On Jan. 20, an unsanctioned group of protestors gathered outside the Student Union Building. This group was documented engaging in anti-trans rhetoric, and residential school denialism. A student and UFV staff member reported to The Cascade that they were shoved and witnessed anti-LGBTQIA rhetoric. The Cascade sat down with Jackie Hogan, VP administration, to understand the university’s response to the demonstrators.
What was the rationale and the logistics behind allowing the protesters to stay on campus when the protest was unsanctioned?
“We did have unsanctioned activity. It didn’t go through our usual process. We didn’t have a request to be on campus. We respond to that in terms of managing the safety and security of the campus, and we follow our processes in that regard, thinking about safety first.
“There was some knowledge that they may be attending UFV… and we did put in some planning around what [we] would do if they did attend, so … security was available and [they] did monitor activities to ensure that safety was considered.”
Were there fears of repercussions if the university asked them to leave?
“I wouldn’t frame it that way. I think that inside buildings [are] definitely different [from] outside buildings.
“We welcome people to campus … we follow our safety processes, our standard operating procedures in terms of what we do with situations like this … were they impeding our operations? Were they disturbing our operations? And so those were some of the considerations. Security was on hand to monitor that situation and were aware that if things were impeding or if there were altercations, that they were available to support.”
What constitutes disturbing operations?
“I think because it was unsanctioned and we weren’t aware of what was planned … [I]t’s not black and white. It’s sort of a gray area where we would need to assess the situation in real time … It does depend on the situation.”
Is our university public or private property?
“It is [a] held land title by the university, so we can restrict access. We can make decisions about the management of our property.”
Were you aware that they had entered the building at one o’clock that day?
“I was not at the time.”
Was the administration involved in the decision-making process around campus security response on the day of the event?
“There are some parts of the security planning that I won’t go into full detail, because these are plans that we need for any event that happens on campus, but we do set up a structure that allows us to communicate and that we can advise and give guidance to security on the ground.”
To your knowledge, did security receive reports of violence, hate speech, or anti-2SLGBTQIA+ sentiment?
“To my knowledge, security has not received any formal reports of incidents for follow-up, other than you had mentioned the one about filming in D building, and so that’s one that we have received. I would encourage that staff member [who was shoved] to file a report so that we can document that … and the same with the student.
“I know it’s a step, but then at least we have record … So they have told security, but do we have enough detail to be able to follow up … so do we have the student’s name? Do we have the time … all of those details so we need to actually have sort of a summary of what happened, so that we can actually follow up.”
How does the university measure harm, and is it just physical harm that’s measured?
“Our focus was on managing the situation on-site and ensuring physical safety, making sure that supports were available. There was an attempt to create a safe space where faculty, staff, students could go to be away from anything that was distressing. At the time, security was directing folks that were looking for that to that space. They were supports there, including Indigenous supports for the content that was being discussed.”
Is the university involved in discussions around how to respond to events like this in the future?
“Always after an event like this, we do a debrief and after-action. What went well? What can we improve on? That would be our usual course of action.”
Capilano University recently implemented guidelines for protests. Are there plans to put a policy in place around protestors that come to campus?
“We have policies to guide our actions right now … it may come out that that’s something we should look into. We haven’t gone through that debrief and after-action activity yet to determine whether or not there’s something that we would recommend.”
Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Darien Johnsen is a UFV alumni who obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree with double extended minors in Global Development Studies and Sociology in 2020. She started writing for The Cascade in 2018, taking on the role of features editor shortly after. She’s passionate about justice, sustainable development, and education.