Students at Mohawk College are campaigning for the school to introduce sharps disposal containers in washrooms.
The Change.org petition campaign, being led by a group of six Mohawk students in their final year of the social service workers program, currently has over 100 signatures.
Vince Soliveri, a campaign organizer, said the petition is driven by safety concerns and a desire to de-stigmatize the use of needles.
Currently, Mohawk College does not have sharps disposals in washrooms.
Instead, there are signs asking students not to flush needles down the toilet or put them in the garbage.
“Because it is so stigmatized, people do not want to have that conversation,” Soliveri said. “Telling people to cap needles and take them home is a pretty harmful way to go about the situation.”
Soliveri first started thinking about the subject when a harm reduction worker from the AIDS Network came in to speak to the crisis intervention class in November.
“[The harm reduction worker] brought up that Mohawk College is branding itself as a safe and inclusive space for anybody and having a sticker like that on the wall is stigmatizing for those that use needles and do not really to create a safe and inclusive environment for people who do use needles for any reason,” Soliveri said.
The project team members began serious work on the project in January.
Soliveri has a particular connection to the issue as well, being a placement student with the AIDS Network in downtown Hamilton.
These experiences make him confident about the feasibility of installing sharps disposals.
“It does not really come at an expense other than a little bit of labor screwing the sharps container and mounting it on the wall. That is really the hardest part of it because everything else is provided by other agencies in the city,” Soliveri said.
The AIDS Network currently runs a “Community Points” program in collaboration with Hamilton Public Health Services, where the organization picks up needles and drops off sharps disposal containers around the city by request.
For the rest of the semester, the team will be working out the exact details of a potential sharps disposal program. They are also planning a public outreach phase.
After that, they will bring their plans to the college administration.
“This is probably a project that will go beyond our time as students,” Soliveri said. “We finish school in April, and we are hoping by then, we can at least have a pretty good set of signatures in our petition that we are circulating around members of the Mohawk community.”
Soliveri is hopeful that the petition could have lasting effects beyond Mohawk.
“We are hoping if this project is successful and people are into it and understand the value, that it can be used as a framework for other places in the city,” Soliveri said. “And that could be as big as a university or that could be as small as your local café, just letting people understand that the process is not as daunting as people think it is.”
A sharps disposal system at Mohawk would not be the first of its kind.
Ryerson University is planning to install sharps containers in over 500 washrooms in university-owned buildings following a successful pilot project last January.
McMaster lacks sharps disposal containers in its washrooms. McMaster Associate Director Health Safety and Risk Management Lisa Morine said the university regularly inspects the campus and sees no present need to implement sharps disposals in washrooms.
The Mohawk College online petition can be found at https://www.change.org/p/get-sharps-containers-at-mohawk-college. To contact the Community Points program for disposal of sharps or for harm reduction supplies, call 905-546-2489.
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Hundreds of students in McMaster’s introductory finance course commerce 2FA3 received a failing grade on their first midterm, with the class average sitting at 50.6 per cent, barely scraping past the passing threshold.
“The main issue began with many students complaining that prof. Trevor Chamberlain, who was teaching all four cores at the time, was not a very good instructor,” said Sara*, a second-year McMaster student in the course.
Chamberlain, the course professor, allegedly told students that the low class average was a reflection of students’ poor work ethic. These comments and the perceived incompetence of the professor emboldened a few commerce students to organize a petition in late October in hopes of improving their experience in the course.
Two hundred students signed the petition. Some of their demands included “fair assessments,” or test questions that are more consistent with the types of questions exposed to students in class, and tutorials, which were not initially provided by the course. The petition also called for the professor to use Avenue to Learn, the university’s course management platform, and disseminate course notes.
After garnering support from their peers, the organizers submitted the petition to Sue McCracken, the associate dean of the commerce program, in the first week of November.
Unbeknownst to McCracken, during the same week, Chamberlain asked a teaching assistant to temporarily take over the course for a few days.
