Plebecite questions
Do you think Queen’s University should invest in cost reducing, energy conserving building upgrades?
Are you aware that Queen’s University is currently undergoing an institution-wide Academic Planning exercise that would set each faculty’s priorities for the foreseeable future?
Do you feel that you have had meaningful opportunity to voice your concerns regarding Queen’s Academic Plan?
Canadian Undergraduate Conference on Healthcare (CUCOH)
The Canadian Undergraduate Conference on Healthcare (CUCOH) is the largest student-run conference of its kind in the country. Each year over 300 undergraduates from across the country come to Queen’s University for a weekend to immerse themselves in current healthcare topics. Internationally renowned speakers, doctors, healthcare administrators and policy makers come to engage students in active analysis of their healthcare system. Students can respond during the seminars and the discussion panel session where they can discuss amongst their peers and professionals. An Information Fair with graduate schools and corporate companies is available for networking. Furthermore, a Health Sciences Research Competition highlights students’ work early on in their careers, with cash prizes and a chance to be published in the Queen’s Health Sciences Journal. Delegates have a chance to meet new friends from various universities during the conference and at our Friday night social and Saturday night banquet. The delegate fee is maintained at a low price to make the conference accessible for more students, despite high costs of speakers and declining sponsorship. With your optional student fee support of $0.75, you can help make CUCOH happen. Students from all faculties join our conference and executive committee for a simple reason: the future of healthcare depends on the unique talents and contributions of each and every job sector. Check out http://www.cucoh.com to find out more.
DECA Queen’s
DECA Queen’s is a chapter in an international association of inspired students working to become the leaders of tomorrow by competing in professional development conferences and case competitions.
The association focuses on helping students develop key skills essential to any career; in particular, we emphasize analytical concepts, quick thinking, presentation skills, and problem-solving skills on a continual basis. It is not just a one-time competition or conference, but rather a year-long commitment involving training sessions and workshops in addition to competitions.
DECA Queen’s hosts its own Invitational Conference each November – one of the organization’s most highly anticipated events – in which hundreds of students from various faculties and from Ontario universities meet at Queen’s University for three days. Students also are provided with the opportunity to compete in the DECA U Provincial Conference in Toronto, as well as the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) which is held in the United States.
DECA U is one of the fastest-growing undergraduate organizations in Canada; it was founded in 2006 with 400 members spread across 10 universities and has since grown to over 1000 members in 16 universities in Canada. DECA can also be found in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Germany with a total of over 13,000 post-secondary student members worldwide.
Funds raised by the opt-out fees will be used to support events throughout the year to promote professional and career development on campus
The Future Group
he Future Group is a Calgary-based NGO focused on the prevention of human trafficking. Specifically, the group has presented a series of measures to the Federal Government of Canada aimed at both the protection of victims and the establishment of a Canadian counter-human trafficking office: —“Prevention of human trafficking by working with source countries to address root causes including deterring the demand side of the industry;
—Protection of trafficking victims including rescue, rehabilitation and, when appropriate, repatriation and reintegration; and,
—Prosecution of traffickers and commercial sex-users in criminal proceedings.”
As the Queen’s University chapter of the Future Group, we propose to extend awareness about this international crime in hopes of eliminating an epidemic that is truly global in scope. Accordingly, on January 29th, 2010 we will be hosting a seminar on the prevention of human trafficking in Canada that will be available to members of both the Queen’s community and the Kingston community as a whole. Speakers will include MP Joy Smith, Constable Heather Richardson, Naomi Baker (creator of Canada Fights Human Trafficking) and Timega Nagy (the first documented victim of human trafficking in Canada). We recommend this informative and stimulating event to anyone who is interested in the defence of human rights. We will also be working towards creating a partnership with local Kingston Women’s Shelter.
Keep A Child Alive
Keep A Child Alive (Queen’s Chapter) is an official chapter of KEEP A CHILD ALIVE (KCA), a charity co-founded by Alicia Keys in 2003 that is dedicated to providing life-saving anti-retroviral treatment, care, and support services to children and families whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India.
