Did they teach them self defense?

Would be wonderful to be in on the conversation and hand them the facilitators butt on a platter.

Wouldn't be too hard to deconstruct the leftist mindset - except of course that would require a leftist mind... On second thought maybe it would be best if they just shut down the university.

I just took a facilitators course for work, and this idea from Queens seems to violate every major topic touched on in my facilitation course.

Secondly, during breaks the students should do just that....take a break. You don't need to try to warp them every second of the day.

"It is just one of many recent efforts to promote diversity - such as gender-neutral washrooms..."

What genius.

RobP; could you elaborate, please? (Just curious).
That Divinity candidate may be testing his mortality sooner than he wishes...;)

RobP; could you elaborate, please? (Just curious).
That Divinity candidate may be testing his mortality sooner than he wishes...;)

Clearly Queen's has too much money. Any further complaints about universities being underfunded should be referred to this story and then laughed at.

"The editorial board of the student newspaper, the Queen's Journal, acknowledged the good intentions of this latest effort, but was skeptical of a program that 'seems to be an inadequate, lack lustre attempt to deal with social inequalities.'"

Maybe the editorial board of the Queen's Journal would be happier if social inequalities were dealt with "by hatchet, axe and saw." *eyeroll*

The definition of Irony: The Globe & Mail shut down comments on this story just as it was starting to get interesting (ie: the 'facilitator' must of been uncomfortable with the direction and opposition).

What I find odd is that there is that despite the speech codes and respectful conduct codes, young people are more foul-mouthed and obnoxious than ever. Two thumbs up for the rebellious nature of youth. Except the weak minded suck-up rats, this generation will have its fill of repressive directives long before they leave the education system.

Remember, freedom of speech is a fundamental right, not subject to the state or any authority. Therefore, Queen's is in direct violation of our Charter Rights.

I thought we were already past 1984.
We need somebody that goes on national television and says once and for all that facism, nazism, socialism and communism are only different aspects of the same bad idea and all of them led us to tyranny. It is a shame that this fact has been known since Hayek wrote the Road to serfdom in the 40's and is not being taught in schools as it should.

Back in my day people who jump into other's conversations were called busybodies and often told to bugger off.

Is Canada already down, or are we still circling the drain? It really looks like there is no hope for us.

Queens is part of another industry that could stand a major down-sizing.

Ever hear the term "credential creep"? That's where the training/credentialing requirements for a job keep slowly increasing while the job stays the same.

That is the result of these education industry weenies lobbying government, not the massive increase in productivity which occurs with each new credential. Productivity -drops-, because the people are busy getting their cred updated instead of doing the actual job.

Queens obviously has too much money and too many idle hands. Maybe a 50% budget cut would change their tune, eh?

Back in my day the university still had a Lady Godiva ride and mock crucifixions of slow moving Eng. Students. I am betting that those are out nowadays.

On second though, the crucifixions might soon make a reappearance. Of course, the subjects will be of the non-politically correct, non-minority, non-identifiable victim group variety. Engineers, accountants and other white male knuckledragger types.

'It is just one of many recent efforts to promote diversity - such as gender-neutral washrooms, prayer space, and halal and kosher food service - at a school that is still smarting from a report on systemic racism two years ago that criticized its "culture of whiteness."'

"They're called facilitators for a reason"

Because "left-wing sniveling thought-nazis" doesn't leave enough room on the button for a smiley face.

Maybe the 'thought nazis' will just go around improving the 'racial hygiene' of Queens Univ. by eliminating those espousing the 'culture of whiteness'. I mean one has to eliminate 'HOMOgeneity' in favour of heterogeneity in the gene pool at Queens U! Sounds very Darwinian, survival of the fittest and all. After all, one can HELP that natural selection process along.

And if one needs to use a 'gender-neutral' washroom, this sounds like a potentially painful process. I mean the 'gender neutralization program' sounds like something that would require de-Nazification.
When you leave the 'gender-neutral' washroom, how does this contribute to the heterogenity of the gene pool? Wouldn't gender neutrality lead to HOMOgeneity in the gene pool or potentially no gene pool?

