Residence Services consistently acts against student interests

Recently, there has been a surge in Facebook statuses by student leaders about the University of Alberta and the decision to not pursue the implementation of student representation in Lister Hall. I was one of these people to write an essay-length status and I’m very proud that I did. However, I realize that Facebook posts perhaps do not have as far of a reach or as wide of an impact as an article.

For this reason, I really want to tell you all, the student body, about the great injustices I experienced in my past three years in Lister Centre. I was supposed to be the President of the LHSA for the 2015/2016 academic year but, as many of you know, that did not happen. Since I’m about to move out of Lister, I’m not afraid to share my opinion anymore. Well, honestly I still am, but it’s more important to share this information than to be scared and hold it inside. This article will include some paragraphs from my status as well as some new information, so I encourage you to read on if you are at all interested in the persecution I (and many others) experienced during my time as a student leader.

I lived in Lister Centre for three years. For the first two, I loved it more than anything in the world. I held incredible leadership positions and I met people that I’m very grateful to have in my life. This last year, though, made me wake up and realize that the university and residence I held so dear was really not as they seemed.

When I came to Lister, I met my floor coordinator (FC). He was such a great leader and he really brought our floor together. He took us to the LHSA-planned events and we bonded in such an amazing way. I also had great RAs that supported the community aspect of the floor. I loved them very much too.

Then, Skulk happened. I saw people’s morale collapse before my eyes. Student leaders, part of both residence services and the LHSA, were so disappointed in the decisions of the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and the Office of the Dean of Students, as well as the aggressive actions taken towards a huge group of students that were really only the fault of a few. I knew what happened there was unjust, so I took over as the FC of my floor after my beloved FC was fired and evicted (for honestly something that really didn’t deserve either of those consequences). Being FC was great, but whenever I went to a Joint Council LHSA meeting I could tell something was wrong. The university was taking a HUGE toll on the lives of the students.

During this period and the interrogation periods before, I know people who had their mental health deteriorate to horrible levels because of the unethical and intrusive tactics of Residence Services, the Office of Student Judicial Affairs, and UAPS. And honestly I can’t explain why the university would go to such lengths. I can’t justify these kinds of actions in a place that should be educating students on mistakes, not punishing them or evicting them or attacking them.

Over the summer of 2014, I was asked if I wanted to apply for the position of VP Henday. I applied, and to my immense happiness, I got it. That year, however, was the most emotionally taxing year I ever had. I have never ever had as many emotional breakdowns as I had that year. The executive of the LHSA was under such immense scrutiny by the university that I can not even begin to explain how watched I felt. In one meeting with the Dean of Students Office, a fellow VP was asked to stay behind after the meeting and was shown a binder full of tweets and Facebook status updates by LHSA leaders. The binder was for archival purposes and tweets that the Dean’s office wanted to look at further were highlighted.

And that’s really the problem, isn’t it? Because of these actions, I’m genuinely afraid to say things about the university I attend and the place I live in for fear of repercussions and even possibly eviction. Because every time I tell myself that it isn’t possible for me to be evicted (or worse, expelled) for saying the things I think, another part of me disagrees.

When I got to be President of the organization I loved so much, I was ecstatic. I had an amazing summer in which I planned events and worked closely with Residence Services and the university to try and make an amazing year for the students in Lister in 2016-2017. And then suddenly, my dreams were ripped away from me due to the actions of a handful of people who lived in Lister two, three, or four years prior to the year I was trying to plan. I wasn’t involved in any of those sanctioned events, but the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and the Dean of Students Office punished myself and my team of executive and FCs for the actions of other people anyway.

This year, Lister has changed so much. Residence Services has started so many initiatives this year, more than I ever saw in my prior two years, and I find it extremely suspect that they’re doing all this now that there is no advocacy in Lister. For example, there was a push for an All You Care to Eat meal plan for which Residence Services says student input was collected. However, after investigating this claim, the “student input” was an RA (an employee of the organization putting forward the initiative) going to Carleton University in Ottawa and asking a handful of students what they thought of a similar meal plan. There was no formal sample size or investigation, just a couple interviews done by a university employee. To get our own information, the SU made a Google Form asking residents what they thought and within two hours we had hundreds of responses, the vast majority of them against the meal plan. On top of this initiative, there are also the plans to build Lister Five and make Lister into an entirely first year residence. I try to grasp the ideas behind these plans, but honestly it’s hard to understand when earlier this year Lister had to advertise housing on Kijiji because there were so many available rooms.

On top of this, as the SU Advocate in Lister Centre, I have felt unbelievably attacked this year by certain people within Residence Services and the university at large. I will take this moment to say that many, many people within Residence Services are lovely people and really cared after the LHSA was shut down. I had many RCs, RAs, SRAs, even the RAC, approach me to say that if I ever needed to talk they were there to help. Many of them continue to be great, supportive people. Heck, even my boyfriend was an RA when we started dating. What I have issue with are certain actions that employees took against me this year. I was threatened before a CORA meeting that if I spoke on behalf of Lister residents that I could be charged under the Code of Student Behaviour. I was also threatened during tabling with Vivian Kwan that if I said anything or answered any questions about the LHSA or the new association that I could be charged under the Code of Student Behaviour. I genuinely lived in fear for basically the entire duration of the 2016/2017 year because I thought if I took one step that Residence Services didn’t like, I would be evicted or kicked out of the university.

All in all, I love the program I’m in. I love the Drama department and all the administrators within it. I also LOVE the University of Alberta Student’s Union because they work so, so hard to advocate for student interests.

What I do not love, however, is how frequently I am disappointed on behalf of my university. I do not love how often I feel censored while I live in Lister. I do not love how I, and countless others, lost incredible student leader positions that would have taught us so much. And isn’t learning what university is supposed to be about?

Basically, I am moving out of Lister in just over three weeks. It will be bittersweet, but I can honestly say I am glad that I am leaving. However, I am genuinely scared for the future years of students who will face the decisions and initiatives of the university and its employees without any association of their peers. I know for sure that the SU will be there all they can, but the SU has so many other students to advocate for.

Lister needs a student group for themselves, and the Dean of Students turned that down this week. All I know is that when I leave this university and (hopefully, fingers crossed) have a big theatre job someday, there is a very small chance I will ever donate to the University of Alberta. I will gladly give money to the Drama department, to the Student’s Union, or to any advocacy group in Lister Centre, but I will never give money to the people who made me feel so terrible during my time here.

Long Live the LHSA. But honestly it’s more than just that. The LHSA had problems, and that’s why we wanted a new and better association. But the Dean of Students and Residence Services stopped that from happening. So instead of Long Live the LHSA, I say Long Live Student Advocacy.