Open Forum at York University to address Racial profiling by police and Gender-Based Violence
What: People's Forum on Campus Safety
When: Thursday, February 7th @ 1pm
Who: Students, Staff, Faculty, and Community members at York University
Where: Vari Hall, York University (4700 Keele Street, Toronto)
Visuals: Banners, placards, students, faculty, staff and community members dressed in black
York students, staff and faculty are insisting that police presence has done nothing to solve rates of sexual assault on campus but racial profiling by police has further compromised student safety.
Students at the public forum will testify about Toronto police officers patrolling the York University campus stopping, questioning and i.d.-ing black and brown men, perpetuating the myth that they are the main perpetrators of violence. This practice is consistent with Toronto police's methods of stopping and interrogating people of colour in Toronto, a practice called carding, which community members have raised with the Toronto Police Services Board.
Yafet Tewelde, a member of Cops off Campus Coalition, said, "We will not support police surveillance of Black youth, non-white peoples, and student activists or contribute to creating a police and military state on campus. We will contest cops on campus as they continue to play a role in furthering the criminalization of Black youth and non-white peoples and add to the racism of the courts and prison system; to which those institutions further contribute to violence in our society."
Police interference on campus is not a new thing: In 2008, York students demanded a safety audit after three sexual assaults were reported on campus in three months. The Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children (METRAC) was asked to conduct a study released in June 2010. In early 2011, a police officer of 31 Division remarked on campus that students facing sexual assault should not dress up as sluts at a safety information session at Osgoode Hall, in turn this sparked the global Slut Walk movement.
?Rather than York implementing surveillance of students, York needs to address the root causes of sexual assault and violence on campus such as: misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and lack of supports for students. There is no easy solution, but by coming together and building some form of nuanced framework around these issues that include supporting existing programming and groups already doing this work, we need to focus on ending violence and rape culture on our campuses in ways that speak to our complicity.? says Johannah May Black, a member of Cops off Campus Coalition.
Cops off Campus Coalition is a network of groups on campus and in the community, who are concerned with the safety of York students, and are disturbed about police presence on campus, especially in regards to the police's profiling and intimidation of students and community members.
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For more information:
Cops off Campus Coalition: copsoffcampus@gmail.com
Johannah May Black, 416-662-2084
Yafet Tewelde, 416-802-7452
TORONTO, Jan. 11, 2013 /CNW/ - Graduate students are disappointed with a decision by the Liberal government to spend $8.4 million to fund private-sector internships through the Mitacs Accelerate program. The funding announced today will go to a program that funds applied research almost exclusively in the private, for-profit sector to address 'business research challenges.'
"This announcement is just the latest example of government policy that shifts research funding away from being a public function of our universities and into the hands of private, for-profit companies," said Brendan Lehman, Chairperson of the Ontario Graduate Caucus of the Canadian Federation of Students. "This move further encourages close ties between our public universities and private companies, which compromises the integrity of research conducted by graduate students."
In January 2012, the Liberal government eliminated the Ontario Research Fund (ORF), which provided $42 million in research grants, including grants for graduate students and academics doing research in social sciences, arts and humanities. Graduate students are also ineligible for the Ontario Tuition Grant that was launched last year.
"Unfortunately, this program does not undo the damage of previous Liberal decisions that have left Ontario graduate students paying the highest tuition fees in the country with few financial supports," said Sarah Jayne King, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario. "This money would be better served to address the high cost of graduate studies and to create more research opportunities within our public universities."
The Ontario Graduate Caucus, a caucus of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, unites more than 50,000 graduate students at 17 universities in Ontario and works to promote the interests of graduate students to the provincial government and other external authorities whose jurisdiction affects graduate student affairs.
SOURCE: Canadian Federation of Students
For further information:Kaley Kennedy, Communications and Government Relations Coordinator: 647-302-3891 (mobile) or communications@cfsontario.ca
