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The new semester brings many new initiatives for the VUSAC Equity Commission. The first meeting of 2018, on January 8th, gave an overview of the year so far and the semester to come.
Led by Shailee Koranne, the VUSAC Equity Commissioner, the meeting kicked off with a reflection of past commission events—a collaboration with Students for Change for the Doc N’ Talk: He Named Me Malala; Mic the Change, where 80 dollars was raised for Casey House; and the UTSG clothing drive. Upcoming is the Art at the Intersections showcase; submissions are open until January 28th, 2018, and more information about the event can be found on the VUSAC Equity Commission Facebook page.
At the meeting, a main point of discussion was the lack of safety for students in the Church and Wellesley area, where a string of missing persons incidents had occurred over the past few months. The Equity Commission is pooling resources with other campus groups, such as the Sexual and Gender Diversity Office (SGDO). There are no concrete decisions made as of yet, but there is potential for a taxi fund, a collaborative event with SGDO to connect people living in the Village, and a digital list of resources to circulate online. With the held of SGDO, the commission plans to address issues of guaranteeing safety at student led events which will maintain the efforts coming from the student community.
Upcoming Equity Commission initiatives include: to-be-determined programming for Black History month, with a focus on Black history in Canada; increased equity training sessions for Vic clubs and levies; a finalized semester report; a social inequality panel in response to the Vic One plenary, featuring the Keith Davey Forum on Public Affairs; continuing efforts toward making all the bathrooms at Vic gender-neutral; discussions about how to show solidarity with the Palestine liberation; review of the Vic event booking policy in light of the Free Speech Comedy Show that was held at Bader; and many more.
The meeting had a casual but comfortable atmosphere where everyone was encouraged to share their ideas. Equity Commission meetings are open to all UofT students and they will now be held weekly to accommodate more students. The meetings all take place in the VUSAC office at 5:30PM and will be held on:
January 8, 17, 22, 31
February 5, 14, 26
March 7, 12, 21, 26
April 4
Koranne also holds office hours in the VUSAC office on Wednesdays from 3:30pm to 5:30pm.
Check out the Facebook event page for more information and weekly updates.
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