FOR HML
By Jimmy English
ArtSci ’06
With the annual AMS executive campaign entering the home stretch, students across campus are choosing which team they will support on Feb. 7 and 8. We, as members of the AMS, all have a vested interest in the outcome of the election because over the next year, the AMS will address issues that are of paramount importance to students past, present and future. Over their term, accessibility, student safety and municipal relations will be at the forefront of the agenda, and each one of these concerns truly affects the quality and reputation of a degree from Queen’s University.
Team HML’s platform sets forth a vision for student representation. Furthermore, this team has the experience to get things done for students, rather than a platform that is more concerned with plasma screens than student safety and accessibility.
The student body deserves a team that offers more than a list of promises. We deserve a team that offers a vision for student government at Queen’s University. Team HML has the experience, the passion and the drive to achieve great things while in office. As municipal affairs commissioner, Naomi Lutes has spent the last year fighting for student safety on and off campus. Naomi was also responsible for lobbying municipal officials to improve the quality of housing and services, and shining a light on the negative media coverage we receive in the local press, which largely ignores the incredibly positive impact students have on this community.
Mark MacGregor has worked this year as VP (Services) in the Engineering Students’ Society. In this role, Mark ensured the financial and operational success of Clark Hall Pub, Golden Words, Campus Outfitters and the Tea Room. In addition, Mark sits on the AMS Board of Directors that oversees the long term planning for the AMS.
Dave Homuth has spent much of his time at Queen’s University working for students in positions such as chair of the Board of Directors, campus activities commissioner, and orientation committee 2005. As campus activities commissioner, Dave was able to greatly increase attendance at varsity athletic events by licensing both football and hockey games. He also managed to build an ice rink on Leonard Field for all students to enjoy.
Team HML’s 31-page platform shows a great breadth of knowledge, and clearly indicates that, if elected, they will continue to stand up for students in all years by revamping the All Ages Access program, holding a year-long interfaculty competition, and ensuring that all houses listed on the Queen’s University Apartment and Housing website are inspected and safe for students. Team HML will ensure that the AMS is financially successful while improving the quality of service that students already pay for. I am confident that they will achieve their commitments because of their proven leadership and experience thus far.
This election really comes down to a choice: vision and experience or mediocrity and clever gimmicks. To me, the choice is clear—that’s why I’ll be voting for Team HML.
FOR HPR
By Abby Ho
Comm ’09
As a first-year student at Queen’s, I have great hopes for my experiences over the next three and a half years. As such, I have chosen to support Team HPR in their campaign to be elected to the office of the AMS executive. In a race of sublimely talented candidates, I believe that the team of William Howe, Diane Phatsaphaphone and Jennifer Raffoul stand out in my mind and clearly would be the best candidates to run our student government. Their sheer passion for positive change within the AMS is crucial to implementing the platform that they have set forth. In addition, their vision for providing long-term change for the University, as opposed to band-aid solutions that have been seen in the past, is fundamental to ensuring that Queen’s remains a premier institute of learning for years to come.
Key to this vision is having an effective, accountable AMS. The best way to ensure this is by reducing the pay of salaried AMS employees by 20 percent, and subjecting these employees to a bonus-based performance review, which is what Team HPR has committed to do if elected. I believe that Team HPR will ensure that the AMS services will work for us, the students, by improving the quality of the services and the products that they deliver.
This policy of accountability and effectiveness is also exemplified by Team HPR’s commitment to creating an events calendar website that will keep the student body informed of all the events that make life at Queen’s the first-class experience it is. I know as a first-year student that such a venture would be of the greatest benefit, as I and many of my peers feel in the dark about how to fully participate and get involved within the Queen’s experience.
However, despite these two wonderful initiatives put forth by Team HPR, there is one thing that this team is doing that has guaranteed them my support. They are truly committed to listening to student opinion. Their survey campaign to gather student feedback about how they can best serve their constituents is both unique and effective, and makes me feel connected to the student government in a way that none of the other candidates have. Not only has Team HPR committed to collecting surveys from students, but also to using the input that they receive into practice next year if elected to the AMS executive, thereby making the Queen’s experience about the students and making sure that the years spent at Queen’s are the best of our lives.
In Team HPR I see a team that will listen to the mandate that we give them. I see a team that will truly represent the student voice. So on Feb. 7 and 8, vote for a positive change in the AMS. Vote for team HPR, for they will truly be our student government.
