It would be difficult to conceive of an image that better justifies the allegations of unprofessionalism and cliquiness within the AMS than the tableaus of its latest Assembly.
On Feb. 29, the AMS gathered for a Special Assembly to elect next year’s AMS executive team.
What was meant to be a public, procedural conversation informing the subsequent vote dissolved into whispering and giggling as current members of AMS Assembly gathered in huddles, with their backs turned to the audience. Watching the structureless shuffling of execs moving between huddles—which embodied the bubble of exclusivity surrounding student government many individuals have accused them of maintaining—felt disturbingly reminiscent of walking into a high school club room, and nothing at all like the operations of government in charge of a $20 million budget.
Students attending the Special Assembly or live streaming it from home should have been able to hear the remarks of their government officials, especially since this year’s unprecedented election process disallowed them from casting votes of their own. If the AMS had any reason to believe the information they were sharing about candidates couldn’t be shared publicly—like overheard whispers of encounters at bars—it had no place in a professional context to begin with.
Each of the three elected candidates won their respective positions by a landslide majority. Bearing in mind the AMS’s exclusive conduct during Assembly and throughout their governance thus far, this majority implies the possibility that Assembly members had already influenced each other’s decisions in conspiratorial huddles across group chats and the LaSalle Building throughout the day. Students may very well have been excluded from the AMS’s discussion even before their representatives turned their backs on them during Assembly, both literally and figuratively.
Student engagement is undoubtedly a problem at Queen’s. Yet expecting students to participate when those who attempt to do so are consistently shut out is senseless and frustrating.
It’s insulting to see the AMS exclude students from its governance, as if they’re too stupid to understand its intricacies. Equally insulting is the AMS’s apparent refusal to take their jobs seriously or follow procedure.
The unprofessional conduct of this year’s AMS spans beyond last week’s Special Assembly to failing to approve invoices for months at a time, in addition to refusing to release an equity consultant’s report on the experiences of marginalized staff at the AMS. Perhaps the lack of student engagement makes the AMS incorrectly believe they can act however they please without repercussions, but this isn’t the case.
Although AMS President Kate McCuaig sits on Senate and Rector Owen Crawford-Lem, and Undergraduate Trustee Reem Al-Rawi sit on the Board of Trustees, it remains unclear for what purpose they do so. Their sudden public amnesia about the budget cuts was a flagrant display of negligence.
Such lacklustre participation at AMS Assembly validates permanent staff members in steadily taking over responsibility from and losing faith in student leaders within the AMS, doing irreparable damage to student voice across the University.
The current AMS team must pull up their bootstraps and get serious for the remainder of the year. Of all government bodies, an organization run by students for students should be able to rally and represent its constituents.
—Journal Editorial Board
Corrections
Kate McCuaig sits on Senate and not Board of Trustees. As AMS President she does submit a report to Board of Trustee’s open session. Incorrect information was published in the March 8 issue of The Queen’s Journal.
The Journal regrets the error
Tags
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.
no room for misogyny
journal is proving themselves to be a gossip column once again <3 please reflect on the buffoonery of this during women's history month
No room for incompetence
The only gossip coming out is from the shameful display from our disgraceful AMS administration. Please reflect on why you feel compelled to use ‘misogyny’ as a shield for legitimate criticism.
Queen’s Journal, keep up the good work.