McMaster sports are back, but does the student body care?
Varsity sports have been around for a long time. At McMaster University, sports have been around since 1889, when the university used to be located in Toronto. Mac’s first varsity game was played between a group of alumni from the Toronto Baptist College and Woodstock college, competing in a match of soccer. Over time, the university developed its variety of sports offered and by 1897, McMaster made all athletics and other sport related activities a duty of the central executive committee.
McMaster University athletes’ names — Marauders — came from a former student, Bill Cline, who suggested the nickname for the men's basketball team and had his suggestion published by the Silhouette afterward.
Where do the Marauders stand now, after a whole year of inactivity? How popular are they with the general student population within McMaster? This is a question that can be posed as the new season slowly starts and fans return to the stands. Already, the tickets for the homecoming weekend football game against the Waterloo Warriors are sold out, but this does not necessarily represent the attitudes towards the Marauders and all sports teams of the student body.
In the days leading up to this publication, a survey was taken around campus and on Reddit to determine what the general student population think of the Marauders and whether they keep up with the games in general.
The following results were collected on campus, based on 50 answers from students selected at random.
Do you keep up with any varsity sports?
When asked about this question, it was evident that most of the students seemed uninterested. After 50 people were interviewed regarding this matter, 84% expressed their disinterest, while 16% mentioned that they do occasionally or commonly keep up with the varsity teams at McMaster.
Evidently, the popularity of varsity sports within the student population is not of great magnitude and the campus poll was not the only one to prove this consensus.
McMaster Reddit Poll
Although Reddit does not represent the student population as a whole, the McMaster Sub-Reddit is an internet page that has over 25,000 students, alumni and professors. Recently, a poll was conducted to get an even clearer picture of how popular McMaster varsity sports are among the students.
An identical question was posed to the Sub-Reddit: Do you keep up with McMaster varsity sports?
Although the campus poll did not show a significant popularity in terms of varsity sports, the Reddit poll showed a greater level of disinterest in varsity sports than the previous poll. Out of 277 votes recorded, only five stated that they follow the competitive leagues while a whopping 245 said no.
These polls clearly show that there is not a large interest in varsity sports among Mac students. After a long break without any university sports, it may have been expected. However, these are also a prompt for change. They signify a lack of students' knowledge about the sporting events going on around them and it would be beneficial for the Marauders to instead believe that Mac students are interested in varsity games and cheering them on.
When speaking to Catherine Zheng, a second-year computer engineering student regarding sports, she mentioned that her love for sports and willingness to follow the varsity scene is largely affected by her school workload and sometimes lack of information.
“I feel like there are many people out there that would really like to keep up or even spectate varsity sports, but the amount of university workload generally prevents people like me from having the time to do so,” said Zheng.
When asked about the effect COVID-19 had on her interest in varsity sports, Zheng mentioned that it didn't particularly diminish its appeal to her, but felt like many of her friends completely forgot about the sporting events associated at McMaster.
“I think that COVID-19 didn't really have an effect on my interest in varsity sports. I have always been a fan of school teams, especially football. Obviously, last year there were no activities to follow but even now I feel like a year of inactivity made many people forget that such things are back to normal now,” explained Zheng.
She also described how there is sometimes a lack of information about McMaster sports.
“I do feel like that at times there is not much to know about varsity sports. For example, the McMaster Instagram page barely posts anything regarding these activities, which I think doesn't inform students enough,” said Zheng.
It is evident that the Marauders are not of major interest among the student population. Although information about varsity games may not be readily available on social media, students have the opportunity to keep up with all the varsity sports through the Marauders website.
The Hamilton-based project Filipinas of HamONT is using interviews and surveys to find and connect the community
There are not enough spaces in Hamilton where BIPOC feel that they belong. BIPOC in the Steel City often feel disconnected from their heritage, their history and their community.
This is a problem that Anabelle Ragsag and Jessica Vinluan are hoping that folks in Hamilton with Filipino heritage will one day no longer have to face. They are helping to tackle the problem with their community-engaged project, Filipinas of HamONT.
Ragsag is an author and educator with a background in politics who immigrated to Canada from the Philippines in 2009. Vinluan is a teacher, the founder of BIPOC youth organization Redefine Twenty and a second-generation Filipina-Canadian who was born and raised in Hamilton.
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With their different backgrounds, they have made their project Filipinas of HamONT for all Filipinas in the city of Hamilton, whether they were born and raised in the city, a naturalized citizen, a long-timer, a newcomer or just passing by as is the case for many students.