Wouldn't Androgyny or Hermaphroditism further contribute to the 'culture of whiteness' by self reproduction? This might however lead to the banning of sex altogether as it will no longer be required. Mankind will now revert to insect or arthropod HOMOgenesis.

I thought they outlawed gender sterilization practices some time ago.

But I understand that its still okay to 'seek and destroy defective unborn children' via abortion; so we are still practicing 'racial hygiene' but by the back door. Because after all we wouldn't want anything less than perfect kids coming into the world would we?

But doesn't eliminating unborn defectives and/or females sound suspiciously like 'racial hygiene'.
Perhaps, we should ask Dr. Morgentaler.

Hey, its back to the future at Queens U.!

Cheers

Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief

Frankenstein Battalion
2nd Squadron: Ulanen-(Lancers) Regiment Großherzog Friedrich von
Baden(Rheinisches) Nr.7(Saarbrucken)
Knecht Rupprecht Division
Hans Corps
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group "True North"

""They're not disciplinarians. They're called facilitators for a reason," he said, adding that such a program is of particular value now that so much communication by young people happens over the Internet."

It would be fun to see Internet conversations facilitating the facilitators. They could get trained not only in dialogue, but in all rhetorical forms.

btw...is social identity same as socially (politically) identical?

I wonder how many university students could have had their tuition paid instead of blowing the money on this kind of stupidity? Ontario in general has lost its collective mind.

Here is wa\hat I posted on the comment board.

To all the posts above. Thank you, could not have stated it any better. We the people are telling you to place our money into better programs for the students instead of putting it forth into thought police.

When a UV is going to waste the money supplied to them VIA taxpayer, I think it could be used in a lot of better ways.

Well, I can tell you I'm not going to support sending my children to Queens if that is how tuition money gets spent. Programs like this never shrink, and think of all the pension etc ramifications. If quiet. this person goes on holiday, who covers?

Abysmal.

Universities are supposed to be the haven of free thought. We used to be strong and free, now we are heading towards a timorous and silenced populus.

I Queen's University doesn't like it when someone refers to a Gay person as a homo then they should probably change the name of the university.

For their sake I hope they have a good dental plan.

Article:
"We are trained to interrupt behaviour in a non-blameful and non-judgmental manner, so it's not like we're pulling someone aside and reprimanding them about their behaviour. It is honestly trying to get to the root of what they're trying to say - seeing if that can be said in a different manner."

If my "behaviour" was interrupted I'd blame these nitwits for judging me worthy of being interrupted and probably do something that would get me tossed in jail.

Article:
It is just one of many recent efforts to promote diversity.....at a school that is still smarting from a report on systemic racism two years ago that criticized its "culture of whiteness."

Now that IS systemic racism, to criticize an institution in a majority white nation for it's "culture of whiteness."
I guess the University and it's majority white students just weren't self loathing enough for whoever produced the report.

Would it be "artistic license or freedom of expression" to hang a facilitator upside down in the hallway like a pinata and charge 5.00 a swing?

Cut the public purse strings to these cesspools.

I think the appropriate response to them introducing themselves into your discussion would be

"Piss off, Commie."

What does a uni (the supposed bastion of free thought and expression) do when accused of systemic racism? Turn to fascism, complete with paid jackboots.

What if you slapped a "Ask me why I'm NOT a gay, retarded nonwhite" sign on the 47 year old student-rat's back.

God I wish they had this shit in school when I went.

Once, higher education had elevated social status of a person not by itself, but by abilities of graduates to perform useful activities like designing factories, practicing medicine, teaching or even better understanding relation within certain social groups (seriously - economics and sociology have strict methodologies). Now, I wonder if the most of those with Harvard MBAs and CEO's social prominence would be able to run a corner store?

I'm constantly amazed that under 10% of the population can wield such a big stick. Queen's alumni can also wield a big stick, and should. This is absolutely scary.