“The TA stated that the professor had left a lot of class content for her so go through, so she was going through it in a fast pace, making it difficult to take notes,” said Sara. “When asked to slow down, she stated she rather get through 100 per cent of the material with students having some understanding than 30 per cent of the material with a good understanding for students.”
On Nov. 9 and 12, McCracken and Greg Rombough, the manager of undergraduate and specialized graduate programs (Academic), visited all the students in the course and affirmed that the DeGroote School of Business will take the concerns articulated by students seriously.
In the turbulent month before exams, Chamberlain was removed from the course and two new instructors stepped in to teach commerce 2FA3.
Nevertheless, this change was implemented with only a few weeks of the course left to spare. Having only completed one assessment thus far into the term, commerce students are left uncertain and concerned about where they stand academically.
“This course is also a prerequisite for commerce 3FA3, which second year students are supposed to take in the winter 2018 term, but now will have to be pushed back if a student decides to drop this course,” said Sara.
In the light of the petition, the DeGroote School of Business revised the assessment weighting scheme and added additional tutorial sessions to help students prepare for their next evaluation. The second midterm is scheduled for Nov. 16.
UPDATE: November 19, 2018
Prof. Leonard Waverman, Dean of the DeGroote School of Business, has noted that Dr. Chamberlain became ill with pneumonia and needed to take time away from teaching. Prof. Waverman also added that the petition demanding fair assessments, tutorials (which were not initially provided by the course), the professor to use Avenue to Learn and to disseminate course notes was signed by 145 students rather than 200.
Since this article was published on Nov. 15, 2018, hundreds have students have commented that they have faced similar experiences within this course throughout the years.
We will continue to update this story with new information.
[spacer height="20px"]*name changed to protect identity
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A Change.org petition has been launched requesting that McMaster administration “withdraw discriminatory policies” against McMaster engineering students. The petition is a response to the University’s disciplinary actions against engineering student groups due to a violent, misogynistic songbook allegedly connected to members of the Redsuits.
“Currently, more than 4,000 McMaster Engineering students have been found guilty and incapable of operating in a professional manner; none of these students will be treated equally until an investigation is complete,” the petition reads.
In January, the University publicly denounced the songbook and barred the Redsuits from organizing campus events for the remainder of the year. Redsuits from the past two years are currently ineligible to help organize Welcome Week 2014.
The student-led petition, launched on Sunday March 2, argues that the University has taken severe measures that are unfair to most McMaster engineering students. As of March 5, the petition had garnered more than 1,000 signatures.
An external investigation is underway regarding the involvement of students in the songbook, which contains references to rape, mutilation, sex with minors and other graphic material. In response to possible unsanctioned alcoholic events that have come up during the investigation, the University has banned alcohol at events hosted by engineering student groups, including the annual Kipling formal for graduating students. The event is held off-campus every year following an iron ring ceremony.
“This event has had significant oversight from the Faculty of Engineering in the past, and deeming it ‘unsafe’ to serve alcohol at a rather expensive, licensed banquet hall is unprecedented,” the petition states.
Simon Almeida, a graduating student in chemical engineering, started the petition with input from other engineering students and representatives from the McMaster Engineering Society, though the MES has not officially endorsed the petition.
“It’s dangerous precedent if we say that, regardless of any evidence, the University can just single out a single faculty of 4,000 students and completely ban students from doing what’s in their civil liberties to do,” Almeida said.
“I know that there’s definitely been a shift in how other students view us and how the public views us. Even on the petition we have alumni stating that it devalues their degree to have the university step this far and associate all engineering students with the actions of four students. It really puts a black mark on a program that I’m really proud to be a part of,” he said.
“Although the MES never officially supported [Almeida’s] decision to create the petition, we wholly support our students’ rights to voice their opinions and stand by their beliefs,” said Ben Kinsella, vice-president (academic) of the MES.
In response to the petition, McMaster provost David Wilkinson said the University’s ban on alcohol for engineering student events is a necessary measure that will continue to be in place.
“The unsanctioned events that we’re investigating do have a connection with alcohol, so this seemed like an appropriate thing to control during the period that the investigation continues. We’re clearly wanting to move forward and clear the air as quickly as we possibly can but we also want to make sure we do the job thoroughly,” Wilkinson said.
