Opinion: U of G needs to work on its zero-tolerance policy

Despite zero-tolerance policies, racism is still prevalent at universities across Canada. In journalist Eternity Martis’s memoir, she details the many micro and macro-aggressions she experienced as a Black woman in university, noting that guilty students often went without punishment. CREDIT: PEXELS

University’s “mandatory” anti-racism training only required for a fraction of its members as on-campus hate crimes continue to take place

EMMA SCOTT

Many Canadian post-secondary institutions like to boast that they have a “zero-tolerance” policy when it comes to racism. However, these policies are only facades if they are not enforced properly.

I learned about universities' false zero-tolerance policies while reading Eternity Martis’s memoir, They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up (2020).

Eternity Martis is an award-winning journalist from Toronto, Ont. In her memoir, Martis details her experience as a Black woman at Western University in London, Ont. She recalls the many micro- and macro-aggressions she and her Black friends experienced in student residence, lecture halls, and across campus. Despite Western’s “zero-tolerance policy,” guilty students were not punished for their actions.

These were not isolated incidents.

Martis details other hate crimes at universities across Canada to emphasize that racism is still thriving in post-secondary institutions. She uses her book to call on Canadian universities to implement and actually enforce a zero-tolerance policy.

As I read Martis’s memoir, a ball formed and churned in my gut. I realized that the knot in my stomach was more than just my dismay — As a student of the University of Guelph I was anxiously waiting for it to be mentioned in the long list of universities that had allowed racist micro- and macro-aggressions to occur.

It is no secret that racism persists at the U of G, but much to my surprise, Martis never mentioned racism here. I knew that this could only be a coincidence, so I started researching racially-motivated hate crimes at U of G. What I found was sickening.

In 2014 a group of white students allegedly dressed as members of the Klu Klux Klan and stormed a residence building during Orientation Week, wrote Laila El Mugammar in a 2020 Chatelaine article. According to Macleans in 2017 seven out of the 16 hate crimes reported in Guelph happened on the university’s main campus. El Mugammar further states that in early 2020, a sign was posted on the Black Students’ Association Room asking them to “keep the volume low.” No similar signs had been posted on other clubs’ rooms.

Two months after Martis’s memoir was published, the Guelph Mercury reported that a U of G student named James Cekani posted a racist video on social media referring to Black people as “monkeys” and “slaves.” I, like thousands of other students, called upon the University to reprimand Cekani.

In response, the University tweeted that they “will not tolerate any expressions of hatred,” referencing Section 3 of their Human Rights Policy and Procedures.

Yet U of G failed to clarify what steps they were taking to reprimand Cekani when asked by CTV News, Guelph Today, and the Guelph Mercury.

Despite the frequent calls to action by Martis and others in the BIPOC community, many Canadian universities do not truly enforce a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to racism. For example, in 2019 a Black student and a white student from the University of Windsor got in an altercation, but only the Black student was banned from campus, reports CBC.

U of G's claims of zero-tolerance were proven to be faulty once again when they launched their “Principles of Belonging: Anti-Oppression and Anti-Racism” training in September 2020.

Although the University advertises that this training is mandatory for all incoming students, a fine-print disclaimer on their website reads:

“This module is mandatory for Students … For the purpose of this module, “Student” means new incoming undergraduate students, any undergraduate varsity student athletes or student executives of teams in the Gryphon Clubs program, any undergraduate student employed through Student Affairs, and any undergraduate student participating in Student Experience programs and/or volunteer activities, such as Peer Helpers.”

How can a university that states that they “will not tolerate any expressions of hatred” only care about prejudice in a fraction of its members?

Through this fine print message, the University naively assumes that its graduate students, faculty and staff are anti-racist or will take the training module on their own time. As a result, it is implied that the University does not want or care to extend the effort to ensure that graduate students, faculty, and staff members are free of racist and prejudicial beliefs.

When I asked the U of G’s Diversity and Human Rights Department to clarify why they do not require graduate students, faculty, and staff to complete the training, Indira Naidoo-Harris, AVP Diversity & Human Rights said:

“The Anti-Racism Action Plan is a living document and will be changed and updated over time based on recommendations from the President’s Advisory Committee on Anti-Racism and consultations with the broader community. The Anti-Oppression and Anti-Racism training module is a first step and the Office of Diversity and Human Rights and the University of Guelph continue to look at future opportunities to build and grow a strong culture of belonging for everyone in our community.”

I am well aware that anti-oppression and anti-racism training will not rid the U of G — or any other institution — of racism, but it could be a step in the right direction.

We need Canadian post-secondary institutions to listen to what Black, Indigenous, and people of colour like Eternity Martis have to say. If the U of G states that they do not tolerate racism, hatred, bullying and so on, but struggle to enforce a zero-tolerance policy, then at the very least they should not be lenient about who is educated on “Principles of Belonging: Anti-Oppression and Anti-Racism.”