FOR MBT
By Josh Workman
Sci ’08
While going through the platforms offered by the various AMS exec candidates, I was struck by Team MBT’s fresh and down-to-earth ideas for our student government. Great change cannot occur without a strategic plan of small steps. Team MBT’s twelve months of promises are engaging, but most importantly, they’re applicable to all students.
As one of the chairs of the upcoming Tea Room project, I know how hard it can be to get the word out to students about the many events that are taking place all the time. That’s why I love MBT’s idea to install TV screens around campus. These TV screens will give all students a cost-effective and far-reaching method of communicating to students. They’ll also help bridge the gap that exists between student government and the majority of students whose interests lay elsewhere. Most importantly, however, having this method of communication will vastly reduce amount of waste that flier and poster advertising creates. It’s a simple but effective idea that will enhance the vision of sustainability at this school to benefit everyone.
Speaking of ideas that benefit everybody, who can’t get behind a promise to keep Stauffer open 24 hours a day during exam periods? I wouldn’t call myself an insomniac, but I love to study at night, and I know there are other night owls out there as well. Having a 24-hour library during these crucial study periods means that we don’t have to plan our study schedule around the library’s schedule. Students who want to study at night can do so and be better off as a result. I’ve heard of other universities that keep their major library open 24 hours a day during exams, and I’m glad MBT considers this a priority.
Finally, having been immersed in Frosh Week for the past two years, I felt the great spirit, tradition and pride that Queen’s is all about. It is a shame, however, that after second year, there are fewer opportunities to become involved in these kinds of spirited activities. That’s why I love MBT’s idea for the Ghetto Games. The Ghetto Games is something that, once created, will allow upper-year students to grow their own traditions. Imagine “Team Aberdeen” and “Team William” facing off against each other in September, going through competitions and showing their spirit. This could be a great event!
Those are the ideas from Team MBT that I find most appealing, but there are others, and I suggest you go to their website and check them out. They have creative and sensible ideas to benefit students and start new traditions at Queen’s.
Student government should be about more than picking the same old fights of the past—it should be about something positive and creative, and Team MBT has shown that they believe in that as well. That’s why I’m voting Macmillan, Black, Teuber on Feb. 7 and 8, and I hope you do too. Josh Workman is a supporter of MBT.
FOR SHT
By Neil Conway
ComSci ’08
In a student government election with four qualified teams, it is easy to pay more attention to style than substance—to colourful campaign stunts, or pie-in-the-sky promises (“We’ll fix Alfie’s, honest!”). That is unfortunate, because the primary criterion for selecting an executive should simply be: how competently will they run the AMS? By that measure, Team SHT is the clear choice.
The AMS doesn’t need revolutionary change: what we have works pretty well. What we need is competent management that is focused on the students’ needs. We don’t need plasma televisions mounted across campus (as Team MBT has promised to spend $30,000 on), and we don’t need more services that few students will ever use—like the complicated online student auction site proposed by Team HML. I have little use for either of those, and I’ll wager that most students don’t either. Instead, the AMS ought to focus on running the services we have now efficiently and sustainably.
Team SHT will spend student money where it most directly benefits the students: reducing wait times, lowering prices and so on. SHT will make it a priority to improve the customer service at the campus institutions that students use the most, like the QP, Common Ground, and Alfie’s. They will audit the staffing of AMS services, cutting redundant positions and directing money to where it is really needed. There are plenty of opportunities for cost-cutting: for example, why is the head manager of the QEA paid $14,000 per year? Arranging entertainment at Queen’s is great, but that seems a steep price to pay.
Worse still, getting one of the better AMS jobs often depends more on knowing the right people than on having the right skills. This should be stopped, and as relative newcomers to the AMS, Team SHT have the independence to reform the “AMS clique.” Encouraging more open hiring practices that judge candidates on their merits alone will also improve the efficiency of AMS services.
Any profit made by the AMS comes from student business, so it only seems fair to return that money to the students. Team SHT will do this: if the AMS has made a profit at the end of the school year, that money will be distributed to the students, in the form of a cheque for graduating students and a reduction in the next year’s AMS fees for others.
I’m voting for Team SHT because I think they understand what Queen’s students want from the AMS. SHT hasn’t made irresponsible election promises that they won’t be able to fulfill, or tried to solve nonexistent problems by introducing new services no one will use. Instead, they have some simple, sensible ideas about how to run the AMS more effectively, and they’re willing to work hard putting those plans into practice. On Feb. 7 and 8, I think we ought to give them the chance to do that, by electing Team SHT as the AMS Executive.
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