Phantom

I've noticed "credential creep" but haven't heard the term until recently. BTW I agree with what you said, and would like to add that part of the root cause is Universities are in the business of being in business. Credential creep is simply the Universities way of expanding its business opportunities. There are too many examples of credential creep to mention, but one that is in the process of creeping and now is on the precipice of change is in the restaurant industry. It is starting to become a requirement to have some type of post secondary diploma to become a line cook and a server. I was going to a college that offered these courses; ironically, I was working as a server at the time to sustain my lifestyle.

I haven't thought too much on a solution to this issue, but a reassesment of credential requirements for all industries would be a good idea. The nursing example comes to mind.

Someone in one of these threads a few days back had a lengthy quote from Malcolm Muggeridge about the auto-extinction of western man. One part of the quote referred to "educating themselves into imbecility".

And today this wonderful example pops up!

So.. the liberal left has finally had the nards to come out and begin supporting actual facism, as opposed to just flirting with it.

Queen's has now actually hired their own blockleiters..

For those of you who may not be conversant with the term.. to quote wikipedia.. "A Blockleiter (block leader) was the lowest official of the NSDAP (National Socialist party of Germany.. "Nazi's"), responsible for the political supervision of a neighbourhood or city block and formed the link between the NSDAP and the general population. Also colloquially known as a Blockwart (block attendant or warden), he was charged with planning, spreading propaganda and developing an acceptance to the policies of the NSDAP among the households (typically 40 to 60) in his area.

It was also the duty of the Blockleiter to spy on the population and report any anti-Nazi activities to the local office. This was helped by keeping files on each household. Due to such activities, Blockwarts were particularly disliked by the general population. Other duties included allocating beds in homes for visiting NSDAP demonstrators, the collection of subscriptions and charitable donations especially for Winterhilfe and organising the clearing of rubble after air-raids. It is thought that there were nearly half a million Blockleiter.

I would hope that even Liberals can see this for the frightening beginning of what may be coming..

Like everyone else I'm appalled, but unfortunately I'm resigned to laughing about it. I can only take solace in knowing that I'm giving my kids a balance version of today's issues if they are not getting it at school. I make a point of discussing current events with my children regularly, and I hope that others are doing the same. Challenge your kids, find out what they know, find out what they think, and most importantly, know why they think what they think.(JMO)

A woman is pushing her baby in a stroller when a man approaches and says "I just want to make clear that I'm not going to slap your baby."

A man shows up at your door at 11 pm and says "I have no intention of stealing your jewelry. I'm not a thief."

When you walk into your accountant's office unannounced he looks up and says, "This is not about malfeasance. It's not like I'm looking for ways to hide your money from you."

Queen's U student facilitator Daniel Hayward says "It's not like we roam around the halls looking for people having conversations...it's not like we're pulling someone aside and reprimanding them about their behaviour."

Arig Girgrah says "This is not about preaching. It's not about advice giving."

The dean of student affairs says "They're not disciplinarians...It's not trying to stifle something...We're not trying to be parental."

Soon we will all be wearing white jumpsuits.

Perhaps some campus group should print posters with pictures of all the 'facilitators' and plaster them all over the place, so that the spies can be easily recognized. Then, if one of them butts into a private conversation, the entire group could just get up and walk away, leaving the poor 'facilitator' sucking his thumb. After a few weeks of being shunned as Block Grannies, they might begin to find life a little lonely.

Within a short time Queen's will find, surprise surprise, that their new facilitators have been ineffective, and have not been readily embraced by the students. So they'll hire more facilitators and give them a few powers of reprimand, such as the power to insist on a student's name and student number if that student is being "abusive". Soon thereafter the first student will get expelled for being "abusive", and the facilitators will be well on their way to being full-fledged thought police. Up until today I thought I might recommend to my kids that they try Queen's. Now, I'll do everything I can to keep them away from that place. Unfortunately, by the time they're old enough for university, every university in the country will have "facilitators". Hey, I wonder if Elmasry's sock puppets applied for these jobs. Seems right up their alley.

