University of Waterloo reflects one year after hate-motivated stabbing spree

Exactly one year after a hate-motivated triple stabbing at the University of Waterloo, members of the school community are reflecting on what’s changed over the last year and what work still needs to be done.

On June 28, 2023, then 24-year-old Geovanny Villalba-Aleman entered a gender studies class and pulled two large knives out of his backpack. He stabbed three people including the professor and two students. They were all brought to hospital with injuries but have physically recovered.

In the days following the attack, Waterloo Regional Police Service confirmed it was hate-motivated towards gender expression and identity.

“After the event, there was a lot of fear,” student Amberlee Morgan said on Friday. “I myself am queer and I had a lot of friends that were queer as well, and the thought was ‘how are we supposed to feel safe here?’

Staff and students who gathered for an event to mark the sombre anniversary said classes like the gender studies one that was targeted are supposed to make students feel safest and informed.

“It’s interesting that you can feel shocked without necessarily feeling surprised,” Sheila Ager, the school’s dean of arts, said. “Of course we know about hate crimes and we know the targeting that goes on, so it’s not necessarily surprising, but it was definitely shocking.”

Over the past year, students and staff say they have noticed some changes around campus in light of the attacks.

The university, along with other schools, have changed the way class information is listed online.

There’s also a feeling of community among some school groups.

“I can’t be the only person who realized ‘wow, there is a group of amazing queer students on this campus,’” Morgan said. “Maybe, unfortunately, this what the light we needed to be seen. That’s terrible – we never want that to happen. But one of the great points coming of out it has to have been is that the community was able to acknowledge each other moving forward and know where their supports lie.”

Ager said there is still work to do.

“As academics, we need to find ways to take our knowledge and make it accessible, because sometimes we end up just speaking to each other all the time and not to the people who maybe need to hear and understand that knowledge is not threatening,” Ager said.

Following the attack, the University of Waterloo’s emergency alert system was questioned. Some campus members reported not receiving notifications about the attack in a timely matter.

The university said information about an entirely new system will be released next week, hoping to bring peace of mind to campus.