All Posts Tagged With: "Queen’s University"
Stop calling these students mentally ill
Anxiety and depression need to be reclassified
Photo by Sander van der Wel on Flickr
Lately, we’ve been hearing a lot about efforts to improve the services available to students related to their psychological well-being on campuses. University presidents met for a workshop recently, and Queen’s University welcomed a new $1-million chair to study stigma.
Now, I am no mental health professional but I do know a few things about universities and have some experience with anxiety and depression.
If it were up to me, those trying to improve things on Canadian campuses would keep one crucial principle in mind: be careful how you talk about it.
First, let’s call depression and anxiety something other than “mental illness.”
OPIRG fee voted down by Queen’s students
Campus conservatives celebrate
The Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) will no longer get $4.36 from each Queen’s student after 62 per cent of voters in last week’s referendum supported eliminating the fee.
OPIRG and its individual branches have been controversial on Canadian campuses for promoting what critics say are left-wing political causes that don’t reflect the wider community’s beliefs.
The Public Interest Research Groups at more than one Canadian university have been criticized for supporting Israeli Apartheid Week, an annual event that encourages sanctions against Israel.
Stuart Clark, who organized the anti-OPIRG campaign, made a similar argument that student’s fees shouldn’t go to political causes. After winning, he posted this on the Ontario Progressive Conservative Campus Association’s Facebook wall: “We took down OPIRG. I think celebrations are in order!”
The 10 biggest stories in Canadian higher education
The (surprisingly) most-read stories of 2011
Photo by Kelly Finnamore on Flickr
Each year, we offer Maclean’s On Campus readers a look back at the Top 10 most-read higher education news stories of the year. There were two big themes in 2011. First, the many scandals over universities’ reputations, from Alberta to Queen’s to St. FX. Second, uncertainty about the job market for grads.
1. Time for this year’s edition of X-ring Idol
Our blogging English professor, Todd Pettigrew, dared to compare the obsession of St. Francis Xavier students with their beloved X-ring to Gollum’s unhealthy quest for the precious. We knew St. FX students would defend their tradition vociferously—and they did, with more than 250 comments over three days. Most were from alumni and students who thought Pettigrew missed the point. They argued that the ring symbolizes their hard work and the family-like bond they instantly glean whenever a fellow X-grad catches a glimpse of their band. Then again, dozens of readers agreed with Pettigrew—some even suggested the flood of emotional reactions reinforced his point.
Continue reading The 10 biggest stories in Canadian higher education
Away from home for the holidays
Why some students stick around school
Exams are wrapping up, and university campuses across Canada are emptying out for the winter break. But as The Canadian Press reminds us, not everyone goes home for the holiday season: family drama, lack of downtime, distance and and high airline costs (though, at least in the future they’ll be less deceptive high airline costs) are just some of the reasons students stay at school.
But it isn’t all bad: many students travel, spend time with friends, explore new traditions and bake. And, as the article notes, some universities host events for stranded students yearning for a home-cooked meal:
For the past 12 years, Concordia University in Montreal has hosted a dinner soiree. The school invites all of its 4,700 foreign students, and the first 300 to respond are treated to a three-course meal.
If you go to Queen’s University, the International Centre is hosting a holiday networking tea on Dec. 20.
Are you staying at school for the holidays? Share your on-campus plans.
Where the rich kids go
Guess which universities get the least student financial aid
From Queen's Players "I go to Queen's!"
You know the stereotype that Queen’s University attracts rich kids? The one played up in this recent viral video in which a student jokes: “I don’t know what financial aid is, but Queen’s has it.”
Well, if the number of students receiving financial assistance is any indication, it’s very likely true.
Queen’s University has the lowest number of students receiving Ontario Student Assistance in the province: only 29.6 per cent of students.
Contrast that to Nipissing University in the relatively poorer north of Ontario, where twice as many—59.6 per cent—get loans. It’s almost as high at Trent University—59.3 per cent.
It’s a rough time to be a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Few jobs. Shut programs. How art schools are adapting.
Artist photo by chadmagiera on Flickr
Christina McKenzie is pretty typical of Bachelor of Fine Arts graduates these days. She doesn’t regret taking a BFA at York University (2005). She’s grateful for the four years she spent exploring photography, bronze-casting, painting, drawing, book-making, sculpture and art history.