They have made their project Filipinas of HamONT for all Filipinas in the city of Hamilton, whether they were born and raised in the city, a naturalized citizen, a long-timer, a newcomer or just passing by as is the case for many students.
The pair met in early 2020 at a Reaching for Power workshop, an initiative that teaches BIPOC women and non-binary individuals how to make a positive change in their communities. After the workshop series ended, Ragsag and Vinluan began in June 2020 to think about creating a project for the Filipina community. In fall 2020, they received a microgrant for the project and began sharing it with the larger community in November.
The project initially consisted of a survey designed to map where Filipinas in Hamilton are located. The survey asks for participants’ demographic information including: their highest completed education level; the province in the Philippines that any member of their family is from; if they are working, the industry in which they are employed; and the effect that COVID-19 has had on their livelihood.
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The survey results will be shared to show where Filipinas in Hamilton are. As Filipinas began immigrating to Hamilton in the 1960s to build the health sector, Ragsag and Vinluan anticipated that many of the Filipinas that participate in their survey will work in this area. However, they began to find Filipinas outside of this sector when they decided to complement their survey with interviews with Hamilton-based Filipinas.
“[E]specially being born and raised in Hamilton, I didn't really think that I could see Filipinas in different spaces and I think to be able to see that . . . like, “oh, you're not just in the health sector, there's other avenues that maybe I can take if I see myself in them” . . . [The project is] validating that it's not just in the health sector, but like other aspects as well and other spaces that Filipinos are taking up,” said Vinluan.
"[The project is] validating that it's not just in the health sector, but like other aspects as well and other spaces that Filipinos are taking up," said Vinluan.
Ragsag and Vinluan have completed eight of the 10 interviews that they aimed to do. They shared the first interview on Nov. 13, 2020 and will continue to share them until March 2021. The interview series neatly exemplifies the intention behind the project: they want to share stories of leadership, empowerment and living between two cultures.
“I grew up and it was very white-dominated spaces. I think that, as a Filipina, I felt like I didn't belong in a lot of the spaces . . . I felt like I couldn't have these kinds of conversations around dual identity and things that I feel like I had difficulties navigating. So, when Anabelle brought up the idea of starting Filipinas of HamONT through the YWCA project, I was so excited because I know there's a lot of these kinds of community collectives in Toronto . . . but I also feel like I don't belong because it's Toronto and I'm from Hamilton,” explained Vinluan.
Based on the feedback from some of their interviewees, Ragsag and Vinluan are working towards running online events that will enable them to continue the important conversations they began in the interviews. They are considering running a book club where they would read works by Filipino authors and hosting workshops on the history of the Philippines.
“I saw that a lot of second and multiple generations of those with Filipino roots have this thirst to know more about what it is like. What does it mean if I don't speak Filipino, if I don't speak Tagalog, am I still Filipino? Because of my teaching background . . . I thought that's something that I can do. That is something that I can contribute to the community,” said Ragsag.
“I saw that a lot of second and multiple generations of those with Filipino roots have this thirst to know more about what it is like. What does it mean if I don't speak Filipino, if I don't speak Tagalog, am I still Filipino?" said Ragsag.
However, in starting this project, Ragsag and Vinluan do not intend to take away from the work done by established Filipino organizations in Hamilton. They recognize the importance of churches, cultural gatherings, all-Filipino sports tournaments and student organizations such as the Filipino McMaster Student Association. They aim to work alongside these organizations to connect the Filipina community.
Despite the name, Ragsag and Vinluan are not completely closing the project to woman-identifying individuals. The project is intended to evolve with community needs.
“We see that our being here in Canada is rooted to that history of a feminized migration . . . So I think it started from there but at the same time, the project is an evolving one – it's not set in stone — and we are aware that identities are fluid, as well . . . the role of those who don't identify as male or female have been there in history but they [were] erased by colonization. That is one of the topics that we want to discuss: what is it in our history that was erased? Can we uncover them?” said Ragsag.
Ragsag and Vinluan hope that this project will enable them and other Hamilton-based Filipinas to continue learning more about their history and heritage. By having these conversations with their community and connecting with established organizations, the project will help ensure that every Filipina in Hamilton feels they belong.
The McMaster Students Union and McMaster University are preparing to re-examine their policies and protocols on sexual violence in light of the recent Student Voices on Sexual Violence report released by the provincial government earlier this month.
