I found it rather disappointing that of all the developments in student politics these days, the one thing you found it worthwhile to criticize was the eminently reasonable proposal to create an AMS sustainability coordinator. Not only does the creation of this position make sense, it is long overdue.

I was impressed with the attention given to the environment and sustainability in your Jan. 17 issue of the Queen’s Journal. As a Queen’s alumnus (ArtSci ’85), a professional advisor on the “greening” of the new Queen’s Centre, and now a deputy leader of the Green party and candidate in Ottawa Centre, I am pleased to see these important issues being seriously researched and debated in the Journal and on campus generally.

On Jan. 14 my friend and I took time away from studying to brave snow, wind, and freezing temperatures to canvass part of the Ghetto for local NDP candidate Rob Hutchison. Several people we spoke to asked to have an NDP sign displayed on their frozen lawn. In total, we placed over a dozen signs over two streets in the heart of the Ghetto. The next day I was disappointed to see that many of the signs we installed were removed and/or vandalized—and even more upset that [it seemed] only NDP signs were affected. More tolerance and respect please.

You may sense that I am a little angry as I write this letter. Well I have good reason for being angry. This evening my daughter received word that her rented home in Kingston has been on the latest list of break-ins. This means that she has to interrupt her Christmas vacation to return to Kingston to survey the damage.

I’m nervous. I’m nervous about where our country is heading and I’m nervous that fewer and fewer people want to acknowledge the importance of the decisions that we have to make.

The launch of the Queen’s Make Poverty History campaign this week was timely in light of the op-ed that was printed in last Friday’s Journal. While I agree with Ms. Walji that poverty still exists in full force and that neither the Live-8 concerts nor the coming year will signify its end, I don’t agree that you have to go to Ethiopia to see it.

The Union Gallery is the University’s student-run art gallery. It is the only student-run gallery of its kind in all of Canada, and it provides a polished and professional venue for students to show their work. The Union Gallery was just shy of receiving enough “yes” votes in the fall referendum to pass our request for a mandatory fee increase from $1.50 to $1.75, and [this is still the case] after the recount that took place on Monday night.

The City of Kingston’s recent bylaw enforcement in the Ghetto seems disingenuous in light of the recent Homecoming event, the years of neglect of property standards in general in the Ghetto, and the city’s blind eye to dilapidation elsewhere in its precincts, including some city-owned property.

“‘Deregulation’ is a word that bothers me,” said Principal Hitchcock in a recent Journal article. As a student who attended Queen’s during the deregulation debates of 2000-2003, and as a current grad student at York, I can honestly say that tuition deregulation does more than bother me—it scares the hell out of me. What I hope Principal Hitchcock really means is that the word “deregulation” bothers her—as well as the concept.

The recent article about Amnesty International’s opposition to the use of Tasers to break up street parties may have left the impression that Taser weapons are harmless. Nothing could be further from the truth.