Comments on: Graduate Student Society attempts to bury own report on campus sexual violence http://ubcinsiders.ca/2016/02/gss-attempts-to-bury-own-report-on-campus-sexual-violence/ Separating the wheat from the chaff. Wed, 13 Nov 2019 15:50:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: Philip E http://ubcinsiders.ca/2016/02/gss-attempts-to-bury-own-report-on-campus-sexual-violence/comment-page-1/#comment-17815 Philip E Fri, 19 Feb 2016 02:38:06 +0000 http://ubcinsiders.ca/?p=11270#comment-17815 Thanks for sharing this report. I haven't read it in full but it seems to have some good ideas in it about how to better protect graduate students. I don't see why there was a need for secrecy. Thanks for sharing this report. I haven’t read it in full but it seems to have some good ideas in it about how to better protect graduate students. I don’t see why there was a need for secrecy.

]]> By: Neal Yonson http://ubcinsiders.ca/2016/02/gss-attempts-to-bury-own-report-on-campus-sexual-violence/comment-page-1/#comment-17813 Neal Yonson Thu, 18 Feb 2016 23:39:37 +0000 http://ubcinsiders.ca/?p=11270#comment-17813 As some readers may be aware, I have a connection to the GSS to disclose. From September 2014 to February 2016, I was employed full-time by the society as a Policy Researcher. That employment ended earlier this week. Due to that connection, I actually resisted pursuing this story when the report first landed in my inbox. I felt I was still a little too close to the situation to cover it with anything resembling objectivity. Full credit goes to Maayan for picking up the story and filling all the details. My participation in the reporting of this story was very limited (being cc'ed on some emails, correcting some grammar and style). With that as background/disclaimer, I will share a little bit more information from my point of view which did not appear in the story. Despite being a full-time employee of the society whose role was purportedly to help develop society policy, I had absolutely no idea that this report existed until it landed anonymously in my inbox. I want to be clear that I do not view this as negligence on Gabrielle's part but rather on the part of society's leadership. When staff, committees, and council all don't know what's going on with each other, it points to a fundamental lack of communication and coordination within the society. As some of the content of the story above would also suggest, it is my belief that this lack of coordination is purposeful. For many months, I was actively discouraged from taking on projects, from attending meetings, and from talking to any GSS members about any topic. Basically, I was given instructions to not do my job. I felt that I was purposefully isolated and that information was being deliberately withheld from me by the executive and society management. The few projects I did work on during this time were also never shared with committees, council, or other members of the GSS as far as I can tell. As some readers may be aware, I have a connection to the GSS to disclose. From September 2014 to February 2016, I was employed full-time by the society as a Policy Researcher. That employment ended earlier this week. Due to that connection, I actually resisted pursuing this story when the report first landed in my inbox. I felt I was still a little too close to the situation to cover it with anything resembling objectivity. Full credit goes to Maayan for picking up the story and filling all the details. My participation in the reporting of this story was very limited (being cc’ed on some emails, correcting some grammar and style).

With that as background/disclaimer, I will share a little bit more information from my point of view which did not appear in the story. Despite being a full-time employee of the society whose role was purportedly to help develop society policy, I had absolutely no idea that this report existed until it landed anonymously in my inbox. I want to be clear that I do not view this as negligence on Gabrielle’s part but rather on the part of society’s leadership. When staff, committees, and council all don’t know what’s going on with each other, it points to a fundamental lack of communication and coordination within the society.

As some of the content of the story above would also suggest, it is my belief that this lack of coordination is purposeful. For many months, I was actively discouraged from taking on projects, from attending meetings, and from talking to any GSS members about any topic. Basically, I was given instructions to not do my job. I felt that I was purposefully isolated and that information was being deliberately withheld from me by the executive and society management. The few projects I did work on during this time were also never shared with committees, council, or other members of the GSS as far as I can tell.

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