HALIFAX, N.S. — Oct. 12 was a dark night on Jennings Street as eyewitnesses watched a U-Haul full of DJ equipment pull up, signalling the arrival of Dalhousie University President Kim Brooks. After weeks of chaos from the Dalhousie Faculty Association strike, Brooks apparently decided that the best way to vibe-check students and regain their approval is to move into their off-campus house on Jennings Street.
Residents of Jennings Street reported Kim Brooks arrived late in the night, marking her arrival with an ominous rendition of “Barrett’s Privateers.” The house, already crowded with six second-year girls majoring in psychology and gender studies, was forced to accept their new roommate after tenants were threatened by a group of individuals wearing dark uniforms that read Dal Security.
“They just showed up in a black SUV and handed us a contract,” says Kimberly Stills, a resident of 1586 Jennings Street.
“They said, ‘Sign here or you’ll never see the beautiful law library ever again. You’ll study in the Killam for life.’ I was all for saving the law library, so of course I signed it. I didn’t really get that he was threatening us with expulsion at first, so yeah, now Kim Brooks is in our living room.”
As Brooks called her first house meeting, she had one thing to proclaim: “I didn’t come here to make friends. I came here to raise my Rate My Professor score.”
Despite her intentions, Brooks has created distance between herself and her roommates with relentless texts that read, “I am writing to remind you that Saturday, Nov. 1, is the roommate add/drop date, which means it is the last day to find a sublet for the month without implications.”
Brooks has been feeling left out of her roommates’ plans.
“I have learned that a large unsanctioned party is being planned off-campus this weekend,” she said, “I want to be clear, organizing and attending a party without me is unacceptable.”
Despite Brooks’s constant requests to be on aux at the parties she is invited to, her Rate My Professor score remains low.
By Matt Macdonald