A snippet into The Strand’s interview with President McEwen on recent Vic and student affairs.
Why do you think Victoria College finds it so difficult in maintaining a supportive environment, and what steps has it taken create a supportive environment for students?
Mental health is a challenge not specific to UofT. The Canadian health care system has been struggling with a high demand. Toronto, of course, as the most populous city in Canada, and being quite urban, sees mental health challenges. Post lockdowns, we really did see quite a significant uptick. But I would say that there were signs even before COVID 19. I was the head of academics at the Mississauga Campus, and our accessibility numbers of students even registering was quadrupling before the pandemic. Those are signals that there’s a great need. Several years ago, we were thinking about things like putting embedded mental health counselors on the ground so that students will have support. Even though there’s a lot of work happening, there’s just a lot of demand. Vic had embedded counselors even before I got here. We have three people who are here to support Victoria students, which is quite incredible. We have people who are reflective of different religious or ethnic backgrounds. My job has been working with the dean of students to add things beyond the minimum which is struggling at the moment. I noticed that Emmanuel College is graduating all these people who have certifications in psychotherapy. They work at the hospitals, such as Sunnybrook, Western, CAMH and so forth. They also work in mosques, churches, temples. I realized that we were sending them outside of the campus to do their practice, so why not here? We created a category called “Wellness counselors,” that are supervised by a certified person. We’ve worked with U of T to make sure everything is in place. If the student has more significant needs, they go into the U of T system. This system allows someone who can follow the student, and that’s only happening at Victoria College. We piloted this last year. It was small but has gone really well. So well that we now have a feature of what Vic offers. They give ongoing, more high touch support, and to help hand them over to larger supports if needed. I think it’s going to become a distinguishing feature that is different from what is offered in other spaces.
As president, how have you and how will you disentangle these historically marginalizing values deeply rooted in our institution and alleviate underrepresented voices?
With Belong, my goal is make sure that all voices belong here. It’s a nuanced position, and a little complicated to think about. One of the things I think about all the time is who is underrepresented at Victoria University. When I was in the Mississauga campus, you could not tell me a South Asian person was underrepresented, they were a large demographic. So I’m eager to see the demographic survey that students have done by U of T. I would like to see the data for Victoria. I believe in knowing who is here, because there are various narratives about who is underrepresented. For example, young women attending university, in some areas, in this university, are underrepresented. I’m a STEM scholar, and I know that there are not a lot of women in STEM. But it’s not like that at Victoria College from my light review. We have a lot of people identifying as women at this college, and this is fantastic. So would I consider a young woman an underrepresented group at Victoria College? That’s something I need to answer before. This would be for any group. It’s important for me to get that data to ensure that any Victoria College or Emmanuel College student feels like this is their campus.
I have to make sure that despite one set of voices being quite strong, that if there’s disagreement they also feel like this is a place that they belong. Belonging is not restricted. I can’t make the space welcoming for some and disenfranchise the rest. The tent needs to be big enough to hold the different voices. I have to make it okay for people to disagree, and that’s become harder. Universities used to be a place for more debate where people could be okay with disagreements. I find it polarizing now. My job is to make sure that all voices feel like they belong. My goal is to create a big enough tent, and an environment where we can have disagreements and still feel like we are part of a family.
Individuals have the right to choose to believe what they want for their own conscience. I’m not trying to make everybody homogeneous because that’s the opposite of diversity, erasing what makes people unique. I want to be somebody that models how we handle difficult conversations. I was saying to someone the other day, Happy Diwali. I say that because I grew up celebrating Diwali with my neighbors who are Hindu. I’m not Hindu, I grew up in a Christian household but that doesn’t mean that I can’t be kind to my Hindu neighbor. Equally, I say Happy Eid to my Muslim friends because they also belong there. When I moved to Canada, I found this to be a more complicated scenario. Instead of recognizing everybody’s difference, they take away their uniqueness. It erased some people and I find that quite troubling. As I listen, I learn a lot and change my perspectives.
Climate activists have claimed that the Board of Regents has taken a relaxed approach towards divestment. What is your reply to them? And what tangible progress has the board made?
There are multiple ways to look at what we’ve been doing. I sit on Universities Canada. The presidents have a direct lobby to the federal government. We have used our voices there much more effectively than I think students had a chance to know. On the Universities Canada website, you will see that climate action has been the number one topic for the last four years and Victoria has signed on to it. Getting all universities into a net zero position quickly does not seem like a lot but it took us a while. Canadian universities have taken a leading role globally on this. I’m pretty proud of the work we’re doing at that level. We set the path for government agencies and private sectors to follow. If we can show how we are tackling and then measure ourselves, then it rolls up into making a huge difference.
We did sell the Weyburn property which was not as easy as ‘we’re going to sell it.’ This was a donor who wanted to support the university and didn’t pass away not seeing the effects of fossil fuel. We went to the donor family and had conversations about what would be appropriate. We were able to do it and sell the property last year. Additionally, I have earmarked climate work I’ve signed on to Universities Canada. Things like geothermal, water sustainability, switching to LED lights are small, but important in the long run. If I do that across the entire campus, it has a big impact. We signed the Blue Waters community under my tenure last year. That meant getting rid of single use plastic bottles. You’ll notice that there isn’t bottled water at Vic. The other thing is that we’ve tested out the Marg Ad field for geothermal, and the reports look good. In terms of our investments, we had a very small amount in the pool funds. It was only 3.2%. We changed our statement on investment policy in the last year to say that we will be drawing down any direct investments in fossil fuels. We’re now dealing with the management, the fund manager. That will be a big step. We’re getting to the point where it’s so small that we probably make no impact. But, we’ve made the commitment and we’ll go all the way. I’m also looking into signing one more thing that will be a big deal.