The Student Voices on Sexual Violence survey was sent out last year and involved 160,000 students from over 40 Ontario post-secondary institutions outlining their experiences of sexual violence and harassment.
According to the survey, three in five McMaster students disclosed at least one experience of sexual harassment.
Sixty-one per cent of McMaster students said they do not have knowledge of McMaster’s sexual violence supports and services.
A McMaster Daily News article responding to the report states that McMaster has provided sexual violence prevention and response training to more than 8,600 students, staff and faculty over the past year.
Arig al Shaibah, McMaster’s associate vice president (Equity and Inclusion), said the university’s sexual violence education team will begin planning a bystander intervention training program in April.
In response to the report, the university will also shortly be reviewing the McMaster’s sexual violence policy, which was created in 2017.
“We are just in the beginning processes of looking at the policy,” al Shaibah said. “We know the numbers that come through our offices are not necessarily indicative of the full picture, so periodically going out there and being able to anonymously get a good gauge of people’s experiences and perceptions is really important.”
Every year, the EIO releases a report highlighting statistics on disclosures of sexual violence and harassment.
However, al Shaibah said the EIO needs to make sure that definitions used to classify disclosures are standardized.
“We have just improved the way we are collecting and centralizing data,” al Shaibah said. “Moving forward, one of the things we are doing is trying to make sure that everyone in the intake office is using the same definition so that we can start to capture trend data over time.”
MSU vice president (Administration) Kristina Epifano will be revising the current “Workplace Anti-Violence, Harassment, and Sexual Assault Prevention Policy” in response to the survey.
“With these revisions, we will host some feedback sessions, inviting student-staff and volunteers to share some of the challenges they've experienced with policies in the past and recommendations they would like to see moving forward,” Epifano said in an email. “I believe it is important to adapt the policy to highlight different options and courses of action that a survivor can take during the process.”
The provincial report comes against the backdrop of multiple allegations of sexual assault within the MSU Maroons.
On March 29, Farah released a statement addressing the subject, promising a formal investigation.
Nevertheless, Farah states that she hasn’t “found actual reports, anonymous or otherwise, of sexual violence within the Maroons team this year.”
The statement also said Epifano will be standardizing an anonymous online reporting tool used for Marrons for all MSU volunteers.
Jocelyn Heaton, the coordinator of the MSU Women and Gender Equity Network, said the MSU’s steps in addressing sexual violence are helpful, but there remains a lot of work to be done.
“The fact that less than three quarters of students know that there are supports and services available is pretty harmful for people who experience sexual violence,” said Heaton. “Also, knowing that a lot of that group is going to receive a disclosure during their time at university and they're not going to know where to refer people to is harmful as well,” she said.
Heaton also mentioned that there has been no consultation thus far with services like WGEN when it comes to the Maroons incident and revising the MSU’s workplace sexual assault prevention policy.
“As the coordinator of a service, the only service specifically meant to address sexual violence, I was never once consulted or brought in to talk about that situation,” Heaton said. “Students have not been consulted on what the policy should look like.”
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Here’s a look at five major provincial, Hamilton and McMaster stories that hit the newscycle last week.
1. Provincial government releases sexual assault survey results
After falling under scrutiny this winter for not releasing the results of the Ontario-wide Student Voices on Sexual Violence survey, the Ontario government finally published the report in full.
The survey, which was sent out last year, asked students to outline their experiences with sexual violence at their post-secondary institution.
The results of the survey, released on March 19, also describe the experiences of sexual assault and violence McMaster students have had while completing their degrees. Here are some of the report’s key findings:
More information about the results of the survey, including McMaster University and McMaster Students Union’s response to them, will be included in the Silhouette’s April 4 issue.
A new McMaster-affiliated study underscores the strong link between precarious employment and mental health, offering a snapshot into the mental health of precariously employed millennials in Hamilton.
The comprehensive 103-page study reveals the results of the 89-question online Hamilton Millennial Survey, which surveyed nearly 1,200 employed millennials living in Hamilton last year.
Following the massacre of 50 people in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, Hamilton Police Services launched an investigation into Paul Fromm, a Hamilton-based white supremacist. Fromm recently ran for mayor in the 2017 municipal election and received 706 votes.
As part of a global push to confront climate change, Hamilton has joined hundreds of other municipalities, voting to declare a climate emergency last Monday.
On March 20 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., students marched through the McMaster University Student Centre and protested outside of the building’s courtyard, demanding radical changes to the post-secondary education system.
