Student Recommendations

Goal

Within five years, all academic disciplines, curricula and programs will be diversified using an anti-Black racism lens and will also promote Black scholarship to maximize learning opportunities for Black students, academic success and overall development.

Implementation steps and actions

• Build on the foundation of existing curricula to propose a new interdisciplinary undergraduate degree program inclusive of Caribbean, Black and other relevant disciplines.
• Develop and fund resources to support faculty to strengthen their capacity to teach with an anti-Black racism framework and to engage and utilize Black scholarship in their teaching.
• Diversify co-op, internship and placement sites and opportunities to ensure experiential learning (EL) opportunities reflect the diversity of the student body and the City of Toronto and to include more Black owned and operated partners.
• Develop recruitment, admission and retention policies to ensure that Black students apply to, are accepted to, and stay at the university.

Progress to date

• Discussions to coordinate a Black student success working group are underway across departments in the Office of the Vice-Provost, Students (OVPS) responsible for recruitment, admissions and student success.

Goal

By the end of fall 2023, at least three professional development programs will be developed and adequately funded to strengthen the capacity of faculty to apply anti-Black racism principles and culturally relevant pedagogy in their courses and confidently incorporate Black scholarship.

Implementation steps and actions

• Work with the Faculty Working Group and Staff Working Group to identify and deliver EDI and anti-Black racism sessions for all faculty and staff.

Progress to date

• In collaboration with the Human Resources Department, the EDI framework has been developed and approved following consultations with key stakeholders.
• A multi-year program plan is being developed with a priority focus on topics related to anti-Black racism.

Goal

Over the next five years, Toronto Metropolitan University will increase the number of Black tenure stream faculty from three per cent to eight per cent of the total number of Toronto Metropolitan Faculty Association (TFA) tenure stream faculty.

Implementation steps and actions

Note: This recommendation has been passed on to the Faculty Working Group to implement.

• Support the creation of an interdisciplinary knowledge hub at the university to mobilize Black scholarship production, provide mentorship support in Black scholarship, to provide programming for Black-identified contact lecturers and provide knowledge for service providers to improve the wellbeing of Black communities.

Goal

Within three years, a safe and secure campus environment that prioritizes a sense of belonging for the Black community is realized.

Implementation steps and actions

• Create a campus safety and security program such that Black students feel safe, supported and respected, are better informed and can connect with campus safety and security on an interpersonal level. 
• Examine how security engages students and review their procedures and means of enforcing policies.
• Create a front-facing complaint portal.
• Create a means for engaging Black students so they can voice their concerns.

Progress to date

• Additional training on racism, racial discrimination and human rights from the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (OHRT) has been implemented and made compulsory for all front-line staff who interact with students. 
• The Black Student x Security Mixer was held on April 11 to build positive relationship between campus safety and security and Black students at TMU. The event included games, food and music, and highlighted initiatives and services offered by Community Safety and Security.
• Since the last update between the SORT (Strategic Outreach and Response Team) pilot and the community engagement team, there have been over 4500 interactions to date with our community, with over 1200 interactions between January and April 2023. These interactions include, but are not limited to, attending events, running seminars and engaging with TMU community members. 

Goal

By 2023, enriching academic, personal, career, and social development activities that centre the experience of Black students, increase capacity and nurture their mental health and social wellbeing, and foster their overall success are created or enhanced and promoted. 

Implementation steps and actions

• Create new and enhanced current funding programs for events, meetings and information sessions that specifically support and centre Black students.

Progress to date

• During the 2022- 2023 academic year, more than 100 students took part in the Let’s Talk Hair program. The event was facilitated by Eboni Morgan, Black Student Support Facilitator at the Tri-Mentoring Program and enabled students to discuss Black hair and Black hair experiences. In February 2023, the Black Excellence Committee hosted the 4th annual Black Excellence Mixer, which brought together over 120 Black students, staff and faculty. 
• During the 2022-2023 academic year, nearly $25,000 CAD was awarded through the Black and Indigenous Initiatives fund to support five groups on campus focused on addressing Black experiences.
• The Tri-Mentoring Program (TMP) collaborated with Learning Support to make peer academic coaches available to Black students in the Black Student Lounge. These coaches provide tutoring support and academic coaching on topics such as time management, understanding course syllabus and learning from lectures, to support Black students through improved access to quality academic resources. 

Goal

By the end of 2023, a dedicated Black student space is created, named, and promoted to the community.

Implementation steps and actions

• As part of the next phase to revitalize the Black Student Lounge, Laneigh Ramirez, a Black film studies student at TMU, was engaged to develop a mural. The mural was completed in March 2023 following a number of collaborative feedback sessions with Black students and community members and will be unveiled later this year.
  
  
• A series of in-person dialogue sessions overseen by the Black Student Support Facilitator entitled Let’s Talk: Amplify Black Voices was launched. The initiative invites Black students that are not members of the Anti-Black Racism Student Advisory Committee (ABRSAC) to have the opportunity to share their opinions and recommendations.