Lethbridge College’s Criminal Justice Program has been forced to move from one end of the college to another due to a structural concern.
One wall inside the crisis classroom was deemed unsafe due to ongoing construction of the new Trades building.
The Criminal Justice program has shifted classrooms and is now sharing space with students in the Digital Communications and Media Program, and staff in the audio/visual department.
CJ Instructor David Maze, said the condition of the wall was something they couldn’t ignore.
“It’s actually physically moving so we had a safety issue in relation to the students and being able to instruct in the class.”
The wall is an internal structure and is designed to separate rooms inside the college.
Due to construction of the trades building, it became the only wall separating the room from the outside.
The move comes at a time where the crisis class introduces role-playing.
The students are put in real life crisis situations where they are taught to react to different controversial scenarios.
“We are going to be able to do exactly what we do in the role-play at a different location. In actuality we can be a little bit more creative with the way the studio is set up,” said Maze.
Maze was originally concerned the move would lessen the students experience.
“We were worried they would end up missing classes. The last month and a half of the semester are all role-plays. We can only do three classes a day and we have to include everyone. Each class includes 24 students,” said Maze.
He adds he is impressed with how quickly the college reacted to the situation including the Audio-Visual team.
“They were extremely flexible and were able to re-establish us within 24 hours. They set it up to record and audio tape all of our stuff,” said Maze.
Elio Girardi, Audio-Visual coordinator, got the new room ready for the CJ department and said he’s happy to share his space, adding it wasn’t much of an adjustment.
“It’s an easy move, because in the studio it’s a blank space. We have lighting grids on top and it was really easy to hook up the cameras send in some microphones and set the control room,” said Girardi.
Maze said the move is temporary and expects the wall to be replaced and everything to be put back in order in time for the fall semester of next year.
