The first emergency Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) council meeting of the summer ended abruptly May 29 after councillors said they felt triggered by another student’s story of attempted suicide.
Sixth-year human rights and political science student Arun Smith advanced a motion asking CUSA to support a Canadian Federation of Students (CFS)-Ontario anti-homophobia and anti-transphobia campaign. To explain why he was asking CUSA to support the motion, Smith described being the victim of homophobic cyber bullying and almost taking his life May 18.
Michael De Luca, vice president (finance) said Smith’s speech was “triggering.”
“A trigger is any kind of experience. . . that evokes a traumatic memory and the person is brought back to that moment,” said Sarah McCue, a support worker with the Coalition for a Carleton Sexual Assault Support Centre.
“As someone who has had to deal with a similar situation, I don’t want to re-enact yours tonight,” De Luca said. “The motion is on the the campaign.”
Smith replied that the description of his personal situation was necessary to understand why CUSA should support the campaign. He indicated that support workers were present if anyone needed them.
Some councillors repeated De Luca’s request, while others said Smith should have been allowed to tell his story as he saw fit.
Smith then withdrew the motion, telling council he thought the reason why some councillors didn’t want to hear his story was because the motion involved supporting a CFS campaign.
The meeting was then adjourned.
Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) vice-president (internal) Anna Gilroy attended the meeting as the GSA’s representative.
“I think it’s really important, especially on this motion, that people be able to talk about their experiences. It’s come to light recently that we’re having a lot of instances of oppression on our campus, and I think it’s sad and it’s tough to deal with,” she said.
Councillor Justin Campbell said he almost left the meeting because he found the details of Smith’s story too difficult to hear.
“Those personal experiences would be best served to be stated once the campaign was in formulation and once council had made a decision,” he said.
The motion will come up again at the next council meeting, Smith said, adding he thinks he will attend to speak again or will send a letter with his thoughts. He said he will continue working on the campaign with the university and campus safety.
Council dealt with three other emergency motions, all brought forth or seconded by Smith.
Two other motions were passed at the meeting. One made the vice-president (student issues) responsible for “combatting systemic oppression” on campus. The other motion asked for CUSA’s equity committee to hold three meetings to set up a safe space audit of the university. The second part of the motion, which would have named GLBTQ Centre administrative co-ordinator Sarah Cooper the temporary chair of the committee, was struck before the motion was passed.
CUSA president Alexander Golovko said passing those two motions is a good step forward.
“We passed two very important motions today, we are moving towards fighting homophobia and transphobia on campus,” he said. “The campus is getting united by this.”
Golovko could not be reached for further comment. Vice-president (student issues)Hayley Dobson could not be reached for comment. De Luca declined to comment.
