, Student Voice

Safe Spaces on Campus

Robert Corbin
Guest Contributor

ere at UNBC, a large amount of work has been put into

the campus so that nearly everyone can feel safe, or can
have a sense of belonging. Areas on campus from the Pride
Centre to gender neutral washrooms have been installed with
the express purpose of providing space where people that
have traditionally felt persecuted, can exist in peace, even if
only for a short time.

With this in mind however, UNBC has really done nothing

to provide a space for students that are deficient in daily
snuggles with a soft and fuzzy pet. Dog, cat, rodent, and

even bird lovers that feel lonely after grueling lectures on
calculus, group theory or even wildlife ecology, have nowhere
to turn so that they can feel at home again. Though at

UNBC we as students are surrounded by other students at
nearly all times, there are still many times that we break
down, or crack a little on the inside because there are no
unconditional animal hugs available on a daily basis.

UNBC should have a space dedicated to puppies and kitties,
with a small side area for guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters,
rabbits, and even rats or mice. In speaking with colleagues,

this has been addressed as a positive change that would alter

not only the expectations and perceptions of students looking

to go to a post secondary institution, but also a change that
would open the doors to additional training and coursework
that could be offered through UNBC. Canada has only a
small number of veterinary schools across the expanse of
this country, and perhaps another one that could be a refuge
for baby moose or elk that are orphaned should be opened.

Complaints have noted that there wouldn’t be regular staff
to feed, take care of, and even to clean up after the animals.
While these are legitimate concerns, dozens of students
jumped into the conversation and offered to do it, and even
remain at UNBC paying tuition in the summer so they could
continue. There were also rotating offers saying that it could
be a drop in service to walk dogs or take care of the other
animals, more like a first come first served idea. Thus far

in Canada, the only university that was previously known
for its animal populations was UVic, which was also ranked
as the number one location in the university community

of Canada to go for the binge drinking parties. Sadly, they
recently implemented a cull to remove the nearly 2000

wild booplesnoots that lived on campus nearly six years
ago. Because of this, now the University of Victoria is a
binge drinking campus that does not offer wild hangover
bunnies to make students feel better and get to class.

Though statistics are lacking in this area, it can be assumed
that after long weekend hours spent partying, classes likely
contained fewer than expected numbers of students after
the cull. One other safe space on campus that in the past
has been provided by making large numbers of friends and
establishing protected study areas where backpacks and
bags can be safely watched is a safe sleeping space. In the
past there were very comfortable well worn in padded chairs
that were delightful to lie down on, and would quickly pull
unwary travelers into a soft dreamland. However, these
extremely comfortable chairs were removed to make way
for the new, shiny and uncomfortable plastic couches and
chairs. These new chairs offer very little back or neck
support to anyone that happens to doze off for even a short
while. Theories as to this move abound, but most mention
the large number of students that were being woken up by
security while on the old chairs. The running theory goes
that security got so fed up with waking up students that

a plan was hatched to replace the comfortable chairs that
were easy to sleep on with expensive uncomfortable ones.
It is quite rare these days to see students napping, although
it does still occasionally happen. A safe sleep space on
campus should be provided where one could check in their
belongings, and sleep for a time between classes on those
marathon school days to help stay sharp for the next class.

Syria and the Movement of Change: Opinion

Monique Gendron
Team Member

ince the start of this semester, several of my classes have

been talking about the refugee crisis. The movement of
refugees, the causes of their displacement, how the world has
been handling this calamity.

To tell the truth, no one on the world stage has been doing
a good job of managing this disaster. The European Union
has contributed some significant monetary help for “relief
and recovery assistance” to the millions still in Syria, but
that doesn’t change the fact that there are many people
knocking at their front doors, in desperate need of help.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have fled their
country, uprooted by civil war and terrorism from
all warring sides. To stay in Syria was dangerous,
but that is not to say that the journey to leave their
torn land isn’t any less dangerous. Crossing the

Mediterranean sea is perilous at best, especially in
overcrowded boats. Over 3,000 refugees have died making
the crossing from Libya to Italy, and the Aegean crossing
has claimed over 700 lives by itself (bbc.com). Driven by
desperation, the refugees will risk death for the hope

of a better life for themselves and their families.

However, in response to these attempts to enter Europe, many

EU governments have opted to instead discourage refugees
from even trying to enter. Between 2007 and 2014, the
European Union spent 2 billion euros on upgrading border
patrols and high-tech security (youtube.com, Kurzgesagt).
They have been actively shutting down smuggling networks,
but not reopening any alternative means of attaining
mainland Europe. Many countries are immediately
deporting any people who entered illegally without even
offering them a chance to apply for asylum either within

their country or in another. The U.K. government even
shut down life saving programs such as Mare Nostrum,
which was designed for preventing the very deaths on the
ocean that we are seeing today (hrw.org, Kurzgesagt).

Not all the European Union are closed to refugees,
however. Germany has thrown its doors open to the
population of refugees, unconditionally accepting all
asylum applicants, and is urging the rest of the Union to
do the same. In doing so, they are not being weak, nor
are they providing opportunities for terrorist attacks or
propagating Islam throughout the modern world. They
are providing a place of safety, a refuge. They are proving
the extremists wrong by being kind and welcoming.

I think that the rest of the world could learn a thing
or two from Germany, the ‘aggressor nation?