Not even a year later....
As many of you know, I volunteered for the Sexual Assault Centre of McGill's Student Society (SACOMSS) during the two years I was there in many capacities. In that time, SACOMSS became a truly vital part of my experience at McGill, and in Montreal. It has changed and shaped the way I view the world and enriched my learning experiences at McGill immeasurably. The people I met there became not only some of the best friends I've ever had but also sources of incredible inspiration.
As any of you who I knew this time last year already know, last year McGill evicted SACOMSS from our day office. The conclusion of that lovely saga was that the Student's Society provided us with space, McGill continued to provide us with night office space, and we set up a workgroup with McGill to figure out long term solutions. I stole this off Carly's blog because I'm not around this time to know what's going on exactly. For more information, go to the Save SACOMSS website.
----------------------------------------------------------
we're cutting the bullshit here.
the sexual assault center of mcgill's student society (SACOMSS) was recently evicted from its confidential night office and given no alternate location out of which to operate this essential service. this is the second eviction SACOMSS has faced from the mcgill admin in less than a year.
for the crisis line to operate at night, SACOMSS needs a small room (70 sq feet) with a table, 2 chairs, and 2 phone lines. it needs to be in a seperate building than the public daytime office to protect the safety and anonymity of the volunteers who staff the line.
every means that we have to negotiate with the university is being systematically cut off. it wasnt appropriate for us to go to internal or external press. it wasnt appropriate for us to put forth a senate motion. its not appropriate to apply public pressure, to hit them where it hurts, in the reputation and in the donation. but it was appropriate for them to assert that the services they provide are enough (intensely overburderened mental health services, scary and unhelpful health services, and useless security), and apropropriate for them to make 'suggestions' about how the center could be better run (since administrators are clearly in a better position to detrmine how to run a sexual assault center than students who have gone through 40 hours of intense training).
print off the form letter that follows this post, or write your own. i would encourage you to begin your letter with the phrase "i will never, ever, donate money to mcgill university because..."
send it to the bitchface principal of mcgill.
Dr. Heather Munroe-Blum
Office of the Principal and Vice-Chancellor
James Administration Building, Room 506
845 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 2T5
here is the form letter:
Dear Principal Heather Munroe-Blum:
On February 28, 2006 SSMU received a memo from Vice Principal Morty Yalovsky advising it that the Sexual Assault Centre of McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS) would no longer have access to its confidential night office space on McGill campus. This is the second time in under a year that the Centre has faced an eviction by the McGill Administration.
Every year, SACOMSS provides a crisis intervention in the form of a listening and referral service to hundreds of survivors of sexual assault both at McGill and in Montreal. Through its education and outreach programs it educates thousands of first-year students in McGill Residence, high school students and McGill community members about issues surrounding sexual assault, harassment and active listening. For their unique and pioneering service SACOMSS received the 2005 YMCA Peace Medal.
Unlike Queerline and Nightline (other student-run services at McGill), SACOMSS also provides a public daytime office for in-person support and referrals. The night office operates only the phone line. Working these late hours in an office whose location is public knowledge presents a risk to volunteers. The safety of students is something that should never be compromised. Being at an off campus location would make McGill security inaccessible to SACOMSS volunteers. Without space for a night office SACOMSS would no longer be able to operate 58% of its hours on the Crisis Line. This would seriously jeopardize the functioning of the Centre.
Given that the McGill Sexual Harassment Office does not offer active listening and support or educational programs and that McGill Mental Health is overburdened, and that all administratively offered programs operate only during business hours, the services that SACOMSS provides are essential for the McGill community.
I therefore urge you to reconsider the eviction given to SACOMSS and to provide alternate space on university premises for this organization to continue providing valuable and essential services to the McGill community.
Sincerely,
------------------ signature
town, city, province, country.
As any of you who I knew this time last year already know, last year McGill evicted SACOMSS from our day office. The conclusion of that lovely saga was that the Student's Society provided us with space, McGill continued to provide us with night office space, and we set up a workgroup with McGill to figure out long term solutions. I stole this off Carly's blog because I'm not around this time to know what's going on exactly. For more information, go to the Save SACOMSS website.
----------------------------------------------------------
we're cutting the bullshit here.
the sexual assault center of mcgill's student society (SACOMSS) was recently evicted from its confidential night office and given no alternate location out of which to operate this essential service. this is the second eviction SACOMSS has faced from the mcgill admin in less than a year.
for the crisis line to operate at night, SACOMSS needs a small room (70 sq feet) with a table, 2 chairs, and 2 phone lines. it needs to be in a seperate building than the public daytime office to protect the safety and anonymity of the volunteers who staff the line.
every means that we have to negotiate with the university is being systematically cut off. it wasnt appropriate for us to go to internal or external press. it wasnt appropriate for us to put forth a senate motion. its not appropriate to apply public pressure, to hit them where it hurts, in the reputation and in the donation. but it was appropriate for them to assert that the services they provide are enough (intensely overburderened mental health services, scary and unhelpful health services, and useless security), and apropropriate for them to make 'suggestions' about how the center could be better run (since administrators are clearly in a better position to detrmine how to run a sexual assault center than students who have gone through 40 hours of intense training).
print off the form letter that follows this post, or write your own. i would encourage you to begin your letter with the phrase "i will never, ever, donate money to mcgill university because..."
send it to the bitchface principal of mcgill.
Dr. Heather Munroe-Blum
Office of the Principal and Vice-Chancellor
James Administration Building, Room 506
845 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 2T5
here is the form letter:
Dear Principal Heather Munroe-Blum:
On February 28, 2006 SSMU received a memo from Vice Principal Morty Yalovsky advising it that the Sexual Assault Centre of McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS) would no longer have access to its confidential night office space on McGill campus. This is the second time in under a year that the Centre has faced an eviction by the McGill Administration.
Every year, SACOMSS provides a crisis intervention in the form of a listening and referral service to hundreds of survivors of sexual assault both at McGill and in Montreal. Through its education and outreach programs it educates thousands of first-year students in McGill Residence, high school students and McGill community members about issues surrounding sexual assault, harassment and active listening. For their unique and pioneering service SACOMSS received the 2005 YMCA Peace Medal.
Unlike Queerline and Nightline (other student-run services at McGill), SACOMSS also provides a public daytime office for in-person support and referrals. The night office operates only the phone line. Working these late hours in an office whose location is public knowledge presents a risk to volunteers. The safety of students is something that should never be compromised. Being at an off campus location would make McGill security inaccessible to SACOMSS volunteers. Without space for a night office SACOMSS would no longer be able to operate 58% of its hours on the Crisis Line. This would seriously jeopardize the functioning of the Centre.
Given that the McGill Sexual Harassment Office does not offer active listening and support or educational programs and that McGill Mental Health is overburdened, and that all administratively offered programs operate only during business hours, the services that SACOMSS provides are essential for the McGill community.
I therefore urge you to reconsider the eviction given to SACOMSS and to provide alternate space on university premises for this organization to continue providing valuable and essential services to the McGill community.
Sincerely,
------------------ signature
town, city, province, country.
posted by Auri @ 10:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home