But there’s another part of her that wishes she’d taken something more focused, like photography or design, perhaps. Had she done that, who knows where she’d be?
McKenzie had planned to become an art teacher after her BFA. She was even accepted to a teacher’s college, but deferred it. She’s very glad she did. At least a quarter of her art school colleagues went on to teacher’s college. Many can’t find jobs. In fact, two-thirds of new teaching graduates in Ontario can’t find work as teachers.
Continue reading It’s a rough time to be a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Queen’s University’s marching band suspended
Distributed sexually offensive pamphlets
Queen’s University’s bands were suspended yesterday after distributing offensive pamphlets.
The pamphlets contained phrases that made light of rape, lewd photos and nods to bestiality, according to the Queen’s Journal. Entitled “The Banner,” versions of the mock song-books have been distributed to band members for years. The Queen’s Bands Executive sent an email Wednesday to bands members ordering them to destroy all hard copy or digital versions.
But it was too late. They were asked to meet with the Vice-Provost and Dean of Student Affairs, Anne Tierney, who suspended the club. Band members have developed an action plan that could allow them to be reinstated next year. It includes human rights training.
The media frenzy around the pamphlets comes at a bad time for Queen’s officials. Yesterday, they distanced itself from a fake ad that plays up Queen’s stereotypes—sexual proclivity included.
Fake Queen’s University advertisement plays up sterotypes
Entertaining, if you don’t take it too seriously
Most universities get stereotyped—most unfairly.
Guelph is thought of as the cow college, even though agricultural students comprise only a tiny fraction of the student body.
The University of Victoria has a reputation for attracting laid-back hippies, even though it’s a research powerhouse that ranked second in the 21st Maclean’s University Rankings.
And Queen’s University? Well, its stereotypes are multiple… and legendary. Queen’s has a reputation for being an upper-crust, primarily-Caucasian institution where students drink to excess, have a lot of sex and think very highly of themselves.
Continue reading Fake Queen’s University advertisement plays up sterotypes
Queen’s suspends fine arts program
Budget is to blame
Artist photo by savrae on Flickr.
Queen’s University is suspending enrolment to its Bachelor of Fine Arts program, citing a lack of resources, rather than a lack of enrollments, reports the Globe and Mail. The 107 students currently in the program have been assured they’ll be able to finish their degrees, but there won’t be any new students taken in 2012-2013. This year, 30 students enrolled—the program’s capacity. Last year, the program attracted 50 per cent more students than capacity. But the program, with small classes and special classrooms, is expensive to run.
Due to similar budget pressures, the University of Windsor is suspending its popular but expensive-to-offer Music Therapy program as of 2012.
Fine Arts programs have had declining enrollments in recent years. Four per cent fewer students from Ontario secondary schools entered Fine Arts programs this September, despite enrollment that was up 1.7 overall, according to the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre. The Council of Ontario Universities also revealed yesterday that Fine Arts graduates from the class of 2008 had the lowest average salary in 2010, earning $34,653 on average, compared to $49,469 overall.
That’s the spirit
Canadian schools have crazy fans and community too
Nipissing University maniacs. By Cole Garside.
From the Maclean’s University Rankings—on newsstands now. Story by Alex Ballingall.
We’ve all seen it: the near-ubiquitous image of the spirited American college student chanting a school slogan, streaking across campus or slogging back a beer from a Dixie cup in a stadium parking lot. It’s the sort of paint-your-body zealotry often depicted in Hollywood movies.
Doesn’t seem very Canadian, does it?
Certainly not according to the 2010 edition of The Insider’s Guide to the Colleges, a yearly publication out of Yale University that documents the strengths and weaknesses of North American universities. “One aspect of college life that Canada fails to offer is school spirit,” the guide stipulates. “Their attachment to their schools is not as strong as in the United States.”
Canadian wins “Dance your PhD” competition
Contest helps share science
Emma Ware, a PhD biology candidate at Queen’s University is among four winners in an international contest called Dance Your PhD, reports CBC News. Click here to see the video.
