The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 1 - 64

Michelle Pidgeon * Chris Rogerson

Relevant and Reciprocal Policies and
Practices
Institutional policies are key to transforming
campus spaces and practices that work together to support Aboriginal student success
(Pidgeon, 2014). In this regard, relevant accommodations are required along with responsible and respectful practices and policies
that support Indigenous students' cultural
integrity. Both the CAS (2015) and ACUHO-I
(2015) standards clearly outline best practices
and program requirements for the administration and operation of on-campus housing
programs. The provision of "residence environments which foster an appreciation of
differences including cultural differences,
perspectives and ideas, sexual identity, education, disability, ethnicity, gender, age, lifestyles, spirituality and other forms of diversity"
(ACUHO-I, 2015, p. 13) is the cornerstone of
a quality on-campus housing environment
that is affordable and attractive for current and
future generations of residents.
Although housing best practices do not
specifically focus on the provision of Aboriginal student housing, the CAS (2015) and
ACUHO-I (2015) standards indicate that a
residence should be inclusive of all students of
an institution and flexible enough to address
the educational needs of the community. As
the Aboriginal student representation on our
campuses continues to grow, policies and practices must be reflective of their needs. Our
review of the institutional websites found few
direct programs to support the housing needs
of these students. As demonstrated earlier
in Table 2, of the 58 institutions in Western
Canada, only 3 (5.2%) offer dedicated on-campus housing options for Aboriginal students,
64

which range from dedicated family housing
spaces to an entire house reserved for Aboriginal students. These spaces are not necessarily
segregated, but rather are dedicated specifically for Aboriginal students within the existing
on-campus housing properties. We found that
other forms of Aboriginal student housing
support-ranging from priority access policies
for on-campus housing operations to the provision of off-campus housing referrals or postings-were available at 19% of the institutions,
the majority being in BC schools.
The on-campus student housing options
at Western Canada institutions range from
single or double occupancy traditional-style
rooms to suite-style, apartment-style, and
townhouses. Of the 58 institutions that offer
student housing, 47.6% have family housing
options available to their students. Of all the
institutions, eleven (18.9%) also provide-
through their Aboriginal student support
services-off-campus housing support for
Aboriginal students by referrals or housing
boards. We also found that 10.3% had some
type of Aboriginal-specific housing (especially
family housing) accommodation policy, which
provides priority admission or reserved rooms
dedicated for Aboriginal students. Three institutions in BC offer priority access for Aboriginal students.
Many of the housing policies related to
single residence accommodations are problematic for Aboriginal students, particularly those
with families, since these policies focus on
students who are single and without dependents. As discussed earlier, Aboriginal students
who are over the age of 21 and have children or
other family or cultural responsibilities require
multi-room accommodations. Although these

T h e J o u r n a l o f C o l l e g e a n d U n i v e r s i t y St u d e n t H o u s i n g

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 1

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