The protest was part of the Red Spring campaign and launched by the Revolutionary Student Movement, an anti-capitalist organization on campus.
Some of the demands of the protest include:
While there are no definitive plans for another protest, Khan notes that the campaign will not end anytime soon.
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By: Donna Nadeem
In the fall, An’am Sherwani, Asha Smith and Garry Vinayak, three students taking the SUSTAIN 3S03 course, conducted a new study on food insecurity on campus.
The results reveal that 39 per cent of the 204 student respondents have experienced moderate food insecurity and 12 per cent have experienced severe insecurity.
Food insecurity refers to the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable and nutritious food.
Meal Exchange is a nonprofit organization that tackles issues such as student food insecurity in Canadian post-secondary institutions.
In 2016, Meal Exchange worked with university campuses including Brock University, the University of Calgary, Dalhousie University, Lakehead University and Ryerson University to survey students using the “Hungry for Knowledge” survey guide and framework.
The objectives of the study were to determine a ‘prevalence estimate’ of students experiencing food insecurity, identify key factors that contribute to student food insecurity and raise awareness about various services that address and help reduce the issue of student food insecurity.
As part of the course, Sherwani, Smith and Vinayak created an online survey for the McMaster student population to collect information about students who are at most risk of food insecurity.
The survey also asked respondents about the various barriers and factors that influence and contribute to the emergence of student food insecurity.
The goal of the project was to use the survey data collection to gain knowledge and a deeper understanding about the social issue of student food insecurity.
The team advertised the survey through social media, posters around campus and class talks. They obtained 204 partial responses and 185 complete responses.
Their findings indicate that 39 percent, or 71, of respondents have experienced ‘moderate’ food insecurity while 12 per cent, or 22 respondents, experienced ‘severe’ food insecurity.
Respondents indicated that their food insecurity was largely the result of factors including financial barriers, having limited time to cook and the lack of healthy and diverse food options on campus.
They also reported that food insecurity impacted their physical health, mental health, social life and grades.
The most common experiences amongst those dealing with food insecurity included relying on low-cost foods, not eating healthy balanced meals, and prioritizing other financial needs before securing adequate food.
The study also suggests that food insecurity also results in skipping meals and sometimes not eating the entire day.
Of those who identified as food insecure, only 24 per cent utilized programs and services at their disposal, such as the McMaster Students Union Food Collective Centre.
Nonetheless, as there is a stigma associated with these services, it is unclear the extent to which respondents underreported their use of them.
After analyzing the results of the survey, the team shared their findings were shared with MSU student clubs and services.
These groups can use the results of the study, particularly the one about students’ use of food services, as a springboard to explore new ways of outreach to McMaster students experiencing food insecurity.
The increased usage of these services and clubs may aid in the reduction of food insecurity at McMaster.
The SUSTAIN 3S03 team has sent their study to a graduate student, who will continue to pursue and examine the research. Further exploration and follow-ups are currently in progress and the study will be continued into 2019.
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CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article, there was a graphic that indicated that Josh Marando answered that he "strongly agreed" with the police presence on campus. However, in our survey, Marando answered that he "strongly disagreed" with the police presence on campus. We apologize for this misconstruction and have changed the graphic since.
The Silhouette recently surveyed the four McMaster Students’ Union 2019 presidential candidates on their opinions on where the MSU and the university are doing well and where they can improve.
The survey consisted of seven statements. Candidates were asked to indicate their level of agreement with each statement on a scale from “strongly agree” to “disagree.”
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="197" gal_title="2019 Presidentials Survey Results 1"]
The first question asked candidates about their opinions on the statement that “The MSU is committed to equality and inclusiveness.”
The candidates all agreed on the MSU’s commitment to equality and inclusiveness. Jeffrey Campana and Madison Wesley indicated they “strongly agreed” with the statements, whereas Justin Lee and Josh Marando said they “agreed.”
The second question asked candidates whether or not “Increased police presence will promote increased safety of students on and around campus.”
There were a range of opinions on the relationship between McMaster students and the police.
Lee was the only candidate to agree that police presence will promote safety. Campana was neutral, while Wesley disagreed. Marando was the only candidate to strongly disagree.
In September, a string of break-ins in Westdale prompted a greater police presence in the area. During the same month, a video depicting a woman being run over a McMaster police horse was widely shared on social media.
The candidates were mostly in agreement with the statement that the MSU should oppose the provincial government’s free speech mandate requiring Ontario universities to implement a free-speech policy.
