Opposing the use of televised rugby games in New Zealand churches to attract parishioners helped Aron Seal, a masters candidate in economics and Jim Nicholson, ArtSci ’05, bring home the top prize from the Central Canadian Debating Championships last weekend.
Seal, who also won the Top Speaker award and Nicholson comprised one of the six Queen’s teams that competed at the University of Western Ontario.

Queen’s students and community members gathered outside Grant Hall Monday evening for a candlelight vigil for Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Huddling in a circle holding flickering white candles, 34 people paid tribute to individuals who were slain as a result of anti-transgender hatred or prejudice in the past year.
The event was organized by the Education on Queer Issues Project (EQuIP), a group within the AMS Social Issues Commission that is dedicated to lobbying for and educating the public about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.

Eric Dalke, ArtSci ’09, knows what it means to be part of a consumer-driven economy.
At home on his family farm in Morden, Man., Dalke experienced firsthand the effect on farmers of the public’s perception of food quality.
Dalke said that when the crisis hit, shoppers became distrustful of the products in their grocery stores, making it very difficult for cattle farmers to export their beef.

Grad Club bartender Michael Coo won’t have to brave winter in Kingston this year. Instead, the “forty-something” father of two will spend the next five months riding his bike across Africa to raise money for the charity WaterCan.
Coo, an avid traveler, will participate in the fourth annual Tour D’Afrique, a race and expedition that stretches over 12,000 kilometers of African terrain.

There was tension in the air at Wallace Hall on Monday, as Principal Karen Hitchcock met with students to discuss how they can improve relations with the Kingston community in the aftermath of the unsanctioned Aberdeen Street party.
The approximately 25 students who attended the meeting received an e-mail invitation from Hitchcock. According to the Principal’s Office, approximately 350 students were invited because of their positions of leadership with student government, faculty societies, clubs, DSCs, intramurals or intercollegiate sports.

The Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS) has challenged the application of non-academic discipline for students who break the Queen’s Code of Conduct while they are off campus and not officially representing the University.

Concerns raised last year about the religious affiliation of Operation Christmas Child—a charity that sends boxes of presents to children in developing countries—has prompted the AMS to stop distributing the boxes on campus this year.
However, the boxes appeared once again on campus after a group of students in a Commerce course approached Residence Life (ResLife) about helping to publicize and distribute the boxes. The group said they knew of the charity’s evangelical affiliations, but didn’t perceive a potential for students to be unwilling to participate because of that fact.

Some members of the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society (ASUS) Assembly are calling for increased financial accountability measures after last year’s budget revealed a net loss of $26,403.
According to the 2004-05 budget, ASUS lost approximately $30,000 on the ArtSci formal, and attributed more than $1,500 to miscellaneous expenditures. ASUS also made about $500 from faculty jacket sales, which have garnered more than $5,000 for each of the past two years, and was expected to make $8,000.

The talking stick, decorated with feathers and beading, determined the exchange of words this past weekend at the seventh annual Symposium on Native Studies, hosted by Four Directions Aboriginal Student Centre.
The theme of this year’s symposium was women and knowledge and presentations took the form of a traditional aboriginal circle setting, in which the stick is used to determine the speaker.

Truda Rosenberg was 19 years old when Nazis invaded her small hometown in Poland. Her family was forced to live in a ghetto, where there was no food, no running water, no heat and so little space that people had to sleep in shifts.
Rosenberg survived the Holocaust, however, earned a PhD in psychology and at the age of 83 continues to share her wartime experiences with audiences.

For one Commerce 351 Leadership team, skipping a meal is about more than just avoiding calories and trans fats.
Katie Elder, Comm ’06, and her four teammates have created a class project aimed at encouraging students to tackle hunger within the community. To accomplish this goal, the group has teamed up with Meal Exchange, a not-for-profit registered charity based in Toronto.