I think it's interesting that the Queens Behaviour Police program was announced more or less concurrently with the cancellation of Queens Homecoming due to "riots". So here we have a University that has time and energy for thought control, but doesn't have the time and energy to deal with criminals. "We cave in to rioters, but no shouting in the cafeteria!" Queens' Principal refers to this caving in to criminals as "a new course of action". What the bureaucrats have come up with is to move Homecoming from September to May, thereby crushing the bad guys with crafty scheduling. Rioters everywhere are trembling. I think I know how this movie ends: watch for a world-class party on Aberdeen Street next Fall. Then, watch for Queens to try to cancel the month of September.

I know now what to write them when they send their annual begging letter.

Heh, so there is paying work for trolls.

/assume it.

And soon, no doubt, the facilitators will receive, from their facilitatees, reports of family and neighbourhood conversations and itineraries. This will be much easier than during the cultural revolution due to the ready availabiility of inexpensive devices such as the cell phone/camera and inexpensive digital voice recorder.

Now think again: in this maoist culture we've grown what it the probability of a Con government removing sec 13 of the HRC? Zero, I'd say.

How "progressive" seems to me there is a group that does just what the "facilators" do over in Pileofsandisstan over there they call them "TALIBAN" as in adjust your burka, they started off really polite, and...concerned.
Cheers Bubba

1984 is actually upon us.

Using terms like gay and retarded to describe something you don't like is crude and really just shows why many of the children at Queens do not deserve to be there.

Idiots are everywhere and there will be no stopping the behaviour, it is only through more discussion that we can come to understand and supersede these intellectually deficient losers. Any forced intervention will at best not accomplish what is intended, and at worse, create a new situation which is even worse than we had before.

Actually, I think these "facilitators" are really the enablers for complaints to the HRC. The situation is perfect for that to take place. I mean, the facilitators become witnesses for complainants. A "make-work" project, if you will, for the "human rights" cottage industry.

You are "crude" and a "child" you do not "deserve" to be here.
"it is only through more discussion that we can come to understand and supersede these intellectually deficient losers"

"Please come with us into the bus"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcz3TYqWpwc

We don't need YOUR education, we don't need YOUR thought control.
Hey Teacher, leave those kids alone.

Dumb, Queen's dumb! Know what will happen very quickly? The students will learn to recognize these eavesdroppers and just shut up as soon as one enters hearing range. Conversation will resume when the spy drifts away.

I wonder if these spies will loiter around bars frequented by students? An intervention there could have a interesting outcome.

For the commenter who said that Ontario has lost its mind ... the Ontario government has recently established a mentoring program that SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDES straight white people. What is this country coming to ...

I can feel the improvement in society already.

"Using terms like gay and retarded to describe something you don't like is crude and really just shows why many of the children at Queens do not deserve to be there.

Idiots are everywhere and there will be no stopping the behaviour, it is only through more discussion that we can come to understand and supersede these intellectually deficient losers.
"

Yeah James. Used to have problems with them when I was a kid. Only then we called them bullies,and after a couple of "attitude adjustments", they clued in a helluva lot faster than any "talk" with them will achieve. It is because of nuts like you who want to just "talk",that kids can't even be kids anymore on the playground(can't play tag,ball,soccer.etc).
Hope you don't try to give one of these spoiled rotten,juvenile adults a "talk" while s/he are robbing your house!

Oh. And I might add,that it's nuts like you that got us this generation of spoiled rotten,lousy attitude,entitled brats,walking around in adult clothes.
Guess the next thing will be for Queer...er....Queens to drop their requirements to get in.Oh wait.

"Using terms like gay and retarded to describe something you don't like is crude and really just shows why many of the children at Queens do not deserve to be there.

Idiots are everywhere..."

How is using the word "Idiots" any differnt that using the word "Retarded"?

james - could you explain to me why calling a stupid idea or even person 'retarded' is a sympton of 'an intellectually deficient loser'?

You just called someone a 'loser'. Is that OK with you? You just called them 'retarded', for the phrase 'intellectually deficient' means 'retarded'.

