Mike Plumton, who worked as the Training and Program Coordinator for the Residence Life Program at UTSC, discusses his time working and living on campus, where, as a young adult, he, like many students, experienced many things for the first time.
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0:05
And that’s been something that’s changed and grown for me. So when I first started here my position was live-in, so I was the only full-time staff member
0:13
who lived in residence which, so in turn this became my home, it was my work and my home. Like I walked to Walmart to go off campus, like it was as scenic as that. (laughs)
0:26
So for me I guess being able to live here and then my partner moved in with me and that was a little bit scary because,
0:35
like he, it was the first time I’d like lived with a person so that was scary just as a life experience, like, “oh”.
0:43
Also just him being, his name’s Derek, and I’m like, “Okay what’s it gonna be like for like a gay couple to live on campus and what’s that gonna be like in the community?” And I guess we were just met with a lot of like open arms from the students and it was never an issue.
0:47
And for me that really helped build up my own story and my own experience with being gay and what have you.
1:04
However, on the flip side, living and working in residence, there’s a lot of safety issues and there’s a lot of people who feel very uncomfortable here, like personal safety, also just their own identity safety.
1:17
Like it depends on different kinds of, like there’s so many venues to safety, not that I…I don’t think it’s an unsafe campus, but everything that’s like open to the community.
1:26
You get people who wander in, you get people, like I remember back in the day we had issues with people peeking in people’s houses, so stuff like that. It doesn’t happen often, it’s like a one-off situation, but it happens, so. And then I know a lot of people don’t feel comfortable walking around at night,
1:44
or they, especially with the new buildings, like TPASC and stuff, where it’s like, “no, I’m not gonna go because I don’t feel comfortable walking up there because stuff happens”.
1:52
Also again, the other part that’s been really interesting and for me that I went through was more around my mental safety, like my, “Can I be authentic and be me here and feel comfortable and celebrated for that?” So for me, like positive space has been really helpful with that because I’ve kind of had to be this,
2:09
I’m out and I’m open and I’m here and I’m a resource and that’s been great because I’ve been able to connect with a lot of different staff and students from that. But talking to them, a lot of them don’t feel comfortable bringing their authentic self to campus.
2:24
And then I, so, so that’s, so I guess safety is such an interesting thing. So for me I’ve been lucky I haven’t had any poor experiences in terms of violence,
2:36
or even, I’ve had a, I’ve had a few like passive things, or stuff that was unsafe, but nothing where it’s stopped me, but it has stopped other people, if that makes sense.
