Here’s Shannon again: she wanted to post a substantial response to your feedback on teh situation here at Waterloo–it was so substantial that Blogger won’t post it as a comment. And so a new, late-breaking post.
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If you’d like to read further about this matter, Luisa d’Amato’s report here (http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/489999–two-uw-centres-closed-following-anti-female-messages) is the best that’s appeared in the media so far.
Here’s the official word from UW: http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca/2011/feb/24th.html. That article links an earlier one here:http://www.bulletin.uwaterloo.ca/2011/feb/17th.html (but you have to scroll down quite a ways to get to that article – evidence of how concerned UW administrators were about the matter on Feb. 17). Note too the use of quotation marks in both titles. The charitable reading is that the quotation marks really do indicate direct quotation, but note that “incidents” and “posters” are also direct quotes and aren’t enclosed in quotation marks. One wonders whether the author worried about the aptness of the terms “disturbing” and “offensive”.
For a variety of reasons, I’m sorry that the Women’s Centre and GLOW were closed, but I do think it was necessary to protect the safety of the volunteers there. Personally, I would have preferred to have campus police station a uniformed officer in that hallway to protect the volunteers, as I indicated in one of the several emails that I sent UW Police to no reply. In any case, both centres reopened after reading week. I hope this was the right decision.
If you think UW could be doing more about this matter, here are some senior administrators at University of Waterloo whom you might email:
Feridun Hamdullahpur, President, fhamdullahpur@uwaterloo.ca
Janet Passmore, Associate Provost, Human Resources, passmore@uwaterloo.ca
Bud Walker, Associate Provost, Students, bwalker@uwaterloo.ca
Daniel Anderson, Director of Police Services, dananderson@uwaterloo.ca
If you prefer to send an old-fashioned paper letter, you can contact all of these folks at
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
If you write to any of the above, consider cc’ing the letter to these two people at the Faculty Association of University of Waterloo (FAUW):
George Freeman, FAUW President, george.freeman@uwaterloo.ca
Diana Parry, Chair, Status of Women and Equity Committee (SWEC), dcparry@uwaterloo.ca
(Again, if you prefer a paper letter, the above address prefixed by “FAUW, MC Building” will get it to them.)
The women at UW will be most grateful for any support of this type that our colleagues at other institutions can provide.
Best wishes,
Shannon Dea
Hook & Eye 