The contest, which is exactly what its title suggests, was founded by John Bohannon, a science journalist and researcher at Harvard. He first held the contest as a way to have fun at a party, but quickly realized that it could help scientists with the perennial problem of communicating their work to the public. The video-based entries were judged by both scientists and professional dancers. Ware’s video for her thesis, which is called A Study of Social Interactivity Using Pigeon Courtship, won in the social science category, which comes with a prize of $500.
An overall best PhD dancer will be chosen next. He or she will receive an additional $500, plus a trip to Brussels in November to perform at the Tedx conference.
Queen’s rector resigns
Nick Day faced impeachment after comments on Israel
Queen’s University Rector Nick Day, has resigned.
The news follows a March vote in which 72 per cent of undergraduate students recommended impeachment. Day had angered many when he wrote a letter on behalf of students to former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, who had denounced Israeli Apartheid Week as a “dangerous cocktail of ignorance and intolerance.”
In the letter, Day blasted Ignatieff for allegedly supporting a “genocide” against Palestinians.
He was never impeached, in part because the Society of Graduate and Professional students, who are also represented by the rector, had chosen not to participate in Alma Mater Society vote and instead moved to “Support Academic Freedom and Queen’s University Rector Nick Day.”
They were forced to hold their own referendum when more than 10 per cent of graduate and professional students signed a petition in favour of one. Among those voted, 44 per cent wanted Day removed and 56 did not.*
Day said that he regretted signing the letter with his official title.
This post has been updated to add the results of the SGPS referendum.
Queen’s reaches tentative deal with faculty
Strike won’t occur if agreement is ratified
Queen’s University and its faculty association reached a tentative agreement on Monday afternoon.
That means there won’t be a strike or lockout anytime soon.
The deal still must be ratified by both sides, but it has the support of Paul Young, the Queen’s University Faculty Association president. QUFA represents 1,200 professors and librarians.
“It’s a sufficiently good agreement,” he told the Whig-Standard newspaper. ”I think it’s pretty reasonable, given the circumstances and the economic climate.”
Queen’s officials presented the union with the offer around 4 a.m. Monday, four hours after the strike deadline had passed. The union executive came to a consensus Monday afternoon.
Principal Daniel Woolf said he was “absolutely delighted” that a tentative agreement was reached. “This was a very challenging rounds of talks,” he said.
Details about the agreement aren’t yet available, but Young had previously said that pensions, pay and job security were some of the union’s concerns.
Queen’s faculty strike deadline passes
Union executive is considering university’s offer
A strike deadline passed at Queen’s University this morning at 12:01 a.m. without a deal between the faculty association and administrators, reports the Kingston Whig-Standard.
However, at 5:30 a.m., Queen’s released the following statement: “The mediator advises that the talks between Queen’s and QUFA have been adjourned to allow the union negotiating committee the opportunity to meet with the QUFA executive to consider the employer’s offer. The parties will continue under the communication blackout until the conclusion of the meeting.”
The Queen’s University Faculty Association (QUFA) represents nearly 1,200 professors, librarians and archivists. The union received a strike mandate on July 15.
Job security, pensions and wages are issues of concern, QUFA’s Paul Young told the Whig-Standard on Sunday. ”We are very much focused on a negotiated agreement, that’s for sure,” Ellie Sadinsky told the paper on behalf of the administration.
Queen’s President: quality has been “compromised”
“Unthinkable” to be compared to Waterloo, McMaster, Guelph
A leaked letter written by Queen’s University’s principal reveals a man who is worried about the school’s slipping reputation, its upcoming labour strife and ongoing financial struggles — which he beleives can only be overcome by more corporate partnerships. The letter was supposed by be a private list of his goals for the upcoming year, but it found its way onto Facebook and Twitter.
Daniel Woolf’s candour on the school’s changing reputation is most striking.
“At Queen’s, where the financial situation is particularly acute, the quality that once defined the institution is clearly being compromised,” he wrote to William Young, who chairs the Board of Trustees. “It would have been unthinkable 20 years ago that the quality reputation of undergraduate education at Queen’s would be challenged by Waterloo and McMaster …to say nothing of Guelph – but it is clearly happening.”
He goes on to say, “it is time to leverage our assets to achieve international recognition… the distinctive small-town Ivy League experience of a Queen’s education with its excellence in both teaching and research, should be embraced – it is this cachet that attracts students from around the world to Cornell and Dartmouth in the U.S. In Canada Queen’s is arguably the only university with this pedigree.”
