RJ WALLIA
<Staff Writer>
On March 8th, the JCR was host venue to an amazing event. It was part fundraiser and part memorial to Wendy Babcock, a student at Osgoode who fought for social justice issues within her community and a fierce friend for many at this school. It was a magnificent event where everyone was able to enjoy amazing performances by their fellow students, some of who went out of their comfort zones in order to do something great for an amazing cause.
One of the things that stuck with me, apart from the performances, was something said by one of the organizers. Jenn Aubrey was relating to all of us about how she has felt alone at Osgoode and this was the first time she felt included in the school atmosphere. There was a couple of things that struck me about that statement. First, I was concerned that someone was feeling so isolated at Osgoode that it took an event as amazing as this to bring this to light.
The second thing was, I knew Jenn wasn’t alone in thinking this.
I have spoken to a few students, one even that evening, who feel that they are not a part of the school spirit, or community, or however you wish to characterize it. The fact of the matter is that there are people in this school who are feeling excluded. I mentioned this to some people and I noticed the commentary and questions that came up was pretty consistent. People often asked, “I wonder why they are isolated?” or “I wonder what they can do to feel more included?”. This struck me as rather odd as this wasn’t the questioning I was thinking of. Why are we asking people how they should include themselves more?
The real question is, what are we doing that makes people feel excluded? Or at least, not welcome? There are some individuals who do not want to be included in a group setting and that is perfectly valid. However, there are a great deal of people who are feeling on the outside and yet wish to be part of the general whole. Moreover, this problem seems to be increasing, as we now talk more about mental health issues and related concerns more than ever before, one has to wonder what has changed? The workload is the same, the job scenario still sucks, and generally the people are fairly similar. What could it be?
For me, I feel that with the new building and the new utilities came many benefits. We have a central space, we have a building to work and relax in, and we have a place to congregate. This has increased an overall sense of community at this school. It’s visible when you see people hanging out in the JCR, or frequenting the library, or utilizing a host of other areas now. We now can actually point to things that exemplify Osgoode life that we couldn’t before. Before, all we had were some classrooms. We had to create an Osgoode lifestyle that was, by nature, fluid and transient. While this change is good, I argue that it also has had an unintended consequence.
By having something exist which we could point to to represent the Osgoode community, we also gave rise to a symbol of something to be excluded from. It’s all well and good to see people of similar interests engaging with one another, particularly over a pint of beer or over some food in the bistro. But if you start to notice that you are on the outside of a few different groups or activities, you now have something to look at and wonder about your own place at Osgoode. In essence, my argument is that now that we have a tangible form of Osgoode community, we are unfortunately excluding some people from it. This is not a conscious effort by any means, and typically the people at Osgoode are engaging and friendly. However, there does appear to be this idea now that involving yourself in certain activities is something that makes you part of the general group. We encourage these activities wholeheartedly by providing them with resources and facilitating their easy existence. But perhaps we may have left groups and others on the side who don’t necessarily value those activities at the same level as others.
As to how to fix this problem, to be honest, I think it will pass somewhat with time. I think we are going through the growing pains of a new building and with it, a new identity. As things start to become more established, the idea of an Osgoode community and identity will grow and diversify with each student who is brought to the school. But for the upcoming years, I believe you have something to consider as well. When trying to find ways of making the Osgoode experience a bit more broad and all encompassing, try to remember that the events and activities that occur need to be equally as broad. The school is growing and a new influx of individuals come through those doors every year. We should not make things more difficult for someone to integrate. Law school is hard enough as it is. We should remember that with the many voices we have, sometimes, we should listen to those who are the quietest and not unintentionally drown them out as the wave of the majority washes over them.