哥伦比亚国际学院在今日傍晚发表书面声明及对从上周三开始的学生冲突事件的事实报告. 该声明中称： 在过去一个星期里，哥伦比亚国际学院发生了一系列的事件，其中有些在中文新闻媒体和互联网及博客上已有报道。
哥伦比亚国际学院在今日傍晚发表书面声明及对从上周三开始的学生冲突事件的事实报告.
该声明中称：
在过去一个星期里，哥伦比亚国际学院发生了一系列的事件，其中有些在中文新闻媒体和互联网及博客上已有报道。
上周三，一位同学在房间里的包装方便面被拿，在周四、周五、周六这一小事件在我们的Pine Hall 宿舍的一些男学生中升级为涉及骚扰和种族名字称呼的系列事件。在一些场合，也有人推搡和拳脚相加。
在这一事件中，没有无辜受害者。所有参加的学生都自愿地参与了言语或行动上的对峙。
现在有关人员正在采取惩戒行动，对所有事件的调查目前仍在进行。此外，最直接参与此事的学生们已经对他们的行为承担责任，并已签署了一份备忘录，他们对在此次事件中所扮演的角色表达悔恨之意。
哥伦比亚国际学院将不会容忍种族主义和欺凌，并很严肃地看待这一问题。我们非常自豪地成为全球最多元文化的学校之一。通过我们的课程，课外活动和住宿编制，我们希望继续致力于学生的成长和发展，并促进文化间的包容和理解。
在声明最后，该学院表示他们很乐意提供更多的资料，或回答有关质疑，并公布了电话和EMAIL：905-572-7883 ext. 2883 或 [email protected]
在声明后，哥伦比亚国际学院还附有对于此次事件调查的事实报告。
哥伦比亚国际学院发表的正式声明原文如下：
Columbia International College of Canada
December 10 2008
Dear Parents and Agents:
Over the past week, a series of incidents have occurred at Columbia
International
College, some of which have received coverage in the Chinese news media and on internet blog sites.
What was a relatively minor episode last Wednesday involving some packaged noodles being taken from a student’s room has escalated into a series of incidents on Thursday, Friday and Saturday involving harassment and racial name calling among some teenaged boys at our Pine Hall residence.
On a couple of occasions there was also pushing and shoving, and punches being thrown.
There are no innocent victims in these situations.
All of the students involved have willingly participated either by their words or actions, or both.
Disciplinary action is being taken on a number of fronts and an investigation into all of the incidents is ongoing.
In addition, the students most directly involved have taken responsibility for their actions and have signed a memorandum expressing remorse for the roles they have played.
Columbia will not tolerate racism and bullying in our community, and views these matters seriously.
We are proud to be one of the most culturally diverse schools in the world.
Through our curriculum, extra-curricular activities and residence programming we hope to continue contributing to the growth and development of our students, and promote inclusiveness and appreciation across cultures.
As always, we would be pleased to provide more information, or address any questions or comments you may have.
Please feel free to contact me at the college, either by phone at 905-572-7883 ext. 2883 or [email protected]
Yours truly,
Ron Rambarran
Vice Principal
Columbia International College
Dec 10 2008
Statement of Facts
Facts for Wednesday December 5
§ The student Zhang Chi was bullied by his roommate, Jose, and Jose’s friends, Rako, Damon and Adil in the evening.
§ Zhang Chi was upset because Rako was stealing his instant noodles.
§ Jose and Rako shoved Zhang Chi around and raised a chair at him, but did not hit him.
§ Zhang Chi called the Hall Master, but when the Hall Master arrived in the room, the altercation had passed. The Hall Master told them that the issue would be reported to the school authorities and dealt with in school.
Facts for Thursday December 6
§ The students involved with this incident were brought before the Vice Principal who tried to investigate and gather all the information together.
§ Principal, Vice Principal, Assistant to Vice Principal, Director of Student Development and Residence Coordinator started an investigation immediately. No final decision was made on any disciplinary actions pending on further audio and video tapes to be submitted by students involved.
