The Martlet

In a small filing cabinet under the desk of Society for Students With a Disability (SSD) President Michael Allen-Newman, the story of Alkis Gerd’son unfolds in a stack of court records and affidavits.

Transcriptions of court proceedings, personal emails, and records of a 2011 B.C Human Rights Tribunal detail the legal back and forth of Gerd’son’s case against UVic, which lasted for five years and ended with his eviction.

Gerd’son garnered media attention nationwide in 2010 when he was evicted from UVic residence after a tenancy that spanned two decades.

“They did a number on him because he was a disabled person who couldn’t defend himself,” says Allen-Newman, a longtime friend who lived next door to Gerd’son for much of his stay in residence.

“Disabled people have been let down a lot and the university has gotten away with it because there’s nobody to correct their behaviour,” he says.

With the UVSS officially backing Kimberly Graham-Knight, a student with a disability who was recently denied priority access to residence, the SSD is ramping up its efforts to bring on-campus housing issues to the community’s attention.

Allen-Newman believes that both UVic’s support staff and administration lack the necessary education to properly accommodate students with disabilities, saying the details of Gerd’son’s case speak for themselves.

BACKGROUND

Gerd’son registered at UVic as a second-year science student in September 1988, having completed the first year of his program at the University of New Brunswick. He obtained a BA in 1993 and a B.Ed. in 1997, living on campus throughout his two degrees.

He returned to New Brunswick for a year in 1993 and again in 1999, coming back to UVic in May 2000 where he was unable to work on his Master’s thesis due to disabilities. These included Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

From 2000 to 2003, Gerd’son remained in University residence without taking any credit courses.

In April 2003, he received a letter from a housing office employee who expressed concern about his continued stay in residence, as he was not currently fulfilling the course load required to qualify for on-campus housing.

“Policy dictates that places in residences are for enrolled students. Residences exist to facilitate degree completion and support for the university’s strategic objectives,” said the letter.

At the time, UVic was in the middle of reforming its housing policies to allow first-year students guaranteed spots in residence.

The letter extended Gerd’son’s tenancy agreement to the end of August 2003 on the condition that he actively seek consultation from medical and psychological professionals regarding his disabilities. His housing status was to be re-evaluated, but further tenancy was not guaranteed.

In an effort to get his academic life back on track, Gerd’son went to the Director of Equity and Human Rights (DEHR) and developed a “recovery plan” that was anticipated to take two to three years. He wanted to obtain a certificate in Public Relations through Continuing Studies and several professional writing courses — hoping to one day enter the aviation industry as a consultant.

In April 2004, he moved into 157 Poole Hall, where he remained until December 2010.

THE FLOOD

On Oct. 26 2007, a water pipe located in the women’s washroom of Poole Hall burst.

Both Gerd’son’s and Allen-Newman’s rooms were flooded completely, prompting the university’s housing facilities manager to take the students affected to a nearby hotel.

Allen-Newman, who lived next door to Gerd’son from 2005 to 2010, was worried for the mental health of his neighbour in the days after the flood.

“You can’t keep moving a guy who has obsessive compulsive disorder every night from a hotel back to the university to check in and see if [his] apartment was ready,” he says. “You can’t do that to disabled people.”

“We had to fight just to get proper accommodations.”

In addition to reimbursement for his damaged possessions and payment of wages for the cleaning he had to do, Gerd’son also asked the university for compensation relating to his mental, physical and academic well-being.

“Why do I remain unhealthy? Much of the answer involves factors off campus, but UVic shares a past and current responsibility in this matter,” he wrote in an email to James Anglin, UVic’s VP of Student Affairs at the time.

He demanded that UVic senior management take initiative in providing him with assistance in recovering.

Initially, the Department of Student Services put forward $250 000 as potential settlement, to which Gerd’son did not agree, saying that the amount was not enough to fully compensate for both his physical and mental damages.

Gerd’son testified later during a Human Rights tribunal that the flood had caused him severe anxiety, a bad skin condition and constipation, alleging the university was not doing enough to accommodate his condition.

“For Alkis, the flood affected him more than it affected me,” says Allen-Newman. “His routine was all destroyed, and for him to be able to pick up the pieces [emotionally] it would take more than a day or even a week.”

“The university doesn’t acknowledge that we’re all different in our disabilities,” he says, adding that traumatic issues like flooding should be examined on a case-by-case basis for disabled students like Gerd’son, who had been reduced to an emotional wreck. “They try to fit us into the same hole — [but] square peg, round hole doesn’t work for us.”

Allen-Newman believes the UVic administration’s current housing-related complaints process is flawed because students are limited to filing human rights charges with little outside mediation.

“If you have an issue with the university, the only person you can turn to is the university. It’s kind of a conflict of interest really; you have a problem with the landlord and the only one you can appeal to is the landlord.”

AFTER THE FLOOD

On Nov. 27, 2007, a residence administration employee emailed Gerd’son to inform him that the university was not fiscally responsible for his discomfort or inconvenience.

“In the residence lease you were advised to carry adequate insurance coverage for water damage on your possessions . . . the University shall not be held liable for the cost,” the employee wrote.

Gerd’son was charged an additional $482.60 for various expenses related to his hotel accommodation after the flood.

In Dec. 2008, UVic commenced court proceedings to enforce an eviction notice against Gerd’son. But the court found that both parties were in a month-to-month tenancy relationship and did not issue an order for possession.

On Jan. 25, 2010, a campus security officer delivered him another eviction notice.

On Mar 26, 2010, Gerd’son found a notice taped to his door ordering him to vacate the premises by April 30, and on June 1, he was served with a writ of summons to enforce the eviction.

He was evicted on Dec. 3, 2010, where bailiffs attended his apartment and removed his possessions.

Since the tribunal, Gerd’son has taken time off to recuperate from the physical and emotional toll the proceedings inflicted on him. He is currently unable to comment on whether or not he will be pursuing further legal action.