Pride is Out and Proud on Campus n interview with newly elected Pride Liaison Chris Sleightholme Nicole Burton, OP News Editor one of the most active student groups on campus at buglas College, the Pride Collective plans for this semester be filled with activity in coming weeks. Through a variety of educational awareness campaigns and ents throughout the year, the Douglas Students Union Pride llective focuses on providing a safe and supportive space bisexual, lesbian, gay, transgender and “questioning” BTQ) students, and encouraging alliances between queer dents and non-queer students against hate and discrimina- in at the school. Alongside other student representatives, the Pride collec- e has representation in the Douglas Students Union ough an elected position called the Pride Liaison. Douglas’ rent Pride Liaison, Chris Sleightholme, was just elected in Spring semester and is now busy beginning work for the 7 school year. I got the chance to catch up with Chris last week for a prt interview. I asked him more about his role in Pride, de’s role on campus, and the challenges that remain for ding respect and understanding of marginalized groups e at Douglas. P: First of all, what drew you to running for the posi- in of Pride Liaison this year? is: “I decided to run for the pride liaison position because pw it as an Opportunity to try to change and fix the prob- s in the Students’ union. I also wanted the pride collective have a larger presence on campus. Being gay myself, it’s portant to me that the collective is seen and heard so that college is a positive place to learn and work.” P: How long have you been involved in the Pride col- tive? What projects have you worked on? is: “Well I’ve been involved in the collective since my first bY ester, so winter of 2004. Since then I have volunteered my he in the pride room, worked on the positive space cam- ion and written articles on queer issues for the Other Press. lso helped organize coming out week, and pink triangle ek last year.” P: What do you see happening for the Pride Collective he coming semester/year? I'm $25,000 in student debt . . can | afford to gre newseditor@gmail.com Chris: “I would like to see the collective be more visible on campus. We will of course be planning our usual coming out week and pink triangle week festivities. I would also like to see more volunteers in the collective so that the pride centre (room) could be open longer and be more accessible to the community.” OP: Any new programs or activities? Chris: “We have one new program that we’re in the process of refining. This program is the STOP HATE campaign. At the moment, we have posters all over the school with num- bers to call if anyone sees people harassing people or vandal- izing the campaign materials.” OP: What are some of the challenges that the Pride col- lective faces at Douglas? Chris: “Well some of the challenges that we face at Douglas are constant vandalism of our materials in the SUB. Even today someone witnessed and identified a person with an accomplice ripping down some STOP HATE posters. This of course is a serious matter that will be dealt with in an appro- priate manner. This isn’t the first hate crime to occur in the SUB and such vandalism is an ongoing problem. I first noticed this after an act of violent vandalism last summer in the SUB when all the pride and aboriginal campaign materials in the office were destroyed in the early hours of the morning. We have also had complaints of harassment from queer guest who have come to our various pub nights. These are things that absolutely disgust me; to think that adults can’t have any respect for other people on campus makes me believe that we're all still in high school. Another challenge that we face is when we're campaigning, students have in the past been rude to me, as well as my volunteers when we have been handing out pamphlets for various events. The thought that they would be considered gay for taking one or participating in the event is ridiculous and shows us just how insecure they really are. But I hope this year we will be able to overcome these problems and truly make the SUB and Campus a positive place to work and learn. OP: Thank you Chris, and good luck with the coming semester. important Dates to Remember This Month Sept 1-Nov 15: Applications or reapplications for Winter for General Admission programs will be processed but students will receive a late registration appointment time. Sept 5 to 12: Course drop refund during this peri- od is $35 per credit. Sept 16: Last day to add a course. Last day to change from credit to audit status in a course. Sept 17: Last day to drop a course without receiving a “W” on record (subsequent withdrawals receive a grade of “W’’). Sept 22: Last day to apply for Winter Graduation (January).