Wesley was the only candidate not to agree with the statement, choosing a “neutral” response instead. Campana indicated he agreed, while both Lee and Marando chose “strongly agree.”
In October, the Student Representative Assembly unanimously passed a motion opposing the government mandate.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="201" gal_title="2019 Presidentials Survey Results 2"]
The next question asked candidates whether or not the MSU should lobby against the government’s changes to tuition, student fees and the Ontario Student Assistance Program.
The survey showed that all the candidates were in stark opposition to the provincial government’s changes to tuition, student fees and OSAP announced on Jan. 17.
Lee, Marando and Wesley all strongly agreed with the statement, while Campana selected the “agree” response.
Regarding McMaster’s accessibility, Wesley and Campana indicated there was room for improvement, as they strongly disagreed and disagreed with the statement that the school is “fairly accessible” for students with various disabilities.
Lee and Marando were neutral on the issue.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="202" gal_title="2019 Presidentials Survey Results 3"]
The results also show that none of the candidates are satisfied with McMaster’s current efforts to prevent and address sexual violence. When asked if McMaster does a “sufficient job” in this area, Campana and Wesley strongly disagreed, while Lee and Marando disagreed with the statement.
McMaster’s sexual violence policy is up for review this year.
Overall, it appears that while there is a high degree of agreement amongst candidates on topics such as the Ontario government’s recently announced tuition and OSAP changes, candidates differ in their views on issues like the relationship between students and the Hamilton police and McMaster’s response to sexual violence.
The voting period for this year’s MSU presidential election is taking place from Jan. 22 to 5 p.m on Jan. 24. To vote, students can fill out the ballot sent to their McMaster email or login and vote at www.msumcmaster.ca/vote.
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[spacer height="20px"]Working at a newspaper is a good time, especially when the mean comments come in.
Here at the Silhouette, we’re no stranger to harsh comments. For real, just go through our Facebook reviews. For whatever reason, you folks think that you could do our job better than we can.
Sure, maybe you could, but you don’t, so until you overthrow the staff at the Silhouette and claim the paper as your own, we’re asking you to roast us.
Your student fees have paid for the Silhouette to keep on for the past 89 years and our content and design is entirely student-made. We want to represent you and your interests as accurately as we can.
If you vehemently hate the Speculator and all it stands for, hate the fact that we’re not, in your words, a “real” news source, or that our crosswords are a heaping pile of poo, roast us.
We’ve put out tons of surveys over the years and for some reason, while everyone roasts us any other time of year, no one has anything to say when a survey comes out. This is your chance to tell us what you really want.
Want to see more spicy opinion pieces about free speech on campus? Tell us. Want to see more serious, investigative news pieces? Let us know! More memes on Instagram? Hell yeah, say so!
We’ve been through some big changes this year, from strengthening our online voice, growing our video talents and generally becoming better rounded in our content, we’ve definitely modernized our content to fit the general mood. But there’s always room for improvement.
Help us with this! Be honest and critical. Tell us that you hate our guts, if you want, but give us a productive solution so that we can move forward in the ways you want to see.
To help get this feedback, we’re setting up the roast of the Sil. This will take shape in the form of an online survey which will give you the chance to get things off your chest, once and for all. Not only will you get the opportunity to roast us, you’ll also get a chance to win one of twelve prizes in our Twelve Days of Exams campaign which will be launched over the coming weeks.
[button link="https://goo.gl/forms/Q02DEtbB79cj7aki1" type="big" " color="red" newwindow="yes"] FILL OUT OUR SURVEY[/button]
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Just across from what will be the Peter George Centre for Living and Learning, ground is about to be broken for another major infrastructural project.
The McMaster Students Union recently launched a second consultation campaign for the Student Activity Building, a four-story building project that students voted in favour of in a school-wide special referendum in March 2017. The building is expected to be fully operational by the fall of 2020.
In August 2017, the MSU ran an initial consultation campaign to determine the different uses of the new building. The ongoing second campaign began this September and hopes to collect student feedback on the interior design of the building.
“This addition to campus represents years of student consultation being put into action. Many different groups collaborated in order to make the Student Activity Building and Pulse expansion a reality". - @itsikramfarah, MSU President. Vote here: https://t.co/An7snz3Ahr. pic.twitter.com/QOdF93aCq5
— McMaster Students Union (MSU) (@MSU_McMaster) September 18, 2018
The SAB space ad-hoc committee, which is composed of six combined MSU and Student Representative Assembly members, is overseeing the consultation campaign. The group is being led by Alexandrea Johnston, the associate vice president (Finance) for the MSU.
