Letters to the editors

Laker should look for local feedback

Dear Editors,

Re: “Integrating Herstmonceux” (Journal, Jan. 29, 2009)

If Jason Laker is truly concerned with integrating first-year students from the International Study Centre (ISC) and reducing costs, this would not be his plan. There are 500 or so former first-year castle kids on campus who would love to share their thoughts on how best to develop a way to integrate current and future castle kids to the Kingston campus. We are the ones who have actually been through this process and know what needs to be improved (if anything). The first-year students at Herstmonceux right now don’t know what is needed to improve the integration process, as they have no idea what to expect!

They probably have a lot more questions than answers, but we don’t need to fly anyone over to answer them or prepare the Student Life Co-ordinators (SLCs) to answer them.

For every 150 or so first-year students at the ISC there are 50 or so upper-year students, primarily from Queen’s. These students did a fantastic job answering our questions last year. The SLCs also did a great job preparing us for the transition to main campus. If they need more information, there’s no reason why they can’t just do this with technology. “Planning for increased engagement” can be done over the phone or internet using the same technology that they plan to use for that increased engagement. Also, keep in mind that the ISC is a multi-university initiative with students from a diverse range of Canadian and international universities attending every year. The costs of this trip will not benefit all students there.

Finally, I don’t think there’s much to worry about in terms of integrating the first-year castle kids. Most castle kids I know participate fully in Queen’s life, but we will always stay very close to each other. Can you blame us for not wanting to ditch the friends that we made during an amazing, life-changing experience? That’s one of the things I tell people as an incentive to apply, is that they will come out of it with an inseparable group of friends!

I don’t blame Jason and Talia for wanting to visit this truly fantastic place, but if they want the University to foot the bill then they should apply for a Tricolour Bursary. Amanda Judd

ArtSci ’11

First-year ISC 2007-08

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.

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