No staff, no programs at UVic’s Third Space

The latest news from the Third Space collective (formerly the University of Victoria Women’s Centre) comes from a source who received a letter from the collective’s governing body, the UVic Students Society. According to the letter, the staff have left or quit, and no one is currently running programs at the Third Space. Kay Gallivan’s term as Communications Coordinator has ended, and Nadia Hamdon has stepped down from her role as Finance Coordinator, the source said.

We can understand why people might distance themselves from the advocacy group, especially since it voted in August 2016 to “donate” thousands of dollars of university money to its own former Finance Coordinator, Daphne Shaed – the self-proclaimed “tranny cyborg Hindu goddess” who looks to us like a white man with a huge case of entitlement.

The Third Space collective has been in a state of chaos since it started making concessions to allow people who do not identify as women into the women’s centre. Soon after, the group changed its name to Third Space and began denouncing and banning feminists. Allegations of harassment have flown in every direction all summer.

This is the second time in four months that the space has been left unstaffed. In June 2016, the coordinators unexpectedly went “on leave” and the centre was closed for several weeks before it re-opened as Third Space. No events or programs for students or community members have been scheduled since May 2016.

The Centre’s budget is estimated at over $40,000, all of it collected from UVic students. We are still trying to find out where the group spends that money.