You just called them 'idiots', which is also another term for 'retarded'. You called them 'crude'. Indeed, your comments are filled with derogatory insults, and The Facilitators (aka the Thought Police) will surely take note of your sad views about people.

Stop the bus, I wanna get off...

I guess the modern university is one where history begins new each day.

Does the Queen's university not have a library? Orwell isn't even your only warning about this sort of thing.

Generally, one disdains the cheap shot of calling anyone you disagree with a fascist but in this case it actually fits.

Our society is dying. We've gone too long without a lesson in the nature of things and we're soft and stupid. We've grown up thinking that our peace and prosperity are a right that can't be taken away instead of a fleeting moment soon to evaporate which needs to be fought for to be sustained for what little time you can manage to hold onto it.

Sad really.

Good point, Justthinkin.

Why, it was only a year or so ago that the Green Left was trying to "talk" us climate skeptics into believing in AGW, found talking wasn't going to cut it, and then people like Dr. Suzuki started publicly musing that skeptics should be jailed.

Blockwart.
Thank you for the new word Rob Harvie.
I shall be using it.

"I know now what to write them when they send their annual begging letter."

You only get something annually from them? I want to be on that list.

Odd, when I was there in the 60s it was a "white" school (like most of Ontario), but we celebrated foreign and non-white students, ie, they got hammered with the rest of us, pre, post and during the games. We and they didn't know we were racist bigots until the leftists told us so a few years ago.

I'll be pleased to tell the president and the alumni association to kiss my white ass and take me off their mailing lists. My alma mater of world repute is no more.

jmd, spies bleed. when i was a kid they sure as hell did.

When the universities send you their letters asking for money, mail it back to them in their own pre-paid envelope with a note saying that they obviously have money to burn if they're hiring thought-police and that you have more worthy causes to support.

Two degrees, and this is all she can aspire to in real life? Sheeesh!

A PC random phrase generator should have been sufficient to put this kumbayesque CV together.

Gotta be worth at least $150K annually, eh?

-----------
"Assistant Dean (Student Affairs) for Intergroup Programs and Community Development."
".. champion day-to-day and strategic efforts to foster an engaged, inclusive, and vibrant residential community both on and off-campus for undergraduate and graduate students."
"... leverages the residential nature of Queen's University, and the strong tradition of student leadership and shared governance, to provide venues (e.g. residences, dining facilities, formal and informal community spaces, publications, virtual environments, etc.) in which students are actively encouraged and expected to develop individual and cross-cultural awareness and skills (broadly defined to include race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, sexual identity, social class, ability, gender, faith, nationality, among other dimensions) in order to promote learning, personal development, and commitments to community and social inclusion."
"... oversees a number of Divisional efforts, and is also part of the Residences Management Team with the Director of Residence Life and the Director of Housing & Hospitality Services."
"... has impressed her staff, students, and colleagues with her impressive analytical acumen, compassion, multi-cultural skills, and project management expertise."

"... has significant experience with communications, human services, diversity, and education both in Canada and internationally."

E-mail: girgraha@queensu.ca

-----------------------
Diversity: you'll learn to love it; or else!

You know the program is headed for disaster when most of the quotes from those involved are defensive, without one word on any sort of benefit.

There is another word in the English language which is much more accurately descriptive of all of this then "social justice" or "inclusivity". That word is "pandering", with all of its negative connotations included.

I am getting lost in this code-speak. What the.....
is community development or multi-cultural skills?

Would juggling daggers while dancing rumba on a scooter within confine of a penal colony qualify?

Diversity via Instapundit

"Nobody's perfect." That was the reaction of Louise Bimpson, our Corporate Director of Human Resources, to the complaint by Bill Wakeham, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth, that physics departments contained too many upper middle-class white men. While admitting that the description fitted the Poppleton Department of Physics, which currently consists of 14 upper middle-class white men, she claimed that such imbalances were endemic in universities.

"Our Sociology Department, for example, contains more than the average number of lower-middle-class whingers. There is also an abundance of cigarette-smoking aesthetes in the English Department, a surfeit of very elderly men wearing brown corduroy in the History Department, a plenitude of demented crystal-gazers in the Department of Complementary Medicine and a superfluity of people in higher management with extreme language difficulties," she said.

