McMaster, Brock make course locations private following Waterloo stabbings

McMaster and Brock universities are some of the latest campuses to remove public classroom information.

The change follows an attack at the University of Waterloo over the summer, in which a former student was charged with stabbing a professor and two students in a gender studies class.

For Catherine Anderson, hearing about the attacks at Waterloo University over the summer hit too close to home.

“We’ve always known that there’s a risk, but for it to happen so close to home, at a neighbouring campus, in a program with the same name as ours. That just reminded us how real the risk is,” said Anderson.

She’s the director of McMaster’s gender and social justice program and the one who requested the university remove the locations of classrooms and offices from public websites.

“What it represents to me is that the university values our teaching enough to keep us safe so we can keep doing this teaching,” said Anderson.

McMaster made the announcement just days before the school year began. Students can access the information once they’ve registered for the course.

“We live in a time right now where we need to be aware of some of these threats that could potentially happen on our campuses, and we have to be proactive as possible,” said McMaster Provost Susan Tighe.

READ MORE: Police lay additional charge in the University of Waterloo stabbing attack

In June, an instructor and two students were stabbed in a gender studies class, in what police have described as a hate-motivated attack by a former student.

The University of Waterloo was the first to remove locations from public websites.

Brock also followed suit, making the announcement on Sept. 5.

“Having those locations less public would give people more security, that they weren’t going to be quite as vulnerable in the case of someone meaning to do harm,” said Brock University Provost Lynn Wells.

Students on McMaster’s campus say they don’t really notice the change in their day to day, no one has gotten too lost getting to class this week, and many say they support the decision.

But some professors would like to see more of an educational approach, rather than reacting to what happened.

“Educational initiatives and the organizing would be more helpful in terms of getting at why the gender binary and maintaining the gender binary can be seen as so threatening,” said Hijin Park.

The schools and instructors are also taking day to day precautions now that class is back in session, like reminding teaching assistants of emergency protocols, and ensuring campus security is equipped to deal with incidents like in Waterloo.

READ MORE: 3 in hospital, 1 in custody after University of Waterloo stabbing