Transit costs, provincial election voter turnout, and orientation financials dominated the conversation in the shortest AMS Assembly of the year.
The AMS held a Special Assembly on March 3 at 6:30 in Goodes Hall. In contrast to former four-hour long meetings, this week’s Assembly lasted just over an hour, including discussions on the Bus-It Program fee and next year’s Orientation Round Table (ORT).
Special Assembly, which took place outside the regularly scheduled monthly sessions, was called by President Owen Rocchi back in January. In an e-mail to The Journal, the AMS’s Director of Communications Katarina Bojic, explained the meeting aimed to address motions ahead of the March 24 regular Assembly, with the overall goal of shortening its length based on from Assembly suggesting meetings usually take too long.
In Vice-President (University Affairs) Ruth Osunde’s executive report, she reflected on the outcome of the provincial elections and the AMS’s efforts to encourage student voter turnout, calling the campaign a success.
“We got an e-mail today from Elections Canada actually saying that she [representative] spoke to colleagues and said that this was the largest turnout they’ve seen of Queen’s students in a long time,” Osunde said.
In the Vice-President (Operations) report, Ayan Chowdhury announced the AMS’s retail service, Tricolour Outlet, can now sell green merchandise labelled with “QU.” In February’s Assembly, the AMS discussed how the University’s Trademarks and Licensing Office opposed having “QU” on green apparel due to concerns about associating Queen’s with heavy drinking on St. Patrick’s Day. Following this decision, merchandise for St. Patrick’s Day at TriColour Outlet will now be considered a seasonal event.
READ MORE: AMS discusses trademark issues and Society restructuring at February Assembly
In President Owen Rocchi’s report, he highlighted his March 7 attendance at the University’s Board of Trustees meeting, where he’ll be speaking about QBACC’s petition started on Feb. 1 to divest from fossil fuels and the trademarking issues that the AMS was facing.
READ MORE: QBACC’s petition gains AMS backing in fight for fossil fuel divestment
Following reports, Chowdhury brought motion two to the table, which called to include the addition of a question on the Special Referendum ballot, which will be sent out March 12, seeking to gain approval for the continuation of the mandatory Bus-It fee at a new price of $122 to $165 for the 2025-26 school year, $180 for 2026-27, and $195 for 2027-28. This fee was originally established prior to 1974, and last went to referendum in 2022.
“Many students face financial insecurities, being full-time students. So, this fee is recognizing that although our fee does need to increase, we’re being mindful of students and their current financial pressures that they face with the world today,” Chowdhury said.
READ MORE: AMS Fall in Review: OAR sits down with ‘The Journal’
During the discussion period, ORT Coordinator Ali Haider, HealthSci ’26, brought forward the proposed 2025-26 orientation budget.
ORT requested $137,500 in funding from the AMS Assembly. This year, ORT hopes to achieve a budget of $400,000 through all streams of revenue such as sponsorships and event revenue. According to Haider, the previous year, ORT had a total budget of $629,060.
Residence Society Chief Financial Officer Amin Nazari, Comm ’26, asked Haider how he hopes to decrease the budget by over $200,000, especially considering the rising cost of goods. To keep costs down, Haider aims to address “unexpected expenses,” increase sponsorships from student groups, reuse equipment for multiple events, and have open transparency between ORT, the AMS and faculty societies.
“I’ve been working to really increase the sponsorship from both within the university and outside of the university setting,” Haider said. “Within the orientation period, we’ve already been in talks with several student organizations to help do so.”
Haider listed Residence Society as an example of a potential sponsor for ORT and said he is currently in talks with the group.
The emphasis on growing sponsorships comes with the move of the ORT Mystery Concert from the ORT portfolio to the Campus Affairs Commission, leaving roles that previously focused on the organization of the concert to create the Sponsorship Director role.
The ORT budget will be voted on during the April 7 General Assembly—the last Assembly of the year.
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