§ Zhang Chi was examined by the school nurse and no evidence of physical harm was found.
§ The students involved apologized to each other and shook hands.
§ Jose, Rako and Adil were asked to stay away from Zhang Chi until the matter was resolved.
§ Around dinner time 6:00pm, Jose provoked Damon by stating that Damon would receive the highest form of disciplinary penalty, although no penalty was decided at that point by the school.
§ This incident caused Damon to confront Zhang Chi but was stopped by the Hall Master. After they were separated Damon began to shout words of defamations to Zhang Chi.
§ The residence staff asked Jose, Rako, Damon and Adil and Zhang Chi to attend a supervised meeting in the lobby at 8:00pm so they could resolve the issue through staff mediation.
§ Zhang Chi felt threatened to attend the meeting alone and asked several of his friends to come along for support. His request resulted in 60 of his Chinese friends coming to the lobby to support him.
§ The students started to confront each other and a flower pot was thrown on the floor.
§ The senior staff were called in to resolve the situation. While the senior staff were talking to the students, an unknown student from outside of the meeting room yelled profanities against the Chinese. This further agitated the students and the senior staff were able to put the situation under control.
Facts for Friday December 7
§ A general meeting with the students involved in the Thursday evening incident was held in the school at 2:30pm.
§ Damon apologized for his actions to all students involved; however, some students did not feel the apology was genuine.
§ After the meeting, there was a fight between Lin and Denys. This was a result of a personal conflict 2 weeks before and was not related to situation with Zhang Chi.
§ Extra staff were put on duty in the residence and a private security firm was also hired to assist in maintaining a safe residence environment.
§ The news of the profanities was circulated on the web and this angered more Columbia students and students in the community. A large crowd started to gather and soon became unruly.
§ Police and school administrators were called in to help restore order and maintain continual safety.
§ The students settled in for the night and everything was peaceful.
Facts for Saturday December 8
§ Around 10:30pm. Students from various countries were in the T.V room watching the NBA game.
§ One student stood up and raised his middle finger in the direction of his friend.
§ Other students misinterpreted it and thought the profanity was directed at them. This resulted in a fight between these students.
§ Around 1:30am a false fire alarm went off. The students were evacuated from the building. When they exited the building they met a group of approximately 50 students from Columbia and other schools in the Hamilton and Toronto communities.
§ A small fight broke out between the group and one Columbia student. During this fight, the one Columbia student that was attacked by the group was protected by a Chinese and Cambodian student. As a result, these students sustained minor injuries. This is the Chinese student whose image is seen in the newspaper.
§ The police was called in to maintain order. One student who physically resisted the police was handcuffed.
§ The police and Columbia’s privately hired security service managed to disperse the crowd.
§ The students were guided into their residence room by school administrators and settled in for the night.
§ The police and security guards stayed on duty just to ensure continual safety of the students.
Facts for Sunday December 9
§ School administration and senior staff held a meeting in Pine Hall residence with all the students involved.
§ The students protected by the Chinese students the night before expressed their thanks towards the Chinese students for protecting their friend.
§ The misunderstandings between the groups from different countries were resolved amicably and the two groups shook hands.
§ The two police cruisers and privately hired security again stayed at the residence to maintain a peaceful and secure atmosphere.
Monday December 10, 2007
§ School administrators met spent the day investigating the incidents of the past few days. Each isolated incident of the past few days was investigated separately and discipline from the first incident was assigned.
§ Further discipline for the other incidents will follow upon further investigation.
§ The Vice Principal updated all students on the situation and announced the discipline from the first incident on Wednesday night.
§ One student has been expelled from the residence, others have been suspended, and a few will not be readmitted for the winter semester in January 2008.
§ Those that were involved to a limited extent were disciplined with grounding and fines.
§ School is continuing to view all its surveillance videos with the security agency and will identify the instigators and discipline them appropriately.
§ We will inform you of any progress in our investigations. Further updates will be posted.
