Renison Equity-deserving Students Consultation Sessions

We're so glad you asked - it's for a variety of reasons! These populations have been identified as equity-deserving groups who:

1. Are high-frequent users of Renison: while Renison does not gather demographic data on its student population, both students and employees have brought forward questions and queries in recent years on how Renison can better support these specific populations.
2. Have expressed desire for more support: Renison would expressly like to share its gratitude to the Racialized Students of Renison (RSOR) student group for its leadership in developing a student panel event in March 2023. During this important event, a desire for physical space for racialized students was indicated as a key priority.
3. Experience barriers to student success: Research in the field of Student Affairs and higher education identify a number of these student populations as being at risk for success in university. Ontario's Ministry of Colleges and Universities as well as the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario also identify many of these populations at risk for succeeding (1, 2).

We know when students feel supported and feel they belong at the university will positive affect student success. We want you to be successful. 

The sessions are organized by the Renison Student Experience and Housing department. The majority of the sessions will be facilitated by Ryan Connell (Assistant Director, Student Experience & Housing).

For the session for to Black, Indigenous, and Racialized students as well as our session for Neurodivergent students, Dr. Christine Logel, Associate Professor in Social Development Studies at Renison University College, will be joining us as the facilitator. 

If you have questions about these consultation sessions, please contact Ryan Connell at ryan.connell@uwaterloo.ca or by visiting his office in Room 1108 (Renison Ministry Centre).

Of course, we are all humans with different identities, personalities, and traits who make us who we are. If you are familiar with the concept of intersectionality, it is the understanding that we have overlapping or intersecting social identities who make up who we are. These intersectionalities often also consider systems of oppression or discrimination. 

As a student, you may have multiple student identities. You may be a mature student, an English language learner, and a 2SLGBTQ+ student all at the same time!  For the purposes of these student consultations, we invite you to register for one or more of the sessions if you wish to attend multiple. You may also wish to attend the session in which you feel a closer personal bond with. We invite you to determine which session(s) you want to attend to lend your perspective.