In September, the UTM Student Centre’s new “De-Stressor” room opened in room 150 — the office that had housed the student-run UTM Sexual Education Centre (SEC) since the building’s construction in 1999. In April, the SEC was moved to a smaller room on the second floor, which only fits “an executive and a volunteer,” according to Desirée Andrews, the SEC’s media coordinator.  

Leading up to the move, the SEC raised their concerns at the 2024 UTMSU Annual General Meeting, and launched a Change.org petition, which received 1,055 verified signatures. Three months into the semester, SEC executives and volunteers have pointed to several challenges with the new office space. 

The De-Stressor room is open from 12:00–6:00 pm as a space for students to unwind and socialize between classes. Its two bookable rooms can fit four to six students, with a booking limit up to two hours. 

Equitable use of room 150 

UTMSU President Andrew Park wrote to The Varsity that the Student Centre “has limited capacity and cannot accommodate sufficient office space for every campus group.” Since the failed 2023 referendum to expand the Student Centre, Park wrote that, “office and activity spaces must be distributed fairly among clubs and levy groups.”

The De-Stressor Room, he wrote, was designed with “general student use” in mind, “to maximize its benefit to the student body.” According to Park, the response has been “overwhelmingly positive.” 

“The Destressor Room, formerly the SEC office, is now significantly more utilized. Since we began keeping track of bookings towards the end of September, the space has seen nearly 200 bookings in just six weeks… Prior to this, the room was open to students on a drop-in basis, and was regularly occupied.”

In an interview with The Varsity, UTM SEC Volunteer Coordinator Daniela Sudetic was asked about the Destressor room’s visitors compared to SEC’s. At the time, there were closer to 150 bookings, which Sudetic said,“ sounds about the same, or maybe less, than the SEC last year. I didn’t know you could book that room. I think having [the Destressor room as] a bookable space sort of removes part of the community aspect that the SEC offered… There were times that we had up to 10 people in there just conversing, just meeting others.”

Park also wrote, “For several years, the room had very little activity, no regular executive presence, and minimal programming taking place. We communicated that if the space continued to go unused, the UTMSU would need to repurpose it to better serve students, and at the time, SEC agreed.”

Tisdall discussed similar critiques when talking to The Varsity. “There is a big problem getting student engagement post-COVID for all student groups, but especially the SEC — there were less than five volunteers after COVID. They were really small and really struggling, and so we had to change a lot… We definitely didn’t utilize the space to its fullest potential. We’re doing a lot more now to engage the student community than we did last year.” 

One-on-one support in the office 

The new office in room 243 is a smaller space, which has affected the SEC’s ability to provide one-on-one peer support. Previously, peer support sessions were held privately in the SEC office rooms. In the new space, SEC members must either ask volunteers or visitors to leave or pre-book another room in the Student Centre.

Tisdall described this as “hard and confusing… it’s just a lot of awkward moving around.”

In response, the UTMSU has offered the SEC priority booking for peer support within the Student Centre. But as Tisdall noted, “Sometimes you just can’t book a time for these kinds of things — like if someone’s very distraught about something that just happened, or if they can’t book a meeting in a different space because they can’t talk about these issues publicly or at home.”

“It’s not that the UTMSU didn’t try, but they don’t have any other solutions to give us,” Tisdall added. 

Park wrote to The Varsity in response, “Regarding peer support specifically, SEC has not reached out to the UTMSU to request space bookings for their peer support program. Should they require a room for this purpose, they are welcome to contact our Campus Groups Coordinator, or anyone from our team, and we would be more than willing to accommodate.”

Accessibility on the second floor

Another concern raised by the UTM SEC’s team is accessibility. Currently, the UTMSU Student Centre only has one elevator, which must be operated by the reception staff downstairs. To access the elevator, students must first get the attention of a staff member.

UTM SEC volunteer, Foggy Stylianou, wrote to The Varsity that the new office is “majorly inaccessible to disabled people” such as themselves. “I can’t get to the office independently.” They wrote. “This is quite stressful because it’s somewhat uncomfortable to reveal my disability to the receptionist (which is often unavoidable).” 

Stylianou also noted that they are often late to lectures when coming back from the SEC because they can’t get downstairs until staff notice them. They wrote, this “dissuades disabled students who aren’t volunteers and can’t use stairs from visiting the SEC and benefiting from our resources when they would otherwise.”

Andrews said the space had been especially important for marginalized students who relied on the space “for comfort, community, and safety,” adding that the inaccessibility of the new office “almost suggests that individuals with disabilities are less deserving of these resources or do not need them.”

In response, Park wrote to The Varsity, “The Student Centre has a lift elevator that operates Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Reception staff are always available during those hours to assist students in using the lift, and our team is committed to supporting anyone who requires accessible entry to any area of the building… SEC is also welcome to leave their resources, pamphlets, and materials at the InfoBooth desk, on the main floor.”

While the SEC has faced a challenging transition to the smaller office, they have seen increased engagement and support from the student community, and has created a self-serve area outside the office that is available whenever the Student Centre is open. 

Park wrote, “Over the last year, we noticed an increase in their programming, which we appreciate, and do believe that SEC can continue to provide this programming in the space that has been allocated to them.”