In Other Schools: Transgendered housing and being garbage-free
November 21, 2007
York University to offer transgendered housing
TORONTO (CUP) - The Centre for Student Community and Leadership Development and the SexGen York Committee at York University will soon offer a gender-neutral residence, one of the first in Canada.
The facility, which hopes to be open for students enrolled in the 2008-2009 academic year, will house students in a six-bedroom suite, equipped with its own washroom. “The biggest single rate of risk of assault for female to male trans people [occurs in] bathrooms or change rooms,” said Lynette Dubois, a member of The Transgendered, Bisexual, Lesbian and Gay Association at York (TBLGAY). The suite will be provided for students whose “physical bodies do not match their gender identity,” explained Michael Gilbert, a professor at York University and chair of the SexGen York Committee.
The project comes after several other initiatives were implemented, including gender-neutral washrooms and the removal of gender identification from residence application forms.
Gwendolyn Dea Dunsmuir, a fourth-year transgendered psychology student recognizes the need for a safe place for students similar to her: “There are trans people…who go to York [and] I think a lot of them probably aren’t out because there’s no safe place to be out,” she said.
Garbage-free cafeteria at Mcgill in 3-5 years
MONTREAL (CUP) - At McGill University, students are taking initiative to implement a student-run cafeteria that hopes to become garbage-free in the next few years. The plan will include reusable dishes that can be washed at a special station by hand.
The idea came after plans to install a dishwasher in the cafeteria was found to be too expensive and would use too much energy. Contracts were signed last year that required students to participate in these types of sustainable initiatives. Students’ Union President Jake Itzkowitz stated, “It’s the kind of thing where we can apply pressure to McGill and say, ‘Look, we’ve eliminated Styrofoam and garbage in our cafeteria, so how about you eliminate it in all yours.”
Another volunteer student-run group at McGill has already jumped on the idea and have been running the Plate Club, providing reusable dishes and cutlery. The project has met with success: “We run out of plates almost twice per lunch. There’s quite a bit of demand,” said Sunny Zhai, a Plate Club volunteer.
The project serves around 75 students a day and also lends the plates to other events around campus.
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