The exam period problem

Natalie Livshitz
Comics & Graphics Editor
Many York students writing fall semester exams were inconvenienced by countless delays this December, ranging from bomb threats and false fire alarms to a campus-wide evacuation due to a fire that shut down the entire heating system at York’s keele campus.

Though false fire alarms and bomb threats do not pose any physical harm to students, the diesel-oil fire that originated in York’s central utilities building on Dec. 13 was a very real threat.
About 3,000 Keele campus residents were evacuated, and over 1,100 were offered alternate accommodations off campus in various hotels. They were offered transportation to and from the university, and were given $50 food vouchers for meals.
Fortunately, no injuries were reported; however, 142 exams were postponed as a result of this delay alone, leaving students feeling stressed and frustrated.
Shobhi Francis-Xavier, a fifth- year science and technology major, had her exam postponed following the Dec. 13 evacuation. Her rescheduled exam was disrupted by the Dec. 19 bomb threat.
“It was unfortunate what took place last week [Dec. 13], but today’s incident just pushed the limit,” said Francis-Xavier. “If it were one of the few times that York University had to face fire alarms, I could have been more understanding but for the years I’ve spent at York University, this has been a recurring issue.”
The university feels that given the unforeseeable circumstances, the evacuation and accommodations were handled quite promptly.
“It’s unfortunate this happened on the first day of exams, but exams were rescheduled and all of them did take place within the exam period which ended on Dec. 23,” said Keith Marnoch, associate director of media relations. “The university feels that we did what we could for the students, and they were our first concern with regards to how to get through that situation.”
Two false bomb threats called in on Dec. 19 and Dec. 20 further delayed exams. According to police, the threats were called in around 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. respectively, and forced the evacuation of hundreds of students, faculty and staff from Curtis Lecture Hall and Vari Hall.
According to the Varsity, the University of Toronto’s student newspaper, U of T students did not experience any disruptions this exam period. The Eyeopener, Ryerson University’s student newspaper, confirmed some false fire alarms did occur during their exam period, but that they did not experience any bomb threats.
Marnoch says the problem is being addressed on a number of levels.
“It’s a criminal offence to pull a fire alarm or to call in a false bomb threat,” he emphasized. “It’s a serious offence not only from a disruption point of view for students, but also as a safety concern for the community. You take the amount of emergency services away from people.”
York typically invests $250,000 in additional security measures for the exam period each year. The university also pays additional fees – between $1,000 and $10,000 per disruption – every time the Toronto police or fire department respond to false alarms and threats; these fees totaled $93,000 last year.
Vanessa Hunt, vice-president campus life for the York Federation of Students (YFS), recalls a time when false alarms were far more frequent than they are today.
“When I was a first year undergrad back in 2005, these were far more prevalent […] especially during exam period,” she said.
Hunt believes the best course of action is to educate students about the serious nature of reporting false alarms and to ensure they are better prepared to perform without feeling the need to “buy” extra study time this way.
“False alarms […] are really expensive,” she noted. “We should be educating students about the effects of pulling these alarms. Look at how it affects students, how it affects the university financially.”
She also noted these frequent false alarms may be desensitizing students to the ring of the alarm bells.
“When a fire alarm or any alarm goes off, people here at York just ignore it rather than take it seriously, which is very scary,” said Hunt. “What’s going to happen when it really does happen?”
With files from YLife, Victoria Alarcon, Jacqueline Perlin and Yuni Kim