“I guess I’m somewhat surprised at the importance the students place on the ability to consume alcohol at what is a great celebratory event like the Kipling formal,” he said. “I know from my own experience that engineering students have tremendous spirit and joie de vivre, and I wouldn’t think that the inability to drink at an event like that would diminish the ability of the students to have a great time.”
The petition also criticizes the University’s “decision to forego serious relations with engineering student leaders,” which Wilkinson said was an unfair comment.
“The dean of students has been meeting on a regular basis with leaders in the MES, so we are involving student leaders in the whole process and that will continue to be the case. The student leadership may wish for a broader consultative process but we’re somewhat restricted in what we can do there,” he said.
“We’re continuing to do our work and we’re doing it as quickly as we can. The petition isn’t going to have an impact on that,” Wilkinson said. “What the petition does is it brings to the fore some of the concerns brought to us by members of the student body and some of the MES leaders. I will say, however, that we’ve also gotten feedback from students who are very supportive of the approach the University is taking to address certain cultural concerns. In fact, the MES itself has outlined in a number of documents over the past few years its own concerns about certain aspects of culture within the student body.”
There is no exact date by which the external investigation is expected to be finished, though Wilkinson said he hopes a conclusion will be reached “within the next couple of months.”
This article was updated on March 5 to include comment from a MES representative.
The McMaster Campus Store came under criticism this week for controversial choices in costumes available for sale. The store offered Halloween costumes for the first time this year as part of its expanded merchandise.
But not all the costumes went over well with McMaster students.
The selection of costumes available included racially offensive offerings such as “Sexy Indian Princess” and “Eskimo Cutie,” both designed for women.
Photos of the costumes were published in executive editor Jemma Wolfe’s editorial on The Silhouette’s website on Oct. 25, in response to the offerings in the Campus Store and cultural appropriation during Halloween. The images were circulated online, bringing the attention to the wider McMaster community—and provoking a major outcry.
Donna Shapiro, Director of the Campus Store, explained that the organization had not anticipated such a response.
“We didn’t really even suspect this angle as we started down this road,” Shapiro said. “I guess it’s been a long time since I’ve been in a party store to look at what costumes are available.”
Upon hearing of the available costumes, fourth-year Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour student Alan Rheaume started a petition asking that the Campus Store immediately remove the costumes, calling them “obscene and offensive towards Indigenous students at McMaster and aborad [sic]” and arguing that they violated the MSU’s Anti-Oppression Policy.
“I started the petition…so we could end this offensive business practice that has no place in an institution of higher education,” said Rheaume, who is a member of the McMaster First Nations Students Association.
“My goal was not only to get the costumes removed from the bookstore, but also to spread awareness about the widespread cultural appropriation inherent in Halloween celebrations.”
Rheaume’s petition, started on change.com, was established hours after the photos surfaced on Friday, Oct. 25. He was seeking 500 signatures; by the time it closed later in the weekend, 543 people had signed.
The Campus Store pulled the racist costumes less than 24 hours after complaints were made, removing them from sale before the store opened on Saturday.
Even through the controversy of the selections, observers praised the store’s swift response.
“I was happy on that front…for the [Campus Store] listening and being willing to respond like that,” said MSU President David Campbell of the quick remedy.
While the removal of the costumes was a welcome response, the problems associated with the sale of the costumes still resonated in the Mac community.
“Inappropriate Halloween costumes are not specific to McMaster, however we are concerned when such costumes appear within our own campus community,” wrote the McMaster Indigenous Studies Program and Indigenous Services in a comment to The Silhouette.
“[This] has been an embarrassment to the entire McMaster community, and hopefully these events can spark a dialogue on critical thought and informed decision making.”
The release referred to a third costume that was also deemed offensive for its endorsement of rape culture. In addition to the racially insensitive costumes, the Campus Store sold a football-themed costume marketed to women with lettering on the shirt saying, “tackle me.”
