Re: Incident Oct. 3

I heard about this last week from a post on the Facebook group "Must knows for courses at SFU" (which is worth following, FYI). I believe this is how the media got a hold of the story as well. Apparently the group admin contacted SFU and Tim Rahilly and Erin Biddlecombe replied. See the post below with further information. I am in agreement that faculty and staff should know about these things before reading about them in the media, whether social or traditional. The overall SFU response leaves much to be desired.

"Hello all,

On Thursday, a student made a post about an incident which occurred last week, and SFU's response and support following the incident. https://www.facebook.com/ashley.lee.3939503/posts/10155992231519065
____________________________________

I contacted SFU and received a response from Tim Rahilly, Vice-Provost & AVP Students and International and Erin Biddlecombe, Director of Projects for the VP Students and International Office. Please share this post so that others may read it!

"Dear Jeffrey,

I am writing to ask you to help me communicate to some of the students concerned by the physical assault and property damage by an SFU student that occurred on Wednesday, October 3. At the time were aware that two students were injured but subsequently learned of at least one other injury. Campus Security and the RCMP were alerted to the incident and the student was removed from Campus and he is currently barred from returning.

It is distressing to those who were directly impacted as well as to others in the Campus Community to think that this could happen. It is natural to wonder if the University could have responded better. I think there are a lot of legitimate questions and, at this point, the answers may seem insufficient. For example, the University has been asked about practical things like locks on classroom doors. I believe that we need to examine these kinds of issues carefully before acting. If this incident had unfolded differently, a locked classroom door could be an impediment to Officers responding.

I believe everyone at the University has good intentions when it comes to addressing the needs of the students impacted but we are hearing very clearly that the support from the University has been insufficient. For that I apologize. Through the social media postings, I have heard about some of the unmet needs of our students. I, and my colleagues, will do our utmost to see that the University connects with each student to determine how they are doing and what the University can do to support them. While the process has started, it is not complete. Hopefully we will have contacted each student by early next week.

While incidents like this one are very rare at SFU, we do need to be able to respond to them. We will learn from this incident to inform how we can respond more fully to the needs of students, staff, and faculty in the future.
For students who are currently feeling distressed, the mySSF app is available 24/7 to access to confidential, mental health support in a number of different languages via a number of platforms, including chat and telephone. To access this service, please visit: https://www.sfu.ca/…/heal…/support/mental-health/my-ssp.html

During the week, Health & Counselling Services is available in the Maggie Benston Centre. Upon check-in, please indicate that you witnessed last Wednesday night’s event and are seeking mental health support. HCS will attempt to connect you with mental health support that same-day.

For other questions related to connect those involved with support, please contact my office (Vice-Provost Students & International) at vpsi@sfu.ca

Sincerely,

Tim"

Diana Bedoya

Senior Lecturer

Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology

Faculty of Science

Simon Fraser University

From: Jillian Scott McIntosh <jillmc@sfu.ca>
Sent: October 14, 2018 9:47 AM
To: Nancy Forde; David Macalister
Cc: James Fleming; academic-discussion (academic-discussion@sfu.ca); englprofs-l@sfu.ca
Subject: Re: Incident Oct. 3

I hadn't heard anything (since I'm not on social media), so I googled and found this link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/violent-incident-on-burnaby-campus-has-sfu-student-worried-for-safety-1.4860405

*****************

J.S. McIntosh, Ph.D.,
Department of Philosophy
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6
Canada

tel: 778-782-7088 or 778-782-3343
web: www.sfu.ca/~jillmc

From: Nancy Forde <nforde@sfu.ca>
Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2018 7:39 AM
To: David Macalister
Cc: James Fleming; academic-discussion (academic-discussion@sfu.ca); englprofs-l@sfu.ca
Subject: Re: Incident Oct. 3

I learned of this from a family member on social media. I was stunned not to have heard of it from SFU. I would like to know what type of first aid and consoling services the students were/are being provided. I would also know if there are ways that we as faculty can be trained to cope with such situations.

Please let me / us know if your inquiries get anywhere and, if not, whom we can also pressure to get answers.

Best wishes,

Nancy

Nancy Forde

Professor of Physics

On Oct 13, 2018, at 6:19 PM, David Macalister <david_macalister@sfu.ca> wrote:

I completely agree. I contacted Mark Lalonde, the university’s risk manager, asking why no statement has gone out. So far, I have not received a response. Very disappointing.

David MacAlister

Director, School of Criminology

SFU

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 13, 2018, at 5:42 PM, James Fleming <james_fleming@sfu.ca> wrote:

Dear colleagues,

We are getting media reports of a serious, violent incident more than a week ago during an SFU English class. As far as I am aware, neither faculty, nor our students, have been informed about this event by university administrators, at any level. In my opinion this is shocking, and incompetent. Our students are asking questions on social media as to why they have been kept in the dark.

For what it's worth. JDF

James Dougal Fleming

Professor, Department of English

Simon Fraser University

Burnaby, BC, Canada