He also says that the school must “attract many more international students (which is the longer term key both to greater revenue and greater global reputation).”
Then he suggests that the long-term financial situation will only be improved through more partnerships with corporations, citing Stanford’s partnership with IBM and MIT’s partnership with Nokia as examples. More corporate cash is needed because: “the past two decades have seen a complete reversal of the funding model for Ontario universities: 20 years ago 74% of our operating budget was provided by the province; today, that figure has flipped to 47%.”
He also suggests that his Principal’s Commission on Mental Health could be leveraged for funding. “It crosses directly into fund-raising, as there are corporations with a keen interest in this area (including Bell, which has already funded a Chair in the area (to be announced publicly in the fall).”
He does see some light on the horizon regarding government funding — but, in doing so, admits that quick growth has compromised the school’s quality.
“The good news is that Queen’s may not have to grow dramatically just to get what little provincial funding there is. In late May, at a speech I attended in Toronto, the Hon. John Milloy, Ontario’s Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, announced plans of replacing some per-student funding with performance-based support… We may revise our growth projections to take advantage of such a change, should it occur.”
Finally, he writes that his number one goal for the year is to “negotiate successful labour group agreements,” because he antcipates six months of labour unrest. He added that, “I appreciate the Board’s understanding that these disruptions, should they occur, will be unpleasant and potentially reputational-damaging in the short term, but they may be a necessary step in order to achieve success in salary restraint and pension reform.”
Near the end, he writes, “I would anticipate a summary of this document, duly adjusted for a public audience.”
The letter was posted by Ashley Ratcliffe to her Facebook in a “note” and then was circulated on Twitter.
Queen’s communications director Ellie Sadinsky told the Queen’s Journal that Principal Woolf learned that the letter had been leaked and circulated through his Twitter account. He defended the letter in a tweet to former Engineering Society President* Victoria Pleavin, saying “This is my annual ‘goals’ doc to the Board—a normal process; negotiated labour agreements are a priority, as stated.”
*This post originally named Victoria Pleavin as the president of the Engineering Society. In fact, the current president is Derrick Dodgson. We regret the error.
Queen’s to ban alcohol during Frosh Week
Most first-year students can’t legally drink
Queen’s University, the site of at least two alcohol-related deaths last year, will ban alcohol entirely from residences during Frosh Week — even for those who have reached the legal drinking age, reports the Queen’s Journal.
University officials told the Journal that 92 per cent of first-year students in residence are under the legal drinking age anyway.
The Alcohol Working Group came up with the idea, stating the ban would “clearly signal Queen’s commitment to reducing alcohol-related harm, particularly at a critical transitional time when the risk of alcohol misuse among 1st year students has been known to be high (with a tragic alcohol-related accidental death of one resident during Orientation week in 2010).”
Coroner Roger Skinner recommended a review of campus alcohol policies after determining that the 2010 deaths of Cameron Bruce, who fell out of a window on the sixth-floor of a residence, and Habib Khan, who died after falling through a skylight, were alcohol-related.
Students caught with alcohol during Frosh Week will will be given “educational assignments” and watch their alcohol be poured out.
The normal rules that allow drinking among those of legal age will return Sept. 11.
Graduate student residences will not face the new rule.
Royals appealing to many Canadian youth
Monarchist League counts 1,500 members under age 25
Photo courtesy of Theodore Scott on Flickr
The Monarchist League of Canada is attracting young people in numbers that may seem surprising, considering the image of royal-watchers as tea-sipping senior citizens. There are 1,500 people under the age of 25 among 10,000 members of the League, according to the Ottawa Citizen.
Not only that, there are active branches of the league on at least four university campuses: at Queen’s, Ottawa, Toronto and Saint Francis Xavier. Some oung members say that William and Kate are easy for young people to relate to. Others say it’s a way to show their patriotism.
Still, not everyone is excited about the upcoming visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The Quebec Resistance Network expects 300 protesters when the couple visit that province in July.
