‘People no longer feel safe on campus’: UW students

The Enchanté Network, Canada’s largest network of 2SLGBTQ+ organizations, held a press conference Friday afternoon after a “hate-motivated” stabbing at the University of Waterloo on Wednesday.

On Wednesday afternoon, 24-year-old Geovanny Villalba-Alema allegedly stabbed three people during a gender studies lecture in Hagey Hall. Since then, students like Elena Cornick and Kelsey Zhao said many of their friends were no longer coming to campus and that there is “fear in the student body.”

Cornick and Zhao are members of The Glow Centre, the oldest continuously running queer and trans student organization in Canada based at the University of Waterloo.

“The Glow Centre used to be a safe haven for a lot of people, but now people are afraid to be on campus,” said Zhao. “People have been saying it’s not out of the realm of possibility that this attack could have happened at the Glow Centre instead of in a classroom.”

Zhao noted that there have been a number of things have been overlooked by the university on a daily basis. They said the comment sections of posts from the university following the raising of pride flags and painting of sidewalks were “inundated with hate comments.” Posters were allegedly torn down before the implementation of gender neutral washrooms.

Cait Glasson, current board chair of The Enchanté Network, called the incident “shocking and unexpected” and is not in line with the character of the community.

In response to the incident at UW, The Enchanté Network is dedicating their National 2SLGBTQI+ Conference in September to the theme of Combatting 2SLGBQTI+ Hate. According to a report from Stats Canada, in 2021 there was a 64% increase in hate crimes targeting groups due to their sexual orientation.

“We shouldn’t need in this country, a stabbing at a university for us to have their conversations,” said Tyler Boyce, Executive Director of The Enchanté Network. “When humans rights are rolled back, it really does push us all back.”