By Annabelle McIntosh – Opinions Editor & Emma James – Contributor

On June 28, 2023, a targeted attack occurred in a gender studies classroom at the University of Waterloo. This violent assault, including a triple stabbing, left three people injured and many others feeling as though a reevaluation of safety measures on campus was necessary.

Reflecting on the attack, multiple Ontario schools, such as Western, York, Guelph and the University of Toronto, have since decided to hide their course information from the public eye. Sensitive details such as class locations, times and professor names are now password-protected and only accessible to their students. 

This small added safety measure helps students feel safe in their classrooms, knowing that their peers will be the only ones accessing this information – and can be more easily identified should any escalation need to occur. In my opinion, this is a positive change for these schools, and Bishop’s University should consider following suit. 

As of right now, our course timetables are easily viewed online on the Bishop’s University website. Anyone, whether a current student or the general public, can view the time, place and professor for all classes. Considering recent events prompting deep reflection on the safety of all students, I feel that this is something that should change. Public schedules pose a potential danger for Bishop’s University students, as they make it strikingly easy for someone to look through the offered classes and learn the time and place the class would occur. Though we should be able to feel safe in our classrooms regardless, the incident at Waterloo proves this to not always be the reality and therefore preventative measures should be taken. 

For students who belong to marginalized communities, seeing targeted attacks like this in the media can cause feelings of discomfort and anxiety. All students deserve to feel comfortable going to their classes without thoughts of a horrifying attack occurring on campus lingering in the back of their minds. Changing this sensitive course information to a private setting would help students feel safer, knowing that nameless individuals do not have access to their information as well. 

Safety should always be of top priority on a university campus. We must ensure BU students feel protected by filling in these security gaps. To do so, I feel it would be in the best interest of our students and staff to leave this private information for their eyes only.