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The Association shall require that its directors and staff receive training on issues of power and oppression, Trent University’s policy on Harassment and Discrimination and related human rights issues, to be offered at the Association’s expense. This training shall normally be offered in conjunction with Orientation for new Directors. 

The Association shall endeavor to provide opportunities for the wider university community to participate in anti-oppression training at least once each academic year. 

The Vice President of Campaigns & Equity shall meet at least once in each of the fall and winter sessions each year with the Trent University Human Rights Advisor to review the University’s and the Association’s practices and policies in regard to discrimination, harassment, and oppression and to develop strategies for their improvement. Such meeting shall be open for other Directors of the Association to attend. 

For the purposes of these TCSA  policies, the terms outlined here will be defined broadly: 

i. Discrimination: Prejudice or altered treatment of a person or group because of a real or perceived quality. Discrimination in the workplace involves making decisions as to promotion, workload, praise, recruitment and discipline on the basis of the decision-maker’s own views on the relative worth of the real or perceived quality. ii. Harassment: Improper conduct by an individual that is directed at and offensive to another individual in the workplace, and that the individual knew or ought reasonably to have known would cause offence or harm. It comprises objectionable act(s), comment(s) or display(s) that demean, belittle, or cause personal humiliation or embarrassment, and any act of intimidation or threat. Harassment consists of repeated and persistent behaviours towards an individual to torment, undermine, intimidate or provoke a reaction from that person. Each behaviour viewed individually may seem inoffensive; it is the synergy and repetitive characteristic of the behaviours that produce harmful effects. Harassment is normally a series of incidents; however, one single incident can constitute harassment when it is demonstrated that it is severe and has a significant and lasting impact on the complainant 

• a.) The legitimate and proper exercise of management’s authority or responsibility does not constitute harassment. 

iii. Sexual Harassment: Any conduct, comment, gesture, or contact of a sexual nature, whether on a one-time basis or in a continuous series of incidents, that might reasonably be expected to cause offence or humiliation to an individual, or that the individual might reasonably perceive as placing a condition of a sexual nature on employment or on an opportunity for training or promotion. Generally, sexual harassment is deliberate, unsolicited, coercive, and one-sided, and both male and female persons can be the victim or the perpetrator. 

iv. Bullying: Persistent, offensive, intimidating, or insulting behaviour, abuse of power or unfair penalties that make the recipient feel upset, threatened, humiliated or vulnerable, which undermines their self-confidence, and which may cause them to suffer stress. Examples of bullying behaviour include shouting at others to get things done, making life difficult for those who have the potential to do a better job, and punishing those who are too competent by removing their responsibilities.

Preamble Racism is a phenomenon based on the social, political, economic and historical construction of race and power that affects the lived experiences of all people including students. Historically, racism has manifested itself through more explicit forms of verbal, psychological and physical discrimination. While Racialized people today still experience explicit incidents of Racism, more common forms of racial discrimination are in the systemic and structural architecture of government, civil service, the criminal justice systems and many public and private institutions— even those of higher learning. 

Racialized communities face numerous disadvantages in the social, political and economic spheres that are the direct result of both explicit and institutional forms of racism. Some examples of racism as it is manifested today include, but are not limited to:

i. Racial profiling by police and security services. 

ii. Academic curricula that exclude the histories and contributions of Racialized peoples, including First Nations and immigrant communities. 

iii. Economic deprivation of Racialized people, through discrimination in employment or relegation to part-time, precarious work with substandard pay and questionable labour and safety standards. 

iv. Restrictions on travel, or harassment when travelling based on race, ethnicity, country of origin and/or religious belief - whether real or perceived 

v. Harassment and abuse-intentional or unintentional - on physical, verbal, emotional and psychological levels, from strangers, coworkers, superiors, colleagues, classmates or friends. 

The Trent Central Student Association (TCSA) recognizes that oppression is rooted in historical, social, cultural, political and economic forms of systemic discrimination. This systemic discrimination is structural in nature and uniquely marginalizes Racialized students and Indigenous students. 

The TCSA affirms that racism is a system of advantage based on race; the ability to act on the belief that people of different races have different qualities and abilities, and that some races are inherently superior or inferior. Racism manifests in many ways, from dislike and avoidance of people based on their race to discrimination against them on an institutional level to acts of race-based violence. Racism is related to power, who has power, and who is given power by society; it exists beyond one- on-one interactions, hence its systemic and structural nature. 

The TCSA acknowledges that racialized students disproportionately experience greater levels of poverty, lower incomes, and higher debt levels. In the student union’s efforts to advocate for an affordable and accessible education, special attention will be placed on the unique socio-economic barriers that racialized students experience. 

Policy 

The Trent Central Student Association objects to any and all discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, place of origin, immigration status, linguistic ability, and religious or spiritual belief—both real and perceived. All students have the right to study, work and socialize in an affirming, safe environment that is free from harassment, violence and discrimination.

The Trent Central Student Association will: 

i. Fund an anti-racism committee with funding from the annual operating budget. The committee will be open to all students and mandated to conduct research and education on issues of racial oppression. The committee will work to promote anti-racism awareness on campus through events, educational materials, general campaigns and outreach. The committee will reference the recommendations made by the Task Force on Campus Racism, organized the Canadian Federation of Students- Ontario, and the Trent Central Student Association Anti-Racism Review to support its work. 

ii. Advocate for access to affordable education free from explicit and systemic forms of racism. 

iii. Support the work of all students, clubs and organizations that seek to eliminate racism both on and off campus. 

iv. Promote equity-based institutional initiatives that seek to correct the historical injustices of the past and create a level playing field for Racialized students. v. Seek inclusion of multiple cultural perspectives, histories and narratives in academic curricula and course material. 

vi. Support equal opportunity programs that promote equitable employment and academic opportunities for students from racialized communities, including Indigenous and immigrant students. 

vii. Support the creation and designation of campus spaces for BIPOC and Racialized students, such as The Freedom Lounge, where students can feel empowered, celebrate their lived experiences and honour their histories. Within these spaces, we will seek to see students engage in initiatives that actively dismantle oppressive, racist and colonial ideologies and practices. 

viii. Implement and maintain policies and protocols that address the manifestation of racism on campuses and society, while acknowledging intersections on the basis of gender, class, sexual identity, religion, or ability.

ix. Achieve and implement the recommendations put forward by Shanese Anne Indoowaaboo-Steele’s Anti-Racism Review of the Trent Central Student Association (March 2021). 

x. Establish an anonymous reporting mechanism for Students, Staff and Faculty to report acts of discrimination 

The Trent Central Student Association Opposes: 

i. All explicit and systemic forms of racism in campus life and outside of the institution, including, but not limited to the criminal justice system, employment, healthcare, childcare, mental health services, financial assistance, and housing. 98 

ii. The formation of student groups that deny the historical and present-day existence of racism against people of colour, and/or the promotion of white supremacist ideology. 

iii. Institutional racism in hiring and curricula, policy and governance, and the delivery of services. 

iv. Discrimination and harassment from police or other security and government services, both on and off campus. 

v. Reductions or elimination of funding for critical area studies, including but not limited to African Studies, South Asian Studies, East Asian Studies, Latin American Studies, Caribbean Studies, Indigenous Studies and Middle Eastern Studies. 

vi. Tokenization of Trent’s Racialized, BIPOC and International Students from Trent Communications, interior and exterior organizations and media outlets without explicit consent and compensation