The True Story Behind the Vari Hall Kiosk

As a REDZone Student Ambassador I work out of the Vari Hall Kiosk, you know that booth in the middle of Vari Hall. I mean come on, you know!! Seriously? You can't miss it, it's RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of Vari Hall. You know the round building at the HEART of York's Keele Campus.

Since the Booth was constructed over 2 years ago there has been A LOT of misinformation floating around about it's purpose, it's location and the alterer motives behind it's construction. Article after article has been written about the evils of the booth, protest after protest has been waged what some call a tool of the administration.

If you stop and ask upper year students what they think of the Vari Hall Kiosk, you'll hear one outlandish conspiracy theory after another. To be honest, I was one of those students who took one look at the booth after it was built and thought, "dang that's gonna make traffic through campus even worse!" But, unlike other students I took the time to go and talk to the folks working in the new booth and learned about all the valuable work they were able to do thanks to this central location.

I'd like to take this opportunity to set the record straight regarding the Vari Hall Kiosk. I am speaking now as Nicole the PERSON and NOT Nicole the RSA.

As Nicole (the person) I like to pick up the Excalibur whenever there's a new issue usually just to check out the sudoku and maybe flip through the articles. This week I noticed that the Excalibur wrote an article on the protest that The Student Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) group held against the booth on March 13th.

I was deeply disappointed to read that the Staff Writer did not take the opportunity to interview any of RSA's present at the time of the protest. One would assume that a responsible journalist would want to get both sides of the issue before printing an article. One could argue that perhaps no RSA was present or willing to talk to the reporter, I would have to disagree since I was there and I know that I personally would have enjoyed the opportunity to have the RSA perspective acknowledged.

In any event the article was written and published.

There were several simple errors that were made right off the bat that I'd like to correct at this time.

-Firstly the booth that was being protested is NOT "the Red Zone Kiosk in Vari Hall." The booth that was protested was in fact the Vari Hall Kiosk, out of which the RED Zone operates. I know it might seem like a small distinction but I assure you, it is a significant one. After all you wouldn't say that

Leslie Armstrong (Editor-in-Chief of The Excalibur) owns The Excalibur, you'd say that he works for the Excalibur, a small but important difference.

-Secondly we are not the Red Zone, that is we are not the color "red" zone. We are the RED Zone, which is an acronym that stands for The Ready. Engage. Discover Zone. We operate throughout the entire calendar year. During the summer we help incoming student get READY for their time at York, we help get them ENGAGED in student life so they can make the most of their time here, and we help them to DISCOVER all that York can offer them over the 4 years they'll be here. During the School Year we shift focus and provide services for the entire York population, that includes answering questions, giving directions, offering advice and of course interacting with students via social media.  So we're MUCH more than just the color red, not that there's anything wrong with the color red!

-Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the Vari Hall Kiosk was not designed to quell student voice (despite what you may have heard or read). The development of the kiosk is actually a very interesting story!!

Way back in early 2009 York was plagued with a series of disturbing events that resulted in series conflicts occurring on campus. As a result of these events The President decided to create "The Presidential Task Force on Student Life, Learning and Community." The purpose of this Task Force was to "review the University's polices, procedure and practices and recommend ways in which the commitment to the free exchange of ideas in an environment free of harassment, discrimination or intimidation could be strengthened." The Task Force was made up of 7 Staff Members and 7 students (selected via an application process). Other active participants in the process were: The York Federation of Students, The Muslim Students Association, the York University Black Students Alliance, Hillel at York University and Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA).

So what is York's Position on Student Protest and Freedom of Expression??

-Throughout the 2009 report York reaffirms it's position as an advocate for free speech, explaining that the most serious of conflicts occurred on campus when "rival groups attempted to 'shut down' one another. Part of the protection of freedom of expression is the prevention of its abuse. Expression used to silence others is not defensible," (p9). This demonstrates the need for York to institute stricter policies regarding permission for protests to occur. Without the TUUS policies in place to ensure everyone has the space, time and opportunity to speak without being "shut down" by people opposed their position how can any meaningful protest occur?

-York actively encourages the expression of controversial ideas and opinions explaining that "all members of the community must remain open to dissenting views and it would be inappropriate and wrong in a university to prevent those with view different from our own from expressing themselves freely and openly, our primary focus is on promoting MORE SPEECH AND EXPRESSION, rather than less. We believe there needs to be more and better opportunities for dialogue, debate and discussion on the York Campus.

How does the RED Zone fit into this debate??
-The Task Force wanted to determine how to go about creating more effective communication with and between students. One of the recommendations was "a more visible and enhanced information booth IN or near VARI HALL, IN PLACE OF THE CURRENT OPERATION in the Vari Hall/ Ross Building Link, to provide information of interest to members of the community as well as visitors," (p16). This change was implemented in the form of the RED Zone, operating out of the newly constructed Vari Hall booth. The RED Zone fulfills the mandate of providing more information to students about "matters of interest to them at York in way that were
easily accessible [by using] online media/ to communicate with students.

If you want to read up on the FACTS behind the creation of this booth I invite you to READ the report published in 2009, click on the link at the bottom of the page.

If you wanna chat about anything that you've read here please feel free to comment below!

As always remember to take it one day at a time and catch me in the Zone!

Nicole