Helen ZhangThe University of Alberta has proposed new replacement policies for the university’s Discrimination, Harassment, and Duty to Accommodate Policy. This change will see the ‘discrimination and harassment’ policy separated from the ‘duty to accommodate’ policy into two separate policies. The idea is that this would hopefully reduce red tape for students needing to access these policies. However, there have been oversights in creating these policies that leave me feeling skeptical about their effectiveness.
According to a presentation by the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), and the Dean of Students (DoS) office, separating the policies will allow for the policies to be more direct, detailed, and accessible. The new accommodation policy would put more responsibility on the university administration to offer accommodations, rather than waiting for students to seek them out. As stated in the presentation, this could look like a concerned instructor reaching out to a student. Or the DoS office offering an array of accommodation options to any student seeking accommodations.
This might sound great on paper, but it still remains to be seen how this will play out in practice. How do they plan on getting instructors to reach out to struggling students, besides some light encouragement? For a professor who may have hundreds of students, this is simply not realistic. Support for the students is great and much needed. But unless support for the staff is also provided, new policies are nothing but pretty words.
While, under the new policies, the DoS may be planning to offer a greater variety of accommodation options to students, the current experiences with U of A support systems are a mixed bag. Some students have great experiences, while others have unfortunate ones. A new policy might reduce the barriers students face. But it seems to me there’s issues within the existing system, whatever those may be, that will continue to create barriers for students.
The more glaring issue with this is the lack of student consultation. Issues students face might be addressed through consultation and revision of the policies, right? When representatives from the EDI office and DoS presented these policies to the U of A Students’ Union’s (UASU) October 22 council meeting, the presenters said that they were “coming [to council] in a place of consultation.” However they also said the “drafted policies … are unlikely to be edited further, unless a major problem is identified.” What qualifies as a “major problem” worth addressing was unclear.
One of the reasons for this could be the delayed timeline. Initially, the EDI office and DoS were to present the drafted policies to council in August 2024. Evidently, this was postponed until late October 2024. However, for policies this important to the student experience, it feels obtuse not to take the time for adequate consultation. Even if that pushes the timeline back further. To instead say they are consulting the UASU but likely won’t make any changes leaves me with the impression that this was only something to check off of their to-do list.
It is a relief to see the EDI office and DoS reworking these old policies to better reflect modern student life. Such updates are important to the student experience. However, the accommodation policy and the discrimination and harassment policy are too important to rush. The fact that they haven’t taken the proper time for consultation has me very concerned. Without proper consultation, these new policies might just leave students with the same problems.