“This year, the campaign is on the interior design, so that is ranging from anything to what kinds of colour do you want to see on the walls, what kind of furniture, and what do you even want the building to be named?” said Johnston.
The campaign includes a survey that asks students to pick from a number of options for the interior design of the building. It can be accessed online through the MSU website or in person at tables in MUSC on Sept. 25 and 28.
The SAB is different from other McMaster buildings in that while the university committed ten million dollars to the project, students are responsible for paying 70 per cent of the capital cost of the building once it opens.
As students are paying for the vast majority of the building, the MSU has full say over the uses of the building.
“The McMaster Student Union has full operational autonomy over the building,” said Scott Robinson, MSU vice president (Finance). “We can decide that we want to own the grocery store. We can decide to change event space to a pool. Whatever we want, whatever it is, we have full operational autonomy.”
The first consultation survey reached approximately 1,500 students, 400 of which took an online survey similar to the one found in this year’s second campaign.
With more than 25,000 undergrad students at McMaster, Johnston is trying to reach more than 400 to fully assess student wants.
The four-storey building will feature a nap room and a grocery store. However, the building has not been fully designed yet. Once Johnston’s SAB committee receives feedback from this second campaign, information will be passed to Robinson and the MSU. According to Robinson’s year plan, a report will be filed at the end of the first semester on the campaign.
Excavation for the student-funded Student Activity Building will begin in November, just across from the Peter George Centre for Living and Learning.
McMaster students are encouraged to make time to fill out the survey and give their feedback and thoughts on what they want in the new building, considering the large part they contribute to its funding.
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During the next two weeks, students will be invited to participate in Your City Survey 3.0, the third version of an MSU survey aimed at collecting feedback about McMaster students’ perceptions and experiences in Hamilton.
The survey was developed by the MSU in 2011 in response to students’ growing misconceptions about Hamilton, such as the idea that Hamilton cannot compete with metropolises like Toronto and Montreal. It asked students to report on their beliefs about Hamilton’s job market and cultural scene, their experiences in the city and the likelihood that they would live in Hamilton after graduating from the university.
The first Your City Survey revealed that most McMaster students had a negative perception of Hamilton and believed its job market and culture scene were largely inaccessible.
“It is evident that students don't believe that Hamilton offers the opportunities that they think it should offer,” read part of the report. “With 58 per cent being the biggest discrepancy, it is evident that student believe that not enough job opportunities are available to them.”
In light of these results, the MSU proposed the creation of new jobs by the Hamilton municipal government and improved promotion of Hamilton’s natural beauty and culture scene.
In 2015, the Your City Survey was updated to find out whether students’ perceptions and experiences of Hamilton had improved since the first version of the survey was released.
According to an MSU report, the responses in the 2015 Your City Survey 2.0 were more promising compared to those garnered from the first Your City Survey.
“Compared to the 2011 survey, there seems to have been a marked improvement in students’ attitudes regarding Hamilton as a viable option for their future,” read part of the report. “There is still a large percentage of students in the Maybe and No categories, so we encourage the city to continue working to increase graduate retention.”
Yet, while the report highlighted that students’ perceptions of Hamilton became more positive, it also noted that there are areas where community engagement can still be improved.
“Students still clearly believe that McMaster does a better job of advertising opportunities for students in Hamilton, and also that McMaster’s efforts have improved more significantly in the past four years than the city of Hamilton,” read part of the report.
In addition, as a result of a lack of time and awareness, students continue to be deterred from gaining new cultural experiences in Hamilton.
According to Stephanie Bertolo, the MSU associate vice president (Municipal Affairs), Your City 3.0 will be modified to focus more on transit, neighbourhood safety, and perceptions of Hamilton as a place to live after graduating from the university.
In addition, as the latest Your City Survey contained questions related to tourism in Hamilton, which generally did not concern the commuter student population, Your City Survey 3.0 will ask commuter students specifically about their unique situation and perspective.
The survey is being developed by the municipal affairs committee and overseen by Bertolo and Ryan Deshpande, MSU vice president (Education).
“These questions will help us collect more valuable data from students, which will be useful in informing the policies next year's Education Team will likely be rewriting on student housing and student engagement and retention,” said Bertolo.
The survey will be available until May 15 on the MSU website.