This is positive student action
Students organize ‘Queen’s Loves U’ event in wake of recent deaths
One can easily become quite soured on the issue of student activism if writing about post-secondary issues for an extended (or any) period of time. If it isn’t one group bullying and throwing tantrums to get its message heard, it’s another resorting to ridiculous measures to prevent someone else’s message from being heard. And of course, there are always a fervent few along the way to call you out for your inherent privilege. Isn’t student action swell?
This time, though, the message is positive and the approach is respectful, which has done everyone’s blood pressure a lot of good, to say the least. Students at Queen’s University organized and led an event called “Queen’s Loves U,” this past Thursday in response to the deaths experienced by the Queen’s community this year. Six students have died during the school year, at least two by committing suicide. The event was started by third year political science student Kevin Imrie, who created a Facebook page after the most recent tragedy.
The goal of Queen’s Loves U was to reinvigorate a sense of community at Queen’s University. Along with providing support, encouraging random acts of kindness, and creating a space for dialogue, the event hosted tables where students could write open letters to the community, which will be bound and stored in the Queen’s archives. More than 4,000 people confirmed attendance on Facebook.
Critics of the event have said that it fails to pragmatically address student concerns. For example, graduating student Kavita Bissoondial writes in the Queen’s Journal:
For many of us who fall outside of the margins of what is thought of as ‘normal’ or ‘desirable’ at Queen’s, we have been taught since the beginning that we were never meant to be here [. . .] To say that Queen’s loves me is to completely ignore, dismiss and deny my five years at this institution and the trauma I am still working through.
While I won’t take on the premise that Queen’s actively teaches its “undesirable” students that they “were never meant to be here,” I don’t think Queen’s Loves U as an event serves to dismiss the struggles faced by students each day. In fact, it seems to do quite the opposite. Recognizing the backlog faced by mental health services at the university, students have taken it upon themselves to remind their peers that they can act as resources for each other on campus. While one could say that a more pragmatic approach would have been to focus on expanding mental health services at the university, this event is frankly more immediate, more inclusive, more personal, and in my opinion, simply better served.
So haters can keep on hating. It seems Queen’s loves u anyway.
Students vote to impeach Queen’s rector
Referendum results show 72% of students want Nick Day gone
Undergraduates at Queen’s University have voted 72 per cent in favour of making a recommendation to the university to impeach rector Nick Day.
A referendum was held from March 22 to 23 where students were asked to respond to the question:
Shall it be recommended to the University Council of Queen’s University that Nick Day not continue to hold the office of Rector of Queen’s University at Kingston? Yes ___, No ___.
A total of 3803 students voted (out of an eligible 14244): 2714 votes were in favour of the recommendation (72 per cent), while 1061 of votes were opposed (28 per cent).
The Alma Mater Society (AMS) at Queen’s University immediately released a statement saying, “Since the result of this Special AMS Student Vote are in the affirmative, the Society therefore recommends to the University Council of Queen’s University that Nick Day not continue to hold the Office of Rector of Queen’s University at Kingston.”
Day recently came under fire for writing a public letter defending Israeli Apartheid Week to Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and signing with his official university title. Noting in his letter that that he “was elected to represent the approximately 20,000 students of Queen’s University,” Day claimed that Israel was guilty of genocide and is acting as the perpetrator of “perhaps the biggest human rights tragedy of my generation.”
Day was also formally censured by the AMS Assembly back in November for statements he made during a Remembrance Day address.
Queen’s grad society critical of impeachment process
Referendum would not be ‘representative of the entire student body’
Queen’s University’s graduate student society released a statement earlier today criticizing the impeachment process undertaken against rector Nick Day. As rector, Day represents both undergraduate and graduate students.
Here is their release:
The Executive of the Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS) would like to clarify that our students are in no way represented by the actions of the Alma Mater Society (AMS) against Mr. Nick Day, Rector at Queen’s University (Kingston). The SGPS represents all graduate students and the majority of professional students at Queen’s, with over 4000 members. Any AMS referendum is limited to its membership, primarily undergraduate students, and is not representative of the entire student body. We ask the AMS, the Office of the Principal and all parties to cease referring to the process begun against Mr. Day as representative of all students. The process undertaken against Mr. Day is an AMS process with neither the input nor the consent of graduate and professional students at Queen’s. Given the grave importance of this issue, the SGPS is carefully evaluating the options to determine the course of action that best reflects the interests of our members.
