Goodes Hall is getting a facelift, and the Commerce Society wants its students to help cover the tab.
To assist in the undertaking, ComSoc has proposed a mandatory student fee to be paid by its students over the next 10 years. The referendum will be held online from March 26 and 27. The Commerce student fee would begin as $69 per student for the 2008-09 school year, increasing to $79 for the 2009-10 school year and $89 for the 2010-11 year. This initiative would bring in a $1.2-million contribution to the expansion building fund.

What do Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Astrazeneca, Altria, Japan Tobacco and Rothmans, Inc., Imperial Oil, Nexen and Shell Oil, Halliburton, and Coca-Cola have in common?
All are companies in which Queen’s was an investor as of March 31, 2007.
Last March Queen’s responded to calls by the group Students Taking Action Now: Darfur to divest from PetroChina and China Petroleum, companies connected to the Sudanese government in Khartoum.
That month, the University of Toronto announced it was divesting from tobacco companies. Queen’s said it has no plans to do the same.

Emma Parsons has a hair appointment on Tuesday in the JDUC.
Instead of a trim and some highlights, Parsons is shaving her head and donating about 15 inches of hair to be made into a wig. Since 2002, Queen’s students like Emma Parsons have participated in Cuts for Cancer, an event run by Queen’s Helping Hands Association to raise money for cancer research and collect hair to be made into wigs for children in need.

Students can expect to hand over an extra $9.02 to the AMS next year.
At Tuesday night’s Annual General Meeting, Assembly approved a motion to increase the AMS specific fee, which funds most of the AMS’s operations, from $54.62 to $63.64.
This year’s $54.62 fee generated approximately $734,639 in revenue.
AMS Vice-President (Operations) John Manning said the fee hasn’t gone up since 2004, except as a result of the consumer price index (CPI).

Ardoch Algonquin First Nation lawyer Christopher Reid hopes that, after today, his clients’ news will start to get better.
Reid said he plans to file an appeal for Robert Lovelace’s fine and sentence by today.
Lovelace will return to court in Kingston on March 18, where he will begin the second phase of his contempt charges. Ardoch Algonquin First Nation co-chief Paula Sherman, Honourary Chief Harold Perry, and non-Native protesters Frank Morrison, David Milne and John Hudson will also appear in court.

Despite the low voter turnout—16.4 per cent of 16,054 eligible undergraduate and graduate students—Rector Johsa Manzanilla said she was happy with the way this week’s rector election was run.
Leora Jackson was named Queen’s 31st rector Wednesday night with 37.7 per cent of the vote in the sixth round of preferential balloting. Runner-up Quynh Huynh finished with 33.3 per cent of the votes.
Jackson, who found out she won at 3 a.m. Wednesday night, said it felt “surreal” to win the election.

Leora Jackson was named Queen’s 31st rector late Tuesday night with 37.7 per cent–936 votes–in the sixth round of preferential ballotting.

The Journal presents its contributors of the month.

This week’s rector debates underscored similarities between the seven candidates’ platforms; most of their truncated answers to questions posed verged on identical.
The seven rector candidates were limited to 30 seconds per response, giving them a chance to show how they handled themselves under pressure. All the debates centred on the vision of the rector and how he or she will handle the responsibilities and challenges associated with the job representing such a wide range of interests.

For most students, having a 9:30 a.m. class on Monday means sleeping in until 9 a.m. and making a mad dash for the door.
For Katie Charboneau, ArtSci ’11, the day begins at 7 a.m. with a wake-up call from her nurse, who helps her get out of bed and get ready in the morning.
Charboneau’s quadriplegic because of a car accident she was in two years ago. She has limited grip in her arms and uses a motorized wheelchair to get around.

AMS Vice-President (University Affairs) Julia Mitchell released her report on the Orientation Round Table (ORT) Feb. 28, recommending new checks for the Round Table Co-ordinator to prevent a repeat of financial and communication irregularity last year.
Mitchell presented the report, which she worked on with Campus Activities Commissioner Caroline DuWors, at last week’s AMS Assembly meeting.

The Society for Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS) elected its executive on Feb. 28 with an 8.77 per cent voter turnout.
Jeff Welsh, PhD ’09, was elected president with 87.16 per cent of the vote. Sean Tucker, PhD ’09, was elected vice-president internal (graduate) with 85.21 per cent of the vote. He could not be reached for comment.

Twenty years after cancer claimed Bronwen Wallace’s life, her cultural and political legacy lives on in Kingston. As the world gets ready for International Women’s Day this Saturday, activists, scholars, writers, residents and students are gathering for a three-day conference to meet, discuss and celebrate Wallace’s work as a Kingston writer and activist.

Vice-Principal (Advancement) David Mitchell has a $132-million goal hanging over him—the amount the University’s expected to raise in donations towards the cost of the Queen’s Centre.
It’s more than half the original budgeted cost of the $230-million centre. So far the project is $41 million over what’s budgeted, and rising construction costs mean the price tag for Phases Two and Three may go up, as well.

Thanks to cost overrun, the University has revised its contract with the company working on Phase One of Queen’s Centre construction. The first phase of the project is $41 million over budget.
Yesterday in an e-mailed statement to the Journal, Associate Vice-Principal (Facilities) Ann Browne said the University changed its contract with PCL construction because of cost increases. Discussions on changing the contract began in December.

The AMS wants Principal Karen Hitchcock out, but that doesn’t make a difference to the committee reviewing her reappointment.
After more than two hours of discussion and debate on Wednesday evening, AMS Assembly unanimously passed a motion stating its opposition to Hitchcock’s reappointment.
There was one abstention.
Hitchcock’s five-year term ends June 30, 2009.

Graduate students at Canadian universities will have a financial leg up thanks to a new graduate scholarship announced in Tuesday’s federal budget.
The award, named after former Governor-General Georges Vanier and part of the Canada Graduate Scholarships Program, will grant 500 Canadian or international doctoral students $50,000 yearly for up to three years.
The program’s funded with a $25-million investment over two years.