Ms Bimpson said she expected such differences would iron themselves out in time. "You only need to look back to the bad old days when this university was seriously overloaded with academics committed to a life of the mind. Just look at it now."

"I'll be pleased to tell the president and the alumni association to kiss my white ass and take me off their mailing lists. My alma mater of world repute is no more. "

Amen to that Skip, I wrote my letter yesterday. More people need to speak up! My only hope is that the Principal is greeted tomorrow by 20,000 emails from Alumni on this. Queens clearly needs a Principal that knows how to do more than thought control and cancelling things.

".. adding that the facilitators could face "hostility" from students who feel they have been "cornered" or had their privacy violated"

After a few students showing hostility get noted, then the scope will widen, maybe.
Best thing is to be hostile to them at all times.

I'd tell them to go F*** themselves, but I wouldn't want to run the risk of there being a successful impregnation!

Yet another nanny-state intervention. Having survived many homecomings including attending the evil Aberdeen street party, the cancelation of homecoming had drawn my ire already.

Now with this announcement I doubt I will attend another homecoming, I'm assuming the speech police wouldn't be off duty when the alumni were around. Can't wait for the next fundraising phone call..am I still allowed to use the word 'idiotic' to describe the administration?

Well perhaps there will be some real Canadian kids on that campus, who will grab one of the speech squealers, stick their head in a toilet and flush it.

Just as we thinking adults have rejected the speech police, so will our thinking youth, they will just do it differently, and with cruelty.

Our youth are not as stupid as the left-lib control freak socialist would like to believe. The socialist may have controlled the schools all these years but they are going to get their comeuppance.

Having direct experience with those little darlings(student landlord in Kingston), let me offer a view from the inside.

The majority of issues/problems/incidents involving students typically involves heavy substance abuse(booze, drugs) and hard partying. Generally(but not always) they are white, male, golden spoon fed children of the elites'.

These folks better carry pepper spray, a baton, and a roll of paper towel(to clean up the vomit).

One only has to witness how Queen's had to formally cancel homecoming as of today because of behaviour bordering on the lunatic fringe.....and this is one of their solutions to deal with abhorhent student behaviour?????????

Good luck with all of that, elitist morons!

'Facilitator' sounds ever so much more innocuous than 'thought police', and the leftard fascists always think the name is more important than the reality.

I know, if I was at Queens I'd have a thought nazi 'facilitating' my assimilation into the Borg quicker than I could say 'thought nazi'.

'Dialogue' monitors. Just another name for Informers. Thought police from the sixties mode of thought. To think these morons actually had to read the book 1984 in high school, than don't recognize what they have become.
Calling Canada a template for an Animal Farm fascist land, after another book by Orwell. Is an affront to animals the world over.
Give a monkey a brain ,& they think there the center of the Universe.
This is becoming a grim humorless age.

Kingstonlad, Does Kingston police department not have a drunk tank? Or is it more that they aren't allowed to bounce the university punks off the back wall of it the way they do the "normal" rowdy drunks?

McMaster in Hamilton is not pure as the driven snow by a loooong shot, but the Hamilton cops aren't shy about handling drunken punks memorably. This is reflected in the lack of drunken riots around here.

Perhaps as a tax payer you should have a word with your city council, eh?

Yeah, it's never ending. My daughter, a dental hygenist, tells me that they can no longer refer to a patient as being 'diabetic'. The only approved way of describing the patient to another staff member is as "a person with diabetes".

To refer to them as 'diabetic' is to 'label' them which apparently diminishes them as a person.

Madness, madness everywhere.

such as gender-neutral washrooms…

I wonder what the punishment will be for leaving the seat up.

They must now use gender neutral bathrooms? What happened to free expression? The implication is that significant numbers are housebroken, but is there any proof of this?

Can you punch these facilitators?

A guy I work with said the last place he worked you couldn't call a grease nipple a grease nipple.

