The “Best Student Experience”?
I am frustrated.
I am frustrated with a school that claims to provide the “best student experience” for everyone, and instead struggles to provide basics for anyone.
How can Western think that it is providing the best student experience? This is a rather subjective phrase, and yet, it is used in almost all of the school’s promotional material. A mechanical engineering student will have a very different experience than an English major. They will require different things; they may be different races, genders, nationalities, or religions. They may require specific academic, health, and personal accommodation. And somehow, the university believes that it can make every single person on campus happy enough to graduate and continue to keep his or her chequebooks open.
In first year, I decided to switch programs and faculties. This process was incredibly difficult, and it made me really question my decision to even come to Western. I found that the academic counseling departments for the two different faculties had different answers to every question that I had. More recently, I wanted to know if I could get special permissions to take a class for my minor. I was absolutely shocked and appalled when the woman tasked to help me snapped at me in the office. I get that everyone has bad days, but snapping at a student that is asking for help is unacceptable, and has definitely turned me off of going back to academic counseling. How can we count on the people who are supposed to help us if they are disrespectful when we ask for help?
Trying to get academic accommodation for exams is also an incredibly…painful process. If a student doesn’t get a doctor’s note the day of their exam, they are prohibited from receiving academic accommodation for the final. Doctor’s notes do not come cheap, at $20 each. However, if a student is throwing up or is otherwise seriously ill, their first thought will likely not be to rush to the academic counselors’ office or to the difficult to reach university health clinic to go through bureaucratic policy and procedure.
The student health services often are full for weeks – if a student thinks they are sick enough to go to the doctor, they can’t wait a week or more in order to be seen by a doctor (who will likely tell them that they just have a cold and nothing more, no matter their symptoms).
Mental health services on campus are even worse – students are so often turned away from receiving the mental health support that they desperately need. If you are seeking help, it is likely a last resort – being told that you need to wait TWO MONTHS to get onto a wait list does not, in any way, support students who are stressed out and struggling.
If a student requires disabled parking on campus, they have to pay for parking. If those people who were disabled could walk, they likely would. Forcing disabled people to pay for parking so that they can receive an education and ensure that they have safe transport is not acceptable. Parking on campus, in general, is excruciating. It’s expensive, and always inconvenient. There is very little hourly parking on campus, which would be convenient for many people, especially students and those attending events on campus, of which there are many. If you are a graduate student who intends to drive to campus, you are put on a yearlong waitlist – pretty sure that’s longer than some of the graduate programs.
As I wrote this piece, I noticed a glaring reoccurrence: those who are in need of help are most often the ones who face the most challenges with the university. This school consistently attempts to “raise awareness” for different causes such as mental health and eating disorders. Raising awareness is great, but I want to know what the school plans to actually do in order to improve the support that students receive.
If you need help, here are some external (within London) resources that you can turn to:
– 24/7 Canadian Mental Health Association Helpline: 519-433-2023
– Oxford Walk-in Clinic: 519-433-4999
– St. Joseph’s Hospital Urgent Care: (519) 646-6100
– St. John’s Church Weekly Soup Kitchen (Saturday night dinners): (519) 432-3743
– My Sister’s Place Shelter: 519-679-9570
– No Empty Bowls Pet Food Bank: 519-520-4980
– Merrymount Family Crisis and Support Center: 519 434 6848