Despite Provost Matthew Evans and Vice-Principal (Finance & istration) Donna Janiec cancelling a student town hall on budget cuts, AMS Assembly gathered for a meeting centered on student elections.
Assembly opened the winter semester by ratifying Rector candidates and a prospective AMS executive team in Chernoff Hall Auditorium on Jan. 23. Five student fees made it onto the referendum ballot, including the Student Life Centre (SLC) fee, which is requesting an increase from $38.57 to $44.53.
With cuts predicted to hit the Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) the hardest, Amaiya Walters, ASUS president, said she’s been having bi-weekly meetings with FAS Dean Barbara Crow.
READ MORE: Matthew Evans pulls out of AMS Assembly
“Full transparency, we have urged [Crow] to release a statement, saying students want to hear from her. We have made that suggestion many times,” Walters said.
Since the Assembly meeting, Crow released a statement to all ArtSci students acknowledging the budget deficit on Jan. 24 in the FAS email newsletter “What’s Up ArtSci.” Crow agreed to attend ASUS Assembly on Feb. 14 to answer questions from students about FAS budget cuts.
Student Life Centre fee climbing at referendum
The mandatory SLC student fee is going to referendum to increase by $5.96, jumping from $38.57 to $44.53. The University and AMS agreed on the number following a round of negotiations, AMS President Kate McCuaig explained. According to her, the University argued to have the fee increased further.
“[The AMS] has been intensely negotiating with the University to ensure the fee is fair,” McCuaig said.
The SLC fee s the JDUC, which is currently undergoing a revitalization project, and the non-athletic portion of the Queen’s Centre, spaces that allow student life to flourish, McCuaig explained.
Money collected through the fee is directly reinvested to benefit students, McCuaig said. The mandatory fee s SLC spaces like AMS offices, bookable spaces, and common spaces. The fee needs to increase because the University is charging the AMS more in rent, according to McCuaig.
READ MORE: JDUC $23 million over budget, students pay
ASUS President Walters questioned the sustainability of increasing student fees to cover the AMS’s costs as the SLC charges students to book rooms for meetings and events.
The motion to increase the SLC fee ed, but Walters and approximately five other student leaders abstained from voting.
Proactive Minds, Queen’s Black Academic Society, Queen’s Dental Aid Network, and the Social Issues Commission’s Menstrual Equity Project will appear on the referendum ballot with proposed opt-out fees of $0.20, $0.50, $0.75, and $1.10 respectively.
The next AMS Executive could be Team JNN
AMS Presidential candidate Jason Kim, Comm ’25, AMS Vice-Presidential (Operations) candidate Nicolas David Brasset Duque, Sci ’24, and AMS Vice-President (University Affairs) candidate Noah Mawji, ArtSci ’24, also known as Team JNN, were ratified as the sole AMS executive team campaigning for office.
Team JNN teased their campaign’s three pillars: redefining, reviving, and representing Queen’s students.
Team JNN believes there’s a disconnect between students, student government leaders, and the University. They plan to bridge this gap.
“We want to have a big information education session and let students know who to reach out to, what our roles and responsibilities are. [This is] very vital in of students understanding who we are and what we offer,” Mawji said.
Mawji wants to foster a positive relationship between the university and the Kingston community, citing a time when former principals and mayors walked through the “student ghetto” to try beer made by students. In a similar vein, presidential candidate Kim hopes to improve the relationship between current students and Queen’s alumni.
Duque hopes to boost engagement between the AMS and Queen’s Shift Project, introduced to assess campus culture, and address rape culture at Queen’s. Duque plans to tackle the housing crisis by informing students about their rights as house renters.
Each of the candidates are ionate about their prospective roles and look forward to building a “brotherhood.”
“Our job is to be the unwavering voices of students,” Kim said.
Two candidates to go head-to-head for University Rector
Niki Boytchuk-Hale, ConEd ’24, and Leo Yang, ArtSci ’25, are in the running to be the University’s next Rector after a successful ratification at AMS Assembly.
As Rector, Boytchuk-Hale plans to advocate for students in deep and meaningful ways. She claimed her track record shows her dedication; she has previously worked as an orientation leader and the AMS’s marketing director.
Boytchuk-Hale told Assembly she’s committed to transparency and ires the work student leaders have done to push the University on budget transparency. She wants to create a student communications director position, financed by the Office of the Rector, so there are no excuses for students not hearing from their elected leaders.
“If I am pushing the University to improve communications, I should be modelling that as well,” Boytchuk-Hale said.
Yang claimed to be an advocate for students’ needs. For Yang, being the Rector is like being a diplomat—when there’s conflicts, the Rector needs to communicate students’ perspectives and concerns to the University.
If elected, Yang plans to leverage his understanding of university affairs, drawing on his current role as a student senator. He hopes to educate students about the operations of both student and University governance.
“We’re in a bubble where we only talk with student leaders. But what I have realized for the past few weeks when talking to students on the streets is that people don’t care about the problems we think they should care about,” Yang said.
Addressing the University’s artificial intelligence (AI) policy is at the top of Yang’s agenda. He believes professors should ultimately decide what constitutes a violation of academic integrity concerning AI use in their class.
Voting opens for the AMS executive and Rector positions on Feb. 6. Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to vote for the Rector.
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