Under pressure: How Camosun College’s counselling services are holding up under stressIn April of last year, Nexus ran a feature story on mental health and student support at Camosun College. During the interview process, staff shortages within the counselling department were identified and brought to my attention. At the time of the interview, counsellor Chris Balmer informed me that six students, four of whom were categorized […] Continue Reading |
Layers of academic theft unravelling: Is plagiarism on the rise at Camosun College?According to several people I’ve spoken to, plagiarism is on the rise at Camosun College. Camosun’s Academic Honesty Guidelines list four levels of infraction, ranging from inadvertent plagiarism—which is penalized as the instructor sees fit—to unacceptable infractions, which could result in the dean removing the student from their program or even the college. I wanted […] Continue Reading |
Don’t know, don’t care: Camosun students aren’t as engaged politically as they were in years past. Why?Students inherit the responsibilities of the generation before us, and as a post-secondary institution Camosun College is responsible for fostering new ideas while students develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence necessary to bring them to fruition. Considering the recent student council elections on campus and municipal elections across the capital region, as well as the […] Continue Reading |
Post-elections post-secondary: Now that student society and municipal elections have passed, what does 2019 hold in store for post-secondary life?The fall of 2018 was a time of political change for students here at Camosun. Elections have come and gone for both the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) and municipal councils on the lower island. We’ve also been given an option to reform our provincial electoral system with the proportional representation referendum. The referendum is […] Continue Reading |
Anxiety, accessibility, and athletes: A look at the ten most-read stories on our website in 2018In the fall of 1995, there was a municipal election in Edmonton. My tenth grade Social Studies class received a visit from two of the candidates running in my ward. Alderman candidate and leftist character Tooker Gomberg was always entertaining, but, unfortunately, he had to save time for some schmuck who gave us no reason […] Continue Reading |
Burst bubbles: How Victoria’s housing crisis impacts Camosun studentsOn September 15 of this year, a letter from a Camosun College instructor was published in the Times Colonist; in the letter, the instructor told of a “dedicated student” who had been evicted from Saanich’s tent city and faced challenges that most of his peers likely haven’t considered. My initial response was strengthened gratitude for […] Continue Reading |
Post-secondary poltergeists: Is Camosun haunted? We hit the ground to find outAs always, October snuck up on me. I wasn’t quite ready to let go of the summer, but midterms have come and gone and the turkey dinner has been slept off, which means that Halloween is upon us. For most, Halloween is simply a spectacle of consumerism, consisting of sweatshop-produced disposable costumes and pumpkins that, […] Continue Reading |
Cannabis confusion: What does the legalization of marijuana mean for Camosun College?Last June, Justin Trudeau announced the official date for recreational marijuana legalization in Canada, as he promised in his election platform. Fast forward a few months, and government officials are still scrambling to make sense of it all and to find the answers before the legalization date of October 17. What does it all mean […] Continue Reading |
Freedom of speech on campus in 2018: The Ontario government is forcing post-secondary institutions there to put free-speech policies in place. What does it all mean?Post-secondary institutions should be a place for free expression and the open exchange of ideas. That’s an idea that has spanned civilizations. In a global community, with information at our fingertips around the clock, why is that concept in question? Days before the current semester began, Ontario premier Doug Ford announced that funding for post-secondary […] Continue Reading |
Levelling the playing field?: A look behind the scenes of Camosun’s new equity, diversity, and inclusion policyLast spring I received an email from Camosun asking me to complete the college’s equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) survey. I opened it up and read through it. Of the questions in the survey, the most notable asked what the terms “equity,” “diversity,” and “inclusion” mean to me as a student, and what more the […] Continue Reading |
