UWaterloo pursues improvements of mental health supports, students express frustration with process

The University of Waterloo has hired seven additional mental health staff in response to the student walkout in March, improving the student-to-counsellor ratio to 1-to-1000. CBC interviewed a number of students from the walk-out group, however, who felt that the hiring was not enough and expressed frustration with the institution’s transparency throughout the process. UWaterloo Committee Chair John Hirdes explained that the university was currently prioritizing the 32 recommendations made by the committee, and noted that the institution had already begun to make progress. However, Hirdes cautioned that not all recommendations could be immediately undertaken and resolved, noting that “you can’t change culture overnight.” CBC