Vice-President Finance and Administration Gary Brewer and Samina Sami, executive director of Community Safety, send the following message to the York University community:
York University is a vibrant community of nearly 60,000 people – the size of a small city. We are committed to ensuring that York is a place where everyone feels safe to live, learn, teach and work.
At York we aim to take a holistic and intersectional approach to safety that reflects the diverse experiences of members of our community. We are committed to working proactively with the York community to build safer and more inclusive campuses. Each of us can – and should – play a role by actively contributing to a safe campus, as underscored in York’s message of “Safer Together”.
To support a greater connection to our community, we will be opening our new Community Safety Centre in October located in the William Small Building, designed to make our space more open, welcoming, and engaging for all members of our community.
Also, in keeping with a student and community-centered approach to safety, we will be launching a consultation process this year to shape the vision, mandate and strategic plan for the Community Safety Department. Information on how to participate in the consultations will be posted on our website in upcoming weeks. We look forward to your participation.
We encourage you to utilize our services to address your safety needs including goSAFE to assist you with safe travel in the evening, safety audits, and personal safety planning to support physical and personal safety needs. You can also download the York Mobile Safety App, which offers many helpful tools and resources. A complete list of Community Safety services is available on our website www.yorku.ca/safety.
We are also working collaboratively on important issues for our community. Preventing and responding effectively to sexual violence is a key priority. We will be part of community consultations this fall to get input on ways to strengthen supports for survivors and to enhance training and prevention programming.
York continuously strives to foster a culture of safety on its campuses. A cornerstone of our efforts has been a commitment to transparent and effective communication with respect to safety-related incidents that occur on campus.
When a serious safety incident occurs and if there is an ongoing risk to the community, the University issues a Security Bulletin. All bulletins that are issued are emailed directly to your York email account. This is to allow individuals and groups to exercise appropriate precautions with respect to personal safety and property. We also communicate safety information through the York U Mobile Safety App, LCD screens and public address systems.
Building a safer community is an ongoing endeavour and a shared responsibility. We are continuously striving to update our practices and infrastructure to better respond to emerging safety and security concerns. We welcome your feedback at safety@yorku.ca.
Gary Brewer
Vice-President Finance and Administration
Samina Sami
Executive Director, Community Safety