Frosh weeks at universities across Canada have aimed to boldly introduce incoming students to the college experience and create unforgettable memories. In recent years, however, such frosh antics have been receiving a particularly bad image. From allegations of uses of “rape chants” to the rise of both more alcohol and drug-related incidents and sexual assaults, the safety of frosh week has been questioned. Each year, as McGill University prepares to host its annual frosh week for thousands of incoming first years, the university aims to make it safer than ever before.
The responsibility for maintaining a safe environment at Frosh largely falls upon the Frosh leaders, who are older McGill students carefully selected after applying to watch over the incoming students, or “froshies.” The leaders are accountable for the physical safety of the students at all times and are in charge of making sure they get home safely. Due to McGill’s zero tolerance policy against any sort of harassment, a Frosh leader’s job is also to make sure that their froshies feel comfortable regardless of factors such as sexual orientation, gender, or ethnicity.
Another value McGill strives to uphold during frosh is ensuring that froshies do not feel pressured to drinking alcohol. Marcia Lange, who served as a Frosh leader for the Faculty of Science’s frosh at McGill this year, also pointed out that a Frosh leader’s responsibilities extend farther than to just the students but to the community as a whole.
“We were frequently reminded that as Frosh leaders our responsibilities not only lied with the froshies but also to the residents of the Milton-Parc community by ensuring that we were not making noise at all hours of the day,” Lange said.
In order to ensure that Frosh leaders understand the extent and importance of their responsibilities, McGill requires them to go through extensive training sessions before Frosh week. During this training, the leaders go through workshops which deal with information related to their faculty and the McGill campus as well as conflict resolution and how to respond in certain situations. They are specifically trained in how to deal in situations involving intoxicated students, reported sexual misconduct, and other related issues. The depths of their tasks are discussed and emphasized as well as the appropriate boundaries they must maintain with the froshies. It is also in these training sessions that the Frosh leaders sign documents making them legally responsible for the students in their care.
Each year, McGill carefully considers the feedback it receives from Frosh participants and leaders in order to improve upon the overall experience for the following year’s Frosh festivities. Since a considerable number of McGill students were not satisfied with how the university responded when three football players were charged with sexual assault last fall, the school hired Bianca Tetrault as the Liason Officer (Harm Reduction) on a one year contract who is tasked with helping to promote campus wide awareness of sexual assault and to continue to cultivate a safe campus.
An initiative new to frosh this year was the implementation of a hotline called myWeek Gateway, which aimed to help froshies get immediate assistance and be put in contact with their Frosh leader or services like the McGill Student Emergency Response Team (MSERT). It is improvements such as these that continue to make Frosh at McGill safer and more dedicated to the original purpose of introducing students to the wonderful world of university.
Images obtained from:
http://publications.mcgill.ca/reporter/2013/08/behind-the-scenes-of-frosh/
http://unofficialmcgillguide.com/frosh-orientation/