Legal & Literary Society

Equality Officer For Students By Students

DAVE SHELLNUT
Legal & Literary Society President

By now you should realize that I’m an imper fect human being. I’ve regaled you with stories of my brazen email communications, battles with government bureaucracies and even ques tionable pub night behaviour (ok I haven’t come clean about that, but ask my friends…) It should therefore come as no surprise to you that I was recently verbally skewered by someone close to me over my insensitivity towards a certain issue. My actions ran counter to the productive end they were seeking with a certain project. Basi cally, I was not being an ally (guys look it up, I had to at one point).

Where I’m going with that bit of honest self -assessment is that I am a work in progress. I don’t know everything, sometimes I claim to, but I don’t. Most of us don’t (well maybe Sonia Lawrence, she’s epic). It’s because of these imper fections, those situations where we might not see every angle and therefore fail as an ally, that the Equality Committee, L&L, Student Caucus and hopefully you, will be debating the establish ment of an Equality Officer.

The idea of having a student representative focused squarely on equity issues at Osgoode was first raised at an Equality Committee open forum last term. The idea was put forward by a student and seemed to garner some support, at least in principle by those who were there, and later with people I began bouncing the idea off of. Before getting to why there is a need for a new position on L&L it should be acknowledged that this is a new idea, not set in stone, and totally malleable. In fact, I would encourage you all to contact L&L or the Equality Committee (equalityatoz@gmail.com) to put forth your thoughts.

So keeping in mind that this is a rough draft of a rough draft, it’s important to set out the need. Now quite aside from the points on our own imperfections I raised above, there seems to be three key areas that this Equality Officer could work on. First, the Equality Officer would be a point person for dealing with equality issues with the administration. Yes, they would sit on the equality committee, but this person would not just sit on the committee and have other tasks to do on council, they would be all equal ity, all the time. This person would be beholden only to students and could act as an unflinch ing advocate in dealings with the administration and York. An example of usefulness would be if a Professor made insensitive comments, the stu dent would have an elected official with a student executive body behind them to make formal complaints and recommendations. Power in numbers.

Secondly, I see it as important that we pro mote equity issues amongst ourselves. The Equality Committee does some of that with the upcoming Diversity Day on February 15th (in conjunction with student clubs). Great, but we need more. Issues around sensitivity and promoting a safe place for us all deserve daily attention. Information sessions, peer media tion, supporting student organized initiatives, these are all things the Equality Officer could do to promote better understanding and respect amongst ourselves.

Finally, I think having someone on the exec utive of L&L and sitting in on Student Caucus meetings would bring a greater equity focus on the things that we do. Is this event acces sible to all? Are we doing enough to reach out and include the entire student body, drinkers and non-drinkers for example? Maybe an issue regarding, for example gender, we might not pick up on in discussion of an L&L initiative.

Anyways, speaking from the inside I think we could use someone who’s sole focus is on making this a more equitable place to learn, which would encompass dealings with the administration, students and our student government. I also think, and this is hotly debated, that the position be an elected one. An elected official would have a vote equal to all other members. If someone were appointed (from no doubt qualified can didates) I feel a tiered system may develop on the executive. Questions of legitimacy may arise and the person, because not elected, could not be said to truly represent students in dealing with the administration or York. The problem with electing an Equity Officer is surely that not enough people would run, that someone without a background in the area wins the election, and that the same type of candidate dominates the position because of the inherent inequalities and social hurdles that are involved in running for student government. I accept all those criticisms and really am not sure on this point. Thoughts? I guess I would only say that our goal this year is to encourage candidates from every section of Osgoode society. So if we do that job this issue may not be as contentious. I say MAY.

A way around some of the problems may be that this person, once elected, reports quarterly to equity seeking groups on campus. Potentially they could agree on direction in terms of where the Equality Officer ought to focus their ener gies. Perhaps it would also help that a committee or representatives be formed from these groups to work with the Equity Officer on a regular basis.

How this is going to work is up to you, if it is to work at all. But in 1000 words or less there is a very complicated constitutional amendment we are looking at. This position is not an affront to our school or the great work done by so many at every level in this place. It is more of an honest admission that we are not perfect and that some times we need help in figuring out how we make ourselves better human beings. The Equality Officer will be the watchful eye and helpful hand of student government in promoting all of our needs and protecting all of our rights.