“The issue of costumes at the McMaster Campus Store extends beyond the problematic representations of Indigenous peoples, and Indigenous women specifically, as there were other costumes that were also offensive to other groups that condoned rape culture.”
The costume in question was pulled in the afternoon on Oct. 26, shortly after the original two were removed from sale.
The store had pursued Halloween costumes as a way to boost sales in October.
“Things slow down in the course materials area [in October], so we have some transitional space,” explained Shapiro. “Halloween was just a good fit because it happened to fit the timeline.”
The idea to stock costumes came from Deidre Henne, McMaster’s Chief Financial Officer and Associate Vice-President (Administration), who worked with the Campus Store to help boost revenue. The store has faced declining profits in recent years from decreased textbook sales, seeing a drop of 10 to 20 per cent per year, but is still mandated to contribute its profits, usually roughly $1 million, to the Student Affairs and University Operating budgets.
“They would not have sold costumes…had I not suggested it,” said Henne, who described the decision to stock them as “an innocent one.”
As proposed by Henne, the Campus Store sought a partnership with Party City, a New Jersey-based retailer. The company traditionally establishes a bunch of “pop-up” stores across North America seasonally for events like Halloween, but used their deal with Mac as an opportunity to pilot selling stock in a campus setting.
Party City rented the space from the Campus Store, and stocked the same selection of costumes that is available in their regular locations.
“There was nothing in front of that for vetting their costumes,” said Shapiro.
Considering the reaction, Henne concluded, “on-campus screening is probably necessary.”
“Hindsight is 20/20,” she said. “I think by bringing [these costumes] onto campus, it put a different lens onto it. I think in fairness it’s a good lens to put on it, it’s just about what appropriate actions the Campus Store should take when those things are arranged.”
It remains to be seen whether the Campus Store will continue to sell costumes in future years.
Sarah O'Connor
Staff Reporter
University classes encourage students to think critically and advocate for what they believe in. But for one Mac student, this advocacy continues outside the classroom.
Olivia Fasullo, a first-year student, noticed while working at part-time at Fresh Co. that GST was being placed on diapers, formula and feminine hygiene products while ice cream, coffee and other dessert items were tax free. This inspired Fasullo into starting a petition to eliminate the GST from all formula, diapers, and feminine hygiene products, because they are a necessity and right to all women and babies in Canada.
Having originally pursued the subject as an independent project in her Women’s Studies class, Fasullo has been hard at work to move her petition beyond the classroom.
Her activist group is called Tax Free Timbits, inspired by the fact that Timbits are tax-free while feminine hygiene products, formula and diapers aren’t. She has contacted numerous MPs and MPPs seeking support, and got Hamilton mayor Bob Bratina to sign her petition.
By Oct. 25, Fasullo had around 150-200 signatures and hopes to expand that to 5,000-10,000 signatures. While she has had luck in McMaster community some surprising obstacles have attempted to block her way.
“One person tried to make it a class issue saying that ‘maybe for poor women this is an issue but for rich women I don’t feel bad that they have to pay tax because they can afford it,’” Fasullo explained of one person who refused cheapest viagra prices to sign her petition.
“I said that rich men can pay for tax on their coffee, but don’t, so it’s not really a class issue, [but] an issue of dignity and necessity.”
Fiona Gordon, another first-year student helping with the petition, speculated as to why there was low student support.
“Perhaps they don’t understand the further implications of our goals,” she said. “Perhaps they think that our goal is narrow and has negative implications of other aspects of the economy.”
On Oct. 19, Fasullo attended the leadership conference hosted by the Hamilton Young Liberals at McMaster and was able to speak with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne.
Fasullo explained the petition to Wynne, who stated that she didn’t think it was appropriate to sign.
“The idea to have politicians sign the petition is more difficult than I assumed,” Fasullo said.
“I naïvely thought that perhaps this issue was simply overlooked which may not be the case. But some politicians simply don’t want to sign it simply for putting their name on it.”
If Fasullo can get up to 5,000-10,000 signatures for her petition, it may be read at the House of Commons.
