Students will return to the University of Waterloo gender studies class this week where three people were stabbed during an attack last Thursday, according to university president Vivek Goel.
“I appreciate the support that colleagues in the Faculty of Arts have provided for everyone involved,” he said in a six-part tweet that was posted on Tuesday.
“This week, Philosophy 202/Gender and Social Justice 222, will continue and colleagues will support students as they return to class.”
The school president also stated that moving forward would not be easy for some staff.
“I recognize that it will be difficult for Gender & Social Justice, Philosophy, & other instructors who teach about gender issues to return to the classroom,” he said.
He noted that the school cannot continue as if nothing ever happened.
“A professor and two students were brutally stabbed, and an entire class was terrorized, simply because of the subject that was being taught,” Goel said.
“The attack forever changed the lives of those directly assaulted.”
Last Thursday at around 3:30 p.m., the Waterloo police chief said that a man entered the gender studies class in Hagey Hall and confirmed with the professor what the subject was before pulling out two knives.
He then allegedly stabbed the professor and two other students before fleeing the scene, attempting to blend in with others before being arrested by officers based on the description of witnesses in the class.
International student Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, 24, is facing a number of charges including aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and mischief under $5,000.
He appeared in court on Tuesday but his bail hearing was pushed back to July 11
Goel also said that the school is considering campus security, attempting to straddle the line between the safety of staff and students alongside the freedoms which are expected on a university campus.
“We will continue to consider appropriate security on our campuses and in our classrooms, while also keeping in mind the openness and inclusion that enables our environment of free expression and dialogue,” he wrote.
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