UWSA council confronted with safety report
By Natasha Marar
News Editor
November 7, 2007
 A report to UWSA council by former UNIWIN Public Safety Committee members indicates that students feel safe at The Basement despite last year’s council approval of a mandatory dress code as a safety measure.
Ryan Solomon, Brydon Eady, and Whitney Manfo, members of the now dissolved committee, presented the survey results to UWSA council during their Oct. 25 meeting.
The survey, which posed four open-ended questions to 110 respondents, was released to students in both a paper format and through a mass email.
“We thought this was the best way to engage students,” said Solomon.
“We left [the survey] in central locations,” indicated Solomon. “The CAW [Student Centre], the library, the law library, and residences.” The survey was also directly handed to individuals in the CAW Student Centre.
The first question the survey posed was, “Have you ever felt unsafe in any way at the Thirsty Scholar? Why and in what way?” Two-thirds of those surveyed said they do not feel unsafe, and there was no underlying safety concern.
The second question asked respondents about their main safety concerns at The Basement. The responses indicated that a large amount of people, 35 per cent, did not see any real safety issues at The Basement. “Some felt there were problems with fights and violence, lesser issues with theft, weapons, drugs, staff, fire safety exits, and over-intoxication of patrons,” Solomon presented. “The main issues were mental safety, intoxication, and health (sanitation).”
The third question looked at the reasons whether or not the respondents chose to go to The Basement. “It really came down to the staff, the days, the times, and the events which determined why people didn’t go,” indicated Solomon. “People are not concerned with safety as a reason why they don’t go to [The Basement].”
The results of the fourth question, “What are your suggestions in making the Thirsty Scholar a safer environment?” indicated that most people did not have any suggestions.
The advice given by the remainder of the sample included the need for more safety through door staff, more cameras, and monitoring of the dance floor. They also mentioned sanitation to be an issue.
“The effort seemed a bit rushed,” said third-year law student, Andrew Langille, during the meeting.
Solomon does not deny that due to a lack of budget, and time restrictions, the survey does have some scientific shortcomings.
“I think that both the committee and members of the UWSA would have liked to have seen a more detailed and larger survey,” agreed The Basement manager, Jason Codling.
“I think they faced a tough time right from the beginning. The way it was pushed through so quickly; that they weren’t able to do the best job possible.”
Solomon believes that the low number of respondents impacted the survey’s scientific validity. “We also think that the size of the number of the returnees had to do with the University, and the email that was censored before it was distributed,” explained Solomon of the suggestion by Clayton Smith, Vice Provost, Students and Registrar, to modify the wording in the email.
According to Solomon, the email’s header, which explained the issue at hand, was changed. “He did not like the wording of the intro paragraph,” said Solomon. “He did not want those specific words included in the email…so that email didn’t get out until very late.”
The Committee decided to send out the revised email, which Solomon said was delayed by three weeks.
Some of the wording in the original email included ‘racism, discrimination, fiscal dangers, threats, and sexual harassment, which can arise from staff, patrons or police.’
“In order to get something out before the end of the school year we gave in and censored ourselves,” said Solomon.
“There were some comments that would have biased what they would have received,” said Smith who thought the original email did not contain neutral language.
“What was suggested here was a word or two changed in the email. It wasn’t a whole paragraph,” claimed Smith. “I didn’t suggest language to them, I just said that this email tended to this point of view.”
Smith maintained that the review process on his end slowed down the sending of the email by approximately 24 hours, and that it was the UNIWIN Public Safety Committee who took longer to respond to his suggestions with a revised email.
“In this particular case we are talking about a bulk email to all students, whenever you do bulk email there is a specific policy that has to be followed,” indicated Smith, of IT Services’ policy that “University-wide communication…will be sent only with the appropriate departmental head approval.”
Despite these obstacles, the UNIWIN Public Safety Committee believed that the survey has generated some important findings. “One thing it did highlight was that none of the concerns brought up by Jason Codling to justify the dress code were really addressed by the students,” summarized Solomon. “Students either had no problems with [The Basement] or they had problems that stemmed back to management oversight and staff training.”
When asked if safety as a reason to legitimize last year’s dress code is still correct given that the survey showed most people did not feel unsafe at The Basement, Codling responded, “All I know is the amount of drug use in The Basement has dropped substantially and the amount of assault has dropped substantially. Whether there is any relation or not to the dress code, I think inadvertently [the dress code] has raised awareness of issues.”
“Generally speaking, safety of the establishment usually falls under the management’s discretion. The safety of [The Basement] patrons is my responsibility,” said Codling.
“We probably don’t need a safety committee on campus,” added Codling, who believes that a committee specifically geared towards the UWSA or The Basement is not necessary.
Codling later indicated he supports a broader-focused safety committee. “I think a safety committee that would be campus-wide…would benefit not only student safety, but faculty, staff, and visitors as well.”
In regards to why the dress code was implemented, Codling said, “We looked for the least intrusive way to do things to address student safety. We had talked about instituting mandatory pat downs and metal detectors, but we felt that a large number of the bars in Windsor have a dress code for this exact reason (safety) so we felt it would be familiar to students.”
Solomon claimed at the meeting that the dress code was not simply a safety measure, and the Codling had previously indicated to him why the dress code was implemented. “[Codling] didn’t want that type of person in [The Basement]…because hip hop has bad stereotypes attached to it.”
“After all the controversy that has happened with [the dress code], and I am personally offended, what can be done? And why is he still employed with [The Basement],” questioned Arts and Social Science Representative, Michelle Palmer. “[Codling’s beliefs], if not reflected in a dress code, will be addressed in different ways.”
“I think they were given our presentation and they reacted just on that presentation,” responded Solomon of the comments made by Palmer and others during the meeting.
“I can’t comment on Ms. Palmers beliefs because that is her opinion,” said Codling, who also indicated “I have no recollection of any comments made to Ryan Solomon.”
“For whatever reason it wasn’t acted upon,” said Solomon at the decision by last year’s council to not fire Codling.
UWSA president, William Ma, indicated, “There were steps taken for things that happened [that] year, we can’t go into details of what was actually done.”
“There is currently no structure in place to prevent what happened last year from occurring again,” Solomon stressed.
The motions presented at the meeting, which advocate against systematic racism in the University, mandates for “improving race relations and racism on campus, women’s safety on campus, campus security, [and] operations and oversight of this committee.” It aims to do so by creating a permanent committee within the UWSA to investigate and address these problems.
“There is no binding jurisdiction on the student union,” Solomon addressed. “There should be some sort of mechanism for taking in these issues.”
Smith posed, “The question is, ‘is this really a one-off issue regarding [The Basement], or is there more of this floating around the university that we don’t know about?”
Despite the fact that some council members from last year continue to remain on council, Solomon believes that there are some new personalities and mentalities that may decide to take action for last year’s issues. “[Council] were very enthusiastic about pursuing [the motion] to some capacity,” said Solomon. “I have confidence that something will be done by this council to address the issues steaming from last year.”
“If we only learned about [the dress code situation] now, [council] are obviously trying to keep it quiet,” said Solomon. “It’s now in council’s hand to pursue that investigation.”
“Hopefully part of that investigation will be in the form of another committee.”
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