One of the clerks at work told me I shouldn't use the word Negro, I asked her about the United Negro College Fund, she seemed confused by that.
The UNCF is right about one thing for sure, a mind IS a terrible thing to waste.

******such as gender-neutral washrooms…******

some one must sure be F'd up if they are gender neuteral--or not

and I used to think Queens was a upper crust school:-))))

such as gender-neutral washrooms…

You must've been absent from "social justice" 101 the day they the instructed the men how to squat when they pee in order to avoid fostering hurt feelings and feelings of inadequacy and inequality...

such as gender-neutral washrooms…

You must've been absent from "social justice" 101 the day they the instructed the men how to squat when they pee in order to avoid fostering hurt feelings and feelings of inadequacy and inequality...

Bernie wrote: such as gender-neutral washrooms…

I wonder what the punishment will be for leaving the seat up.

I left out part of this post in my previous quote.

Excuse me?

What's a "gender-neutral washroom"?

...the day they the instructed the men how to squat when they pee...

That reminded me that today is 'World Toilet Day' as created by the World Toilet Organization; here's a graphic from their site:

http://www.worldtoilet.org/userfiles/image/button1.jpg

It's apparently based in Singapore.

Posted by: richfisher at November 19, 2008 3:56 PM

You go it.

This is a live example of how these blockwarts are going to go about their business. It would not be surprising if they made it an instruction video for the program.
To many, this will seem as something that cannot happen in this country.
For now there is a shade of it as in political correctness business.
With these blockwarts it comes into the fullness of society in the march forward to socialist / fascist future.
As things are today, if nothing cataclysmic happens, this is where Canada is heading.
Interesting thing is that apart from so many of the people writing here, nobody is really bothered by it.
In fact it is propagated (as at the said long school) and portrayed as though this is good.
It may surprise those that contribute here that general population knows not about any of this. Depending on who will eventually if ever explain to them what is involved, they will agree or not. If they read this post, they may get the true picture. If they talk to Ms. Girgrah, they will get lost in the abyss of the wonderful rhetoric and become something like one of those pods in the Invasion of Body Snatchers.

A Facilitator:

"A Community Organizer with alcohol based hand cleaner."

That 47yr old masters "student" looks like the type of guy that would volunteer to be a facilitator. ie: A loser! The type of guy that quit wearing underwear because he was sick of pulling them out of his colon all the time.

I'm really really getting tired of all these losers doing whatever it is they can to get into positions of power to seek their retribution. Get over it will ya!

It is infinitely naaive for these people to think that opinions that differ from theirs are due to lack of education ("ignorance").

It's a new kind of hall monitor: one that monitors conversations - private conversations; wow, that'll go over well. It'd be like having a guidance counselor hiding in a stall in the bathroom, ready to pop out at a moment's notice. Next thing you know, the leftist illuminati will be taking nonconformist students off to a camp for "re-education" somewhere.

At least they're encouraging critical thinking, free speech, and intellectual reflection. Oh - wait...

What's a "gender-neutral washroom"?

Kotex machine above a urinal?

What's a "gender-neutral washroom"?

Toilets with the seats removed?

Brutal. "Facilitators" eavesdropping on private conversations. I'm frightened that in a place of supposed higher education, this kind of concept could gain any traction whatsoever.

Universities have a choice. They can be bastions of free inquiry. Or they can have "speech codes". It's either/or.

From the National Post, some "sample guidelines" for the Thought Police program (disguised as Intergroup Dialogue): "A derogatory term is posted on a floor, or is expressed in an interaction or while a joke is being told. The intergroup facilitator (IF) identifies the student who used the offending term and prepares to visit with the resident. The IF approaches the student in a friendly, non-confrontational, non-judgmental and open manner. After introductions, the IF broaches the topic with the resident and asks if they can chat about the incident. The IF might share their impact and inquire about the perspective of the student with respect to the use of the term. The two would ideally engage in a respectful and educational dialogue and the IF would gently challenge thinking if necessary. The IF will ask questions and use their communication skills to help the individual relate to the experience of marginalization or exclusion that comes from being the target of such derogatory terminology. The IF will end the conversation on a positive note or with an open invitation to discuss further."

