Share your experiences about safety and security-related policies and practices at Concordia
Follow these guidelines to compose your email message.
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us. The information you provide will be helpful in making our report and recommendations.
Before submitting your email, please read and sign this consent form and return it by email. It provides information about what participating in this process means.
Guiding questions for your email
As part of the STRIVE Task Force, the Campus Engagement subcommittee aims to examine how institutional safety measures and individuals' experiences with security practices shape perceptions of safety, identity-based violence, systemic discrimination, and exclusion. This consultation will explore how these factors intersect and interact at Concordia.
We invite you to refer to the following questions as a guideline when composing your email to us. You are free to address any or all of the questions as you see fit. Focusing on your own experiences, direct observations, and feelings (i.e., not on what you have heard from others or hearsay).
Institutional Responses to Tensions
When tensions rise on campus, the institutional response often involves:
- Circulating messages to the campus community,
- Increasing the presence of safety and security personnel,
- Offering resources to those impacted by the situation.
This consultation will specifically assess how these three categories of response contribute to feelings of safety, particularly for underrepresented groups. Insights gathered through focus groups and anonymous written submissions will directly inform recommendations about safety and security-related policies and practices at Concordia.
Safety Definition
For the purposes of this consultation, safety on campus refers to the ability of all members of the Concordia community—particularly those from underrepresented groups—to fully participate in academic and social life without experiencing identity-based violence, systemic discrimination, or exclusion.
Security Definition
Security on campus refers to the institutional policies, personnel, and physical measures designed to protect students, faculty, and staff from harm. These policies and security measures are shaped by institutional decision-making and should prevent violence, harassment, and discrimination while mitigating the risks that, for some communities, certain security policies can contribute to increased surveillance, exclusion, and mistrust. For the purposes of this consultation, feeling secure is viewed as distinct from personal comfort. It is about ensuring that emergency responses are implemented equitably and transparently in alignment with Concordia’s commitments to anti-discrimination, equity, and inclusion.
Consultation Questions
Because this consultation is anonymous, sharing information about an event or incident here is not the same as filing an official report. Separately from providing your input here, if you would like to report an event or incident that occurred on campus, contact the Office of Rights and Responsibilities. In case of an urgent situation, contact Campus and Safety Prevention Services at 514-848-3717 or call 911.
- How safe/secure do you feel on campus on an average day?
- How do you currently perceive your level of risk of experiencing significant physical or psychological harm on campus?
- How do you currently perceive your level of risk of experiencing significant physical or psychological harm on campus?
- Do communications circulated by Concordia about safety-related incidents contribute to you feeling more or less secure?
- Does the presence of increased Concordia security personnel before, during or after safety-related incidents on campus contribute to you feeling more or less secures?
- Does the presence of the SPVM before, during or after safety-related incidents on campus contribute to you feeling more or less secure?
- Do the existing resources available on campus (e.g. OOR, Ombuds, Campus Wellness, etc.) contribute to you feeling more or less secure on campus?
- Are there other aspects of your campus experience that significantly impact how secure you feel that you’d like to mention?
- Do you have any ideas or suggestions you’d like to share about how Concordia could improve your sense of security on campus?