CUPE 3912 SMU supports the work of the SMU Black Inclusion Strategy Working Group and affirms the group’s report, Understanding the Challenges of the Black Community at Saint Mary’s University. We note the committed contributions of our SMUFU colleagues, Dr. Rachel Zellars and Dr. Harvi Millar, who acted as core members of the steering committee.
The report is available in full here.
After two years of tireless consultation, data collection, and dedicated engagement with Black students, constituencies, faculty, and staff, the report’s findings confirm an institutional pattern of structural anti-Black racism, ongoing discrimination of Black communities and workers on campus, and clear evidence that Saint Mary’s University perpetuates and normalizes a system of white supremacy.
To diminish these findings or equivocate about their validity and scope would be an exercise in disavowal. We believe that any effort to minimize the report’s findings would further confirm the report’s findings regarding the reality of Black experiences at SMU.
Given the findings in the report identify a consistent and continued lack of resources and supports for Black students and faculty/staff, and given the findings indicate a wider institutional indifference or unwillingness from SMU to address what are embedded structural forces and issues, we call on Saint Mary’s University to respond to these findings and begin immediately to address and implement the recommendations in the report.
The report’s first finding is clear: “Black students, faculty, and staff reported, as a norm, having been subjected to racist comments and behaviors on the SMU campus.” This is unacceptable, intolerable, and fundamentally unjust. Our colleagues, co-workers, and community members should not be harmed or traumatized while undertaking their academic, scholarly, or professional work at the university. Changing this situation is a collective responsibility for everyone at SMU, and it is a fundamental imperative for those who enjoy the benefits and dividends of institutional power and privilege at SMU.
As academic workers and university employees, we acknowledge that we are implicated in the reproduction of harmful and unjust effects of all kinds. The report is another opportunity to acknowledge the always-already political context of university environments and spaces. As such, we also understand the substantial role we can play and the work we must undertake in creating a university otherwise that is premised on really-existing inclusion, equality, trust, and unity in common across our many experiences, interests, and needs.”
Hamza Jawad, an international student from Pakistan, is pursuing an MSc in Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada. With a background in Veterinary Medicine, his research focuses on enhancing sheep parasite resilience. Hamza balances his studies with roles as a research assistant, teaching assistant, sitter guard, and security officer. These experiences have given him unique insights into the importance of the labour movement. Passionate about workers’s rights, social justice, and sustainable agriculture, Hamza has witnessed firsthand how labour protections have positively impacted his academic and professional journey in Canada.
Occupation of Dalhousie’s historic Chemistry Building by diligent and industrious teaching assistants, course markers, and part-time academics dates back to its conception as the Science Building in 1915. In the century and change following its completion, the revisions and additions (such as the 1964-1965 connection to the MacDonald building dubbed “new chemistry” and the 1985 podium or “new new chemistry”, where most wet lab instruction takes place) have not always been as interconnected as hoped. The space is plagued by flooding, power surges, potentially inhospitable air, accessibility constraints, and a plethora of hostile design choices. The following article details testimonials from CUPE 3912 members who have delivered course content in this treacherous space and have escaped out the back door (unfortunately leading to the Dunn parking lot, what a view!).
Once the sun turns to rain and hurricane season rolls around, delivering lab content can become a swimming lesson. The charismatic lab coordinator, equipped with an armada of “safety ducks” manages the herculean task of wrangling repairs as flood water pours in from all sides. It is not uncommon to have to manage roof and window leaks, flood water ingress from safety exits, and water pushing up floor tiles, all while trying to instill safe lab practices into tomorrow’s scientists and medical experts. Wet floor signs are not a transient presence, rather a permanent fixture and the persistent leaks are now considered a value-adding “water feature” (think Frank Lloyd Wright!). The organic chemistry team even once included their mop and bucket on their “meet the TAs” website owing to its frequent use. 
Aiden Farrant is a PhD Candidate in Chemistry at Dalhousie University. He is a Teaching Assistant for introductory chemistry labs at Dalhousie, and the Recording Secretary for CUPE 3912. According to the Communications Officer who wrote this bio, Aiden is very intelligent and highly competent, has a fantastic personality, is feared by University Legal Counsel, and is also extremely handsome.