The President’s Human Rights Task Force met again on September 26, and October 6, 20 and 24. The Task Force has concluded the first stage of its process, developing an understanding of human rights at Brock and refining the plan and process of the Task Force itself.

The October meetings commenced the second stage of the Task Force process, entailing information gathering from sources and stakeholders within and outside the University. At the September 26 meeting, the Task Force heard concerns from administrative units regarding operational issues with the current policies, processes, services and supports regarding human rights. The Task Force heard from the Office of Human Rights and Equity Services, Human Resources, Campus Security and the Students-at-Risk Team, with a fruitful discussion about next steps and potential interim recommendations. Specifically, the topics of investigation processes, appeal processes, confidentiality, and reporting structures were discussed. This discussion was incredibly useful to the Task Force process, that the timeline was revised to include an October 20 meeting to continue the conversation and determine further interim recommendations.

The October 6 meeting of the Task Force brought leading human rights practitioners from other universities together for a broad discussion of ‘best practices’ in the post-secondary sector. The Task Force enjoyed presentations by Milé Komlen, Director of Human Rights and Equity Services at McMaster University, and Jane Ngobia, Assistant Vice-President, Office of Diversity and Human Rights at the University of Guelph. Milé and Jane shared their perspectives on operational and policy aspects of administering human rights within a university, and provided several ideas for the Task Force to consider.

The Task Force is now beginning a thematic look at the issues of sexual violence, racial climate and ableism. The October 24 meeting focused on sexual violence, with a presentation by Margot Francis, M.Ed, PhD and Allison Cadwallader, Sexual Violence Response and Education Coordinator. The presentations were followed up by a discussion during which the Task Force determined potential recommendations for December’s interim report concerning sexual violence supports at Brock University.

The Task Force will be considering these and other recommendations at future meetings, which are open to the entire University community. The next Task Force meeting is on November 7, 2016 at 1 PM in TH 253. Members of the Brock community are welcome to attend.