Allegations highlight the need for systemic and cultural change around sexual violence and discrimination.
CW: sexual assault
The Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour has now penalized five indiviudals, including at least four suspensions from campus and their positions, due to allegations under the Sexual Violence Policy and the Discrimination and Harassment Policy. Investigations first began in February, when news arose that an associate professor, Scott Watter, was suspended. In June, Watter was charged with two counts of sexual assault that occurred in 2017.
On July 28, David Farrar, president of McMaster University, released a letter stating that the school will be conducting an investigation into the department’s underlying cultural and systemic issues.
“McMaster will not tolerate any behaviour that threatens the security and safety of any member of our campus community. I recognize the courage of the complainants who have come forward, and I want to assure them that their allegations will be fully and fairly investigated and that appropriate action will be taken,” wrote Farrar.
While the university has stated they will be conducting an investigation, services around campus such as the McMaster Students Union’s Women and Gender Equity Network look to see what action will be taken to support survivors of sexual violence. WGEN is a service that offers a support group run by and catered to survivors. The content of the support groups are dictated by those within the group and it is entirely peer-run. By doing so, the service encourages an environment where survivors are given the chance to seek support in a way they desire.
Speaking to the Silhouette about improvements regarding the implementation of survivor-centric practices, Yimeng Wang, coordinator of WGEN, said that although the school may be doing its best to support survivors, policies by nature are inflexible. This can put limitations on how much emphasis is truly placed on survivors and their individual needs.
Wang believes that putting in place survivor-centric practices means giving autonomy to the person who has been harmed. Allowing survivors to ask for accountability from the person who has caused harm in a way that they desire is an important part of providing them with adequate support.
Wang believes that putting in place survivor-centric practices means giving autonomy to the person who has been harmed. Allowing survivors to ask for accountability from the person who has caused harm in a way that they desire is an important part of providing them with adequate support.
Wang also added that the limitations of policies does not excuse the harm that the school may create.
“Neither [the sexual violence policy and the discrimination and harassment policy] are policies sufficient for creating survivor-centric spaces — that comes from constantly practicing support and listening to survivors' needs. If harm has been caused in the past, forgiveness or changes in perspective are not owed to the institution that has caused that harm regardless of changes that have occurred since then,” said Wang.
Along with the ongoing investigation, protests to defund the police have been occurring across the nation, including within the city of Hamilton. At McMaster, many students have been calling for the termination of Glenn De Caire, McMaster’s head of parking and security services, due to concerns of discrimination and racial profiling.
In addition to discrimination issues, there are concerns from students around how security services responds to disclosures of sexual violence.
Wang added that the ways we address harm are often tied to punitive measures and security services.
“While some survivors may feel safe and want to take the approach of disclosing to Security Services and police, a lot of survivors have very rightful concerns and harmful associations and experiences with those systems, especially when we look at the specific people in power at Security Services at McMaster right now. There are ways in which those ties make it more harmful for survivors to disclose,” said Wang.
Advocating for the removal of campus police, a group known as De Caire Off Campus recently shared via social media regarding the harm that special constables have on survivors’ disclosure experience. The group noted that students have experienced accusations of lying as well as dissuasion to press charges. In addition, the group shared several alleged reported incidents of campus police abusing their power, making the service ill-equipped to handle sexual violence.
CW sexual violence
(THREAD) In light of instances of sexual violence becoming public, @McMasterU has put forward McMaster Security Services as a “resource.” What do students have to say about special constables’ approach to safety for survivors? 1/ https://t.co/RrBwulexI9
— De Caire Off Campus (@copfreecampus) August 11, 2020
As students begin their fall semester, the investigation into the department of psychology, neuroscience and behaviour progresses while groups such as De Caire Off Campus continue to call for the termination of the special constable program.
As the investigation unfolds, McMaster has suggested that those in need of support can reach out to resources such as:
Mac students can feel safer this year thanks to the development of a new Security Services app.
It’s called the McMaster University Safety, Security and Transit app, or MUSST, and it’s available for free on iPhone, Android, and touchscreen Blackberry devices. The app provides contact numbers for emergency services and campus resources in addition to information about transportation and safety guidelines.
Upon loading the app, users are greeted by a conspicuous red button that lets them call either Campus Security or 911 with one touch. The front page also links to the McMaster Daily News twitter page and lets one call the Emergency First Response Team (EFRT) and the Student Walk Home Attendant Team (SWHAT), both run by the McMaster Students Union.
EFRT responds to campus medical emergencies and SWHAT will walk you home at night. In another tab, app users can find clinic and hospital locations and familiarize themselves with campus safety procedures.
In addition to these safety measures, MUSST seeks to help students out with transportation. It allows them to call two local taxi services and uses Google Maps to find HSR bus schedules. There are also links to the websites of other bus services, such as GO Bus and Greyhound, but those pages are not consistent in their design for mobile users and can be cumbersome to use on smartphones.
MUSST was developed by Weever Apps, which operates in McMaster Innovation Park, and is a collaborative effort between McMaster Security, Student Affairs, the MSU, and Public Relations. It was inspired by Queen’s University’s SeQure App.
First released in May, it was updated in August and was fully operational in time for the start of this school year. Staff Sergeant Cathy O’Donnell, a security manager at Mac, said that the university will be launching an extensive advertising campaign for the app.
MUSST can be downloaded for free on your touchscreen smartphone. In addition, students living in residence can find a QR code on the cover of their key card that downloads the app when scanned.
Dr. Karl Andersson, a Swedish scholar who was visiting to look through the Bertrand Russell archives in Mills Library, was a regular presence at Occupy McMaster.
When members of Occupy McMaster arrived at their space in the corner of the Student Centre on Tuesday, Sept. 18, they didn’t know what had happened.
Lori Diamond, administrative director of the Student Centre, didn’t know either.
Siobhan Stewart, president of the McMaster Students Union, said she saw that Occupy was still set up in the corner of the student centre when she left late on Monday night.
But Tuesday morning – the day after the one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street – the area was cleared out. The books, the furniture, the blankets, the pamphlets, the posters and all of the other items that has collected since Occupy began spending time on the MUSC couches last November was gone.
Representatives of Occupy met with McMaster Security Services Tuesday morning in hopes of getting to the bottom of the matter. Security Services said they would check security tapes.
“We do have a theft report, and it is with our investigator right now,” said Cathy O’Donnell, Staff Sergeant of Security Services, on Wednesday.
“It’s a temporary setback for the student movement,” said Alvand Mohtashami, who was one of the founders of the group last November. “But we are organizing to build a culture of revolution.”
The MUSC space was relatively empty over the summer months, but now that September has come, students are coming together again to get Occupy McMaster back up and running.
They’ve added a couple of tables and some pamphlets, and they are trying to be more vigilant.
“I’ll be back as soon as possible and support the occupiers, whose existence and presence is necessary to the survival of the idea of the university as a place of unhampered pursuit of the truth, wrote Dr. Karl Andersson, who is currently back in Sweden, in a comment on TheSil.ca.
Andersson, a grey-haired scholar who was studying the Bertrand Russell archives in Mills Library, was a regular presence at Occupy last school year, and he helped to maintain a 24-hour watch.
