After over a year of consultation since implementing an interim sexual assault protocol in January 2015, the Queen’s Board of Trustees meets this evening with a full policy set for approval.
The open session of the meeting begins at 7 p.m in the Peter Lougheed Room in Richardson Hall, where the Board will also discuss financials and other project updates.
The agenda can be found here.
Sexual Violence Policy
This policy has been in the works for over a year. With increased pressure from the provincial government following the release of an Ontario action plan and proposed legislation on sexual violence, Queen’s will be at last moving forward with a concrete set of procedures for handling sexual violence on campus.
The policy still needs to be approved by the Board and if approved, it likely won’t be the final version. According to a report submitted to the Board, a final version of Bill 132, the proposed provincial legislation, has yet to be released and approved, which could affect the policy at Queen’s.
The report states, however, that it is “nonetheless important to proceed with the approval of our policy so that the university has a policy and process in place, given our commitment to this issue.”
The proposed policy was drafted with consideratin of feedback received from the Queen’s community, provincial partners and the university’s own Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Working Group.
View the report and the proposed policy here.
Related stories: The Waiting Game
Rector’s Report
For the past two years, Mike Young has represented the student body to the Board of Trustees. Today he’ll do so for his last time and introduce his predecessor, Cam Yung, who was elected earlier this January.
Agreement on the Student Life Centre
The Board, the AMS and SGPS are set to sign a new contract that details the responsibilities of the Student Life Centre in the JDUC.
All three parties have been negotiating a new contract since 2013, but have been operating under the terms of the original 2011 contract.
According to the report, “the parties felt that the responsibility for oversight and strategic direction for the SLC needed to be separate from the management/operations of the SLC.”
The Journal will update this story when more information becomes available.
Increases to Tuition Fees
The proposed increases to tuition fees recommended for the 2016-17 school year “maximize University revenues to the extent permitted under the Ontario government’s tuition fee framework”, according to a report submitted to the Board of Trustees.
The report states that the proposed tuition increases are comparable to previous years and that of other institutions.
As part of the provincial government’s Four-Year Tuition Fee Framework, fee increases are capped at an average 3 per cent increase for most direct-entry undergraduate programs and 5 per cent increase for professional and graduate programs.
The proposed increases range from 2.5 per cent to 4.6 per cent for various undergraduate programs for domestic students to up to a 36.1 per cent increase for the Master of Science in Healthcare Quality program.
The proposal takes into account market demand and the revenue required to ensure high-quality and relevant programs. See the full proposal here.
Tags
Board of Trustees, Sexual Assault, sexual assault policy
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