar. “Tn
transitioning to a collective-
based model, the duty of
coordinator will be lessened. To
the DSU board, I’m the Pride
Liaison but to the collective, I’m
the board liaison. My role in the
collective would be to take what
they want to the board.”

There is also talk of a
learning panel for faculty to

understand the issues that LGBT
students deal with. Concerns
were raised on LGBT content

in nationwide post-secondary
curricula at the Canadian
University Queer Services
Conference in May which

serve as the basis for the pride
collective’s outreach goals for
the year.

“T was at this workshop
[in Newfoundland] and they
were presenting this study done
on university curricula and
how queer representation was
presented in classes and they
found that the only classes to
even talk about queer issues
at all are women’s studies,
social work, and abnormal
psychology,” said Leraar. “Those
are the only three that there
is consistent representation
in. Even at Douglas, I took a
psychology of gender class that
didn’t talk about trans people.”

Although the pride centre is
an LGBT-focused space, Leraar
was adamant in maintaining
that the centre should offer
itself as a safe space for other
social demographics that face
oppression.

“As someone who is
involved a lot in the queer
community, especially in
Vancouver, it can be racist and
white-centric. It can be about
rich white gay men doing their
thing,” said Leraar. “If you just
call it an LGBT space, that’s
what it can become.”

The DSU pride centre is also
planning to move a floor below
in the DSU building. At that
location it will be closer to the
non-gendered washroom in the
building.

Print Futures program shakedown

Renowned Douglas profes-
sional writing program to
reboot

By Monica Rolinski,
Contributor

fter 22 years of

training professional
writers, editors, and media
professionals, the Douglas
College Print Futures program is
no more.

“[It] is being redesigned as a
one-year post-degree diploma,”
explained Maureen Nicholson,

4

coordinator for the Print Futures
program.

The tentative name for
the redesigned program is
Professional Writing and
Communication. Douglas
College and the faculty of
Language, Literature, and
Performing Arts hope to market
the program over the winter,
with enrollment slated to begin
in May 2014.

Full-time Print Futures
student Jacki Mameli is
conflicted about being part of
the last class to graduate as a
Print Futures student. Having
already gone through the
programs first year, she feels
that there will be quality grads

with “wide, varied skills and
strengths that will complement
changing workplaces.”

Aiming to reflect systematic
changes in writing and
communications fields, the
program hopes to give post-
degree graduates supplementing
career skills. Theoretically,
grads with both a degree and an
applied diploma, together with
hands-on experience, have more
to offer an employer.

Holly Phillips, also a full-
time student, is not happy with
the changes stating that “this
program is exactly what I was
looking for in terms of content,
time-commitment, and money.”

She would not have been

 

Genderless bathrooms | Photo illustration by Joel McCarthy

admitted in if she were applying
this year—not without a degree.
“That would have been a major
loss to me,” Phillips said.

Glauce Fleury, on the other
hand, would have preferred the
shorter post-degree diploma
program. As an international
student, it would have been
cheaper—rent and food-wise—
for her to spend one year abroad
rather than two. “Plus, since I
have a degree and a post-degree
in Brazil, I guess it would be
more interesting to have a post-
degree abroad on my resume
than just a diploma.”

Jean Manky, also a part-time
student, is quite pleased that the
changes won't be affecting her

negatively, claiming, “Maureen
has made it easier than J] thought
it would be for part-timers.”
Students like Manky can
continue as a part-time students
and will participate in the
portfolio show, the annual Print
Futures showcase. In this case,
the door has been opened for
non-program college students
interested in editing, design, and
media communication; they will
have the opportunity to take an
open-enrolment section or two
as part of their studies at the
college. According to Nicholson,
these courses may be offered as
communication studies credits
beginning in January 2014.