Matt Dylag sees a bite taken out of his bank account every month when interest on his line of credit is deducted it.
The third year law student is using both the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) and a student line of credit to fund his education.
He said he took out a line of credit from RBC Royal Bank when he began his second year in the program.

Mike Wheeler says he can appreciate the benefits of having a university in Kingston.
He said the academic environment compliments the growth of industry in the city.
Wheeler, a retired Alcan employee and chair of the Sydenham Ward Tenants and Ratepayers Association, said he saw the mixing of the intellectual community with the city at large on a regular basis. But Wheeler also sees some inherent problems, including the expansion of the student housing area. He said expansion of the University campus may help with space issues in the short term, especially lack of parking, but it won’t solve the lack of space.

As the cost for attending university constantly increases, tuition fees aren’t the only factor responsible for the rise. The growing trend among Canadian universities is the annual increase of Student Activity Fees (SAF), which are called Special Fees at Queen’s.
The student activity fee is the money paid by students for campus clubs and serivces. Queen’s has seen a 61 per cent increase in activity fees in the past 10 years and currently charges $676.68 a year. While many of these fees are subject to opt-out, $419.28 of the fee qualifies as mandatory.

The University still isn’t sure it wants to sign onto a program ensuring its suppliers follow ethical labour practices. But students advocating for ethical purchasing policies hope a recent conference and continued dialogue will convince the administration more needs to be done.
The University held a conference evaluating the implementation of the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP) at Canadian universities Nov. 2.

For Ali Shaikh, the events in Pakistan this week are close to home.
Shaikh, Sci ’10, lived in Pakistan until three years ago, when his family moved to Canada for better employment and education opportunities.
Last Saturday, General Pervez Musharraf imposed martial rule on the country, where much of Shaikh’s family still resides.

On the shores of Italy’s Moro River in 1943, battles raged between Canadian forces and German troops, fighting for control of the Ortona stronghold. John Ross Matheson, ArtSci ’40, was there on temporary assignment when a shell went off directly over his head, sending slivers of steel deep into his brain, six of which remain there today.
Despite what most people would consider a major setback, Matheson didn’t let a literal hole in his head slow him down. After the war and a long recovery, Matheson got married, became a father of six, went to law school, got involved in politics and served as a judge in Ontario’s court system.

Next week, Queen’s will open its China-Queen’s liaison office—a first for Canadian institutions.
John Dixon, associate vice-principal (academic and international) is in Shanghai for the office’s official opening Nov. 5.

A new webcam has been installed on the top of Stauffer Library overlooking the revitalization project of University Avenue. The camera provides a live feed of the construction and its images are readily accessible on the Queen’s website 24 hours a day.

Like most journalists, the Globe and Mail’s African correspondent Stephanie Nolen used to have a policy of not giving her sources money. “You don’t want to buy a story and you don’t want to warp the situation you’re reporting on,” she told the Journal in a telephone interview from her home in Johannesburg. “There’s often logistical problems, there’s a safety issue. … You just can’t do it.” That policy changed one day in late 2005 in a tiny village in Swaziland. Nolen was travelling with Siphiwe Hlophe, an HIV-positive woman who started the support network Swaziland Positive Living in 2001.

Queen’s received an overall grade of C in a report comparing sustainability practices at 200 North American universities.
The College Sustainability Report Card 2008, released last Wednesday, was conducted by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, a non-profit organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
It evaluated schools based on eight categories.

The Prince George Hotel—today home to the Tir Nan Og, the Old Speckled Hen and Monte’s Lounge—was once owned by, and home to, the Herchmer family. Lily, the daughter of the family, was in love with a rum-runner during the days of prohibition. He was often at sea, said Claudine Santos-Smith, a manager at the Tir Nan Og.

The Japanese studies program was slated to have $17,000 cut from its budget next year—between 25 and 30 per cent of its budget—but a letter written by Japanese language instructor Katsue Reeve was enough to make Associate Dean of Arts and Science James Carson change his mind.
She also highlighted the difference in difficulty of the language, compared to other languages, as a factor in determining the quantity and intensity of study required by students in the program.

Proposed changes to the University’s Code of Conduct are meeting resistance from a group calling the draft the “Queen’s Patriot Act.”
Students for Accessible Education members said they fear specific clauses in the proposed code will infringe on their right to civil disobedience and force students to snitch on their peers. The code, which was last revised in 1991, was placed under review in accordance with a recommendation made in May 2005 by the Senate Committee on Non-Academic Discipline (SONAD).