Regarding debates on Israel and Palestine, how has Victoria College received student voices at Vic?
We must provide conditions where people feel that they can be heard. I have been very public about this in any of the forums that I’m on. It’s important that we continue to make sure that people get to have their say. I’ve instituted a new fund as part of my Presidential Discretionary on Intercultural Initiatives. This year, we have invited a Palestinian Christian to give a talk. He is a phenomenal person and is here for a year. Anyone is invited, it’s about his life in Palestine, what he’s experienced, his perspectives and so forth. I’ve also started a Jewish affinity group for our Jewish students who need a place to talk amongst themselves, and that’s supported by a faculty member. I’ve also started a Muslim affinity group, equally for the same reasons. Sometimes speaking out loud is anxiety producing. These groups offer them an inside community voice that they don’t want to expose. Those two groups have come in from our EDIA work to support them. Emmanuel College has done a lot of work on this, providing open spaces for these discussions and debates. October 7 of 2023 hit them very hard as a community, but they’ve done tremendous work in keeping those lines open and having dialogue across the communities.
Given the influence of external hate groups in these debates, what approaches has Victoria College taken to prevent the spread of misinformation, bigotry and polarization within sensitive communities at Victoria College.
It is difficult to manage external agencies. I hired in the last year a new campus safety lead. He is a fantastic addition to our team. He comes out of community policing, which means he’s used to dialogue and not arresting. He also has access to a lot of the networks so he can support against hate crimes. Being universities, we are in a vulnerable position It’s a double edged sword, one we do not want to be a little bubble of elitism but that means risking opening ourselves to unsavory environments. My job isto ensure the physical safety of my students on the campus. This year, we hired a new security firm which is the same firm that does U of T, so it allows for better coordination across the campuses. We still have our Victoria people. Some of our security guards joined the new company or other parts of the university. They have 12 to 14 years so know and love the campus, and students. These are our people. There’s a line we do not cut ourselves off from the community, but we have to make sure our students are safe. Emotional Safety is difficult and more troubling. We should be intellectually challenged, and there’s not always intellectual safety. We’re at a university to expand ourselves, even though it can be difficult. I can try and make sure that we have supports for struggling. We have people they can talk to and communities to feel comfortable. There will always be some level of challenge that comes from being in a university. It’s challenging in this time we’re in right now, but I think we are doing a good job of making sure that people can feel safe.
Could you discuss how UofT’s new protests policies might overlap with Victoria College, how they might differentiate, and what you might want to guide towards protests on campus.
In terms of land, a lot of the lands are U of T lands. When the Justice Marcus Quinn came out with his decision on the U of T protest, his decision covers in Victoria land. So there are policy implications. I engaged in my own protest action when I was in university, and I know the importance of it. I think people are limited in thinking of other ways to achieve social justice that get you further down the road. I really want to encourage students to think about those things. So it’s not only that I can’t put up a tent here, but are there other things that we should be doing? The presidential initiatives that will support the Palestinian speaker came about because a student offered me a challenge in a town hall. My job is not to say that was silly but to think, what are they are asking for. So that’s the kind of thing that I think students could do more of. What things we could be doing together? I think protest is limited, because it sets up an us versus them. It’s hard to talk. I don’t think you achieve as much as is possible. There needs to be more ways for us to have discussions. Even if we disagree, usually we can each take away something that can progress things. Progress about taking the tone down and having those. That is more important for me than you worrying about UofT’s actions. My policies are always going to be a little bit different. A lot of students who protested did not see how alienated they made a lot of other students feel. Because they prioritize their voice. They fail to hear other voices, and my job is to hear all the voices.
Could you talk a bit about the Canadian government’s restrictions on international students and how that might affect Victoria University.
The government is bringing large numbers of international students while not caring for their well being. With zero support, not even making sure they have places to live or to eat. We’ve been lobbying the federal government to change Canada’s hostile view to international students. Every time there’s a fight between our government and another country, this affects the students’ enrollment from those places. We will try to make sure that they do not create a lasting impact. We are worried that we may not be as attractive as we were about a year and a half ago. So it’s top of the agenda. We are working with our deputy ministers and the provincial government as well as trying to talk to our international community. I will be going to Asia to talk to a lot of the Victoria alumni, and they will ask me these same questions. I will try to answer on behalf of the universities, because it will have an impact. Universities could not bring in extraordinary numbers without their support.
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There’s a host of support from the registrar side really shoring up these students. The Dean of Students has one Vice Dean on international, who helps with supports like housing. Another important point is Vic’s reorientation in January. We also changed residence over the winter break. Residences used to stay closed for the winter break, and that made it tough for the international students, especially those that came late. We’re also looking into opening other times of year as well.
By the time of the article’s publishing, the entire interview will be available on The Strand’s website
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