Re the above. (1) The very act of the IF approaching the student is confrontational and judgmental. The entire concept here is judgmental in the extreme. (2) What if the offending student chooses not to discuss the alleged incident? (3) This "respectful and educational dialogue", with the IF "gently challenging thinking if necessary", sounds like the proverbial iron fist in the velvet glove. (4) I suspect the IF will end the conversation "on a positive note" with something like, "I'm positive that you will be expelled if you do this again". (5) What happens if a student makes a false accusation against another? How can the IF figure this out? It sounds like he's prosecutor, judge and executioner rolled into one.

The Globe story quoted the editor of the student newspaper (which editorialized against the program) as saying that many people form their opinions in conversations, so stifling that is dangerous.

Re "gender-neutral washrooms". This is another preposterous notion that doesn't promote diversity in any way that I can see. Leering and sexual assault, possibly. The NP story mentions prayer rooms in the same context. I trust they're religion-neutral prayer rooms? And can anyone see a devout Muslim student (of either sex) using a "gender-neutral washroom"?

Stan, commenting: "One of the clerks at work told me I shouldn't use the word Negro, I asked her about the United Negro College Fund, she seemed confused by that."

I guess the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People would be REALLY confusing?

What's a gender neutral bathroom?

Perhaps an overseas style where there is no toilet at all - only a hole in the floor with two footpads.

This insane political correctness must stop - beginning with plucking the low hanging fruit, one issue at a time. How long will it be before one of these thought police people are the leading edge of an HRC filing?

The ON HRC was recently given a stronger mandate and a bigger budget. Not a good sign at all.

While I've been reading all this claptrap, one song kept playing in my mind, over and over. Cheap Trick's Dream Police.

"The dream police, they live inside of my head.
The dream police, they come to me in my bed.
The dream police, theyre coming to arrest me, oh no."

Coming soon to a (taxpayer funded)urnalversity near you.

We don't need no educaition
We don't need no thot control
Teacha - leave those kids alone.

Does anyone remember the name of the US university that instituted a mandatory "re-education" program for its students in residence? Eastern seaboard, Rhode Island?

"such as gender-neutral washrooms…
I wonder what the punishment will be for leaving the seat up."
~Bernie

No problem.
The seats stay down. They just get wet.

"What's a "gender-neutral washroom"?
Kotex machine above a urinal?"
~ural

Not above the urinal, it's on one side while the condom machine is on the other side.

To DaninVan:

Some examples, get the right people in the meeting. How do these facilitators know that these are the right people to discuse these topics?

Have a detailed agenda....conversations never have an agenda.

Have a clear purpose for the meeting. What purpose if they are only discussing?

Have set groundrules for the discussion....once again, if they are coming into a discussion already, there are no groundrules.

Create a comfort level for the participants. Will these people really want someone cutting in on them?

BE INVITED. Will the facilitators go away if told seeming they were not invited to the meeting?

And the biggest one, a majority if a facilitators work is pre and post meeting work. How will they accomplish this when they do not know the participants, the possible discussion, and the participants desired outcome unless they are looking at the outcome as one given to them by the University.

Just some examples...

I swear to god if I'm ever in a place lame enough to have a "gender-neutral washroom" I'm peeing all over the seat out of spite (for management, not the ladies - if there happen to be any.)

Re "Gender neutral washroom" ; just curious, would that be the same as unisex washrooms; All the appropriate plumbing fixtures but available to both (all) genders?...as opposed to eliminating urinals (converting to footbaths)?
Where's the impetus to share bathrooms?
Sounds like a manufactured crisis to me. Social engineering of males to eliminate the raised toilet seat issue.

robp; thanks for the background info.

Gender neutral washroom: a big giant pink potty.

We need more "Facilitators Against Anti Gaggling" in ballerina tutus prancing around Queen's campus while they carry their wands and wish people to stop using anti fairy language. Spread the pixie dust. It sounds so "22 Minutes."