Currently, there are 33.4 million people infected with HIV/AIDS worldwide, including 2.1 million children. 67% of people infected HIV are in Sub-Saharan Africa, making it the most heavily affected region in the world, and with 2.4 million people living with HIV, India has the second highest HIV prevalence worldwide. Although it only costs $1/day for the medication that would give a person living with AIDS one more day in their life, 70% of people in developing countries do not have access to the AIDS medication they desperately need to survive… How much is a life worth?
KCA is an urgent response to the AIDS pandemic ravaging Africa and India. Our work makes it possible for children and families to obtain life-saving anti-retroviral treatment and the surrounding medical care, changing AIDS from a virtual death sentence to a manageable disease. KCA also supports orphanages that care for children who have lost their parents or family to AIDS. KCA has funded 18 clinical and orphan care sites in 8 different countries in Sub-Saharan African and India.
Keep A Child Alive (Queen’s Chapter) is requesting an increase in our optional student activity fee, subject to individual opt-out, from $0.20 to $0.50, an increase of $0.30. Keep A Child Alive (Queen’s Chapter) gives 100% of donations to KCA programs. Join us in the fight against the global AIDS pandemic and help KEEP A CHILD ALIVE!
For more information on how you can get involved please visit bit.ly/kcaqueenschapter or contact us at kcaqueenschapter@gmail.com.
Mostly Autonomous Sailboat Team
Queen’s Mostly Autonomous Sailboat Team (MAST) is a unique undergraduate student team that designs and constructs robotic sailing vessels for competition at an international level. During the competition the boat steers, hoists and trims the sails based on wind, GPS and water speed measurements without human intervention. MAST has represented both Queen’s and Canada at international conferences and competitions where they have earned many awards for their performance. With over 50 participating members, MAST is one of the biggest and most active design teams on campus. Students from all faculties and years are welcome to join and require no previous experience.
MAST is the only educational initiative on campus that teaches marine architecture and one of the few teams that focuses on systems engineering.
Members are also exposed to real-world problems, hands-on construction and project management experience, which are instrumental in finding employment after graduation. Some of the beneficial applications of the technology MAST develops include alternatives to large-scale oceanographic research vessels, handicapped sailor assistance, sailor training, sailing safety, ocean surveillance and carbon emission-neutral transportation.
MAST is asking to establish an optional $0.30 fee that is subject to individual opt-out. Your support will help MAST continue to be successful and allow them to represent Queen’s internationally. Allocated funds will be used for materials, software, transportation to competitions and building equipment.
MUSE Magazine
MUSE is a fashion, arts, entertainment, and lifestyle publication that aims to collectively portray the artistic scene in the Queen’s and Kingston community alike. With a particular focus on creativity, MUSE strives to form a bridge between the inspiring and the aspiring. In addition, MUSE aims to establish a network and build connections with the Queen’s student body as well as the local Kingston art community through events and sponsorship opportunities. Most importantly, MUSE looks to broadcast Queen’s artistic culture and provide a refreshing and unique outlook on the fashion, arts, entertainment, and lifestyle industries. Bi-annual issues will be published and distributed on campus, as well as in other designated Kingston communities for free.
Queen’s Amnesty International
Queen’s Amnesty International works in conjunction with Amnesty Canada to spread information regarding international human rights violations and abuses. Our goal is to inform the Queen’s community to empower everyone to make a change and speak up for those who do not have a voice. We are specifically focused towards the Queens community and carry out specific Amnesty International campaigns in an attempt to educate, empower, and evoke change. Amnesty International is trying to make a world in which every person in every country can enjoy the freedoms included in the Declaration of Human Rights. As a Queen’s specific chapter of Amnesty, we try to inform the Queens community that we have the power to help people across the world to achieve the same standards of respect and freedom that we have.
At our weekly meeting we discuss human rights issues and abuses and engage in a weekly letