Here’s to the start of another great year! Horns up!

Michael Benarroch, PhD
President and Vice-Chancellor

I hope you enjoyed our beautiful province these past few months. This summer, it felt as though wherever Kim and I went, we found ourselves surrounded by Bisons! We went to a jazz concert of Joni Mitchell covers and learned lead vocalist, Amber Epp, and some of her band members were UM grads. We fell in love with a piece of art, and as we were purchasing it, learned the artist, Jordan Miller, was a UM alum. Everywhere we went, we felt connected to this community, and we loved it.

Our university boasts an amazing array of talent and when we come together, incredible things happen. We’ve been connecting recently to create important guiding documents, such as the university’s new Strategic Plan, the Strategic Research Plan (coming in 2024), and the new Reconciliation Action Plan. We’re not done yet and welcome your big ideas over the coming weeks as these documents continue to take shape. And once again, I’m hosting a Budget Town Hall on September 26 and I hope to see you there and hear your thoughts on this foundational document.

Our campuses are full of a diversity of people working together to make our city, province, and world better. There’s no other place like UM in the province and I am honoured to advocate on behalf of this community every opportunity I get. After the October provincial election, I will resume meetings with government to continue discussions on a variety of important topics that can help make our province better, like the value of research, investing in post-secondary education and respecting institutional autonomy, health care education, and Reconciliation. I am also looking forward to boasting about our community’s exceptional work to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce on October 20, highlighting the unique connections we have to our province’s health and prosperity.

But for now, September is packed with fun and inspiring events that connect us.  Come out to Homecoming, which runs September 19 to 23. There are events for everyone—from the Distinguished Alumni Awards, the classic Bisons Homecoming football game, family-friendly tailgate parties, and a fantastic concert. I’m particularly looking forward to the live recording of my conversation with Professor Niigaanwewidam Sinclair, whom I get to interview for my podcast What’s the Big Idea? Join us in the Robert B. Schultz Lecture Theatre in St. John’s College on September 19.

This conversation with Professor Sinclair on Reconciliation will happen shortly before the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, an important day in our country, and one that is surrounded by many opportunities to engage in reflection and learning on and off our campuses.

And of course, this term the Bisons return to the pitches, fields, courts, pools, and arenas. I am an avid supporter of our incredible student athletes (if I miss a game, one of the first things I do in the morning is read about the results) and I hope to see you at the games. Faculty and staff can get two free tickets to the Bison Homecoming Football Game (use code UMSTAFF23), and students always get into Bisons games for free! Grab your tickets and noisemakers and come cheer on our teams alongside me and the rest of the herd.

I’m looking forward to bumping into you at a game, on campus, at a market, or on the street.

Here’s to a great term!

Miigwech,

Michael Benarroch, PhD
President and Vice-Chancellor

Just as I am new to this position, and honoured to have taken it on, all of us are new to the world post-COVID-19 — and many of you are new to the university, whether as first year students, new faculty or staff, or even first-time visitors to the campus.

In the swirl and urgency of these unprecedented times, my commitment to you is that we who are here to support you will find creative ways to embrace you into this community and to enable you to achieve your academic and professional dreams. While day to day activities have changed for all of us and these pressures can sometimes appear overwhelming, there are supports in place to help us navigate through them successfully, and you can access this information on the UM COVID-19 webpage.

We don’t need to compromise our values and ideals as we face these new challenges; we simply need to dig deeper within them to inspire fortitude and positivity as we adjust to our new realities. And nothing prevents us from doing so in ways that will in many cases improve your engagement with our university.

We’ll utilize technology to open up new connections for you. We’ll work with partners to create new opportunities. We’ll work together in ways we likely never have before.

And we’ll always make sure to make your safety a priority.

There’s a lot before us. As always, at the core: learning, discovery and engagement. Inevitably: challenges, issues and missteps. And, thankfully, just as inevitably: opportunities, friendships and successes. Through it all we will benefit from our collective goodwill, and by operating in a spirit of transparency and accountability.

We’ll make this work, even while we have little idea how long it may last. And in the process not only will we attain our personal and institutional goals, but we will also contribute to this province’s wellbeing, especially as it strives to manage the pandemic. Our research and community work will help save lives at the front lines of the disease and will help mitigate its social and economic impacts. Our students, who are embracing a new mode of learning, will emerge from their programs with enhanced abilities to innovate, adapt and respond to unforeseen challenges.

Ultimately, I’m confident that, as Manitoba’s only research-intensive post-secondary institution, we will live up to our responsibilities and serve as a model of flexibility and innovation for our province.

Welcome to the University of Manitoba!

Miigwech.

Michael

Last year, the University of Manitoba community launched a revised set of behavioural policies, including a new stand-alone sexual assault policy.

Like other universities across Canada, the University of Manitoba recognized the continued importance of addressing behavioural issues.

Our ongoing goal is to build a culture of consent, respect, trust, and inclusivity and, most importantly, to ensure the safety of our community.

The revised policies, available online at http://umanitoba.ca/human_rights/rwle/index.html, are clear and direct, resulting from broad and extensive consultation with all groups on campus, including students, staff and faculty.

They also are responsive to the needs of our community.

The policies have been tested, and they work.

That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be reviewed. They can, and will be. Feedback from individuals involved directly in incidents, especially feedback from complainants, is always valued and will inform revisions, which will be undertaken every three years.

As has occurred recently, the effectiveness of our policies will attract scrutiny. Although I cannot speak to any individual case, I do want to take this opportunity to emphasize the university’s unwavering commitment to fostering a safe, inclusive and respectful environment.

That means that we deeply respect the concerns of any members of our community who show the courage to come forward with a complaint. Their thoughts and feelings are important to us. We will support them, we will follow through on their concerns, and we will do what we can to ensure their safety.

These matters are complex, and they require navigating many sensitive and challenging issues, often within a competing framework of rights and interests and legislative requirements. In order for the policies to work effectively, they have to respect the confidentiality and privacy of the complainant, but also of the respondent. That can be difficult to accept when one is directly involved, but it is essential in order to maintain the integrity of the process.

I am confident the policies work, that they help keep our campuses safe, inclusive and respectful.

The policies are critical to building the university we want to be, and we are committed to refining them as required. This is an iterative process. We listen, we learn, and we improve.

Perhaps it is fitting that, as we mark Homecoming Week, celebrating our achievements and successes, friendships and relationships, we also remind ourselves of our pledge to build a community together where we learn and work with one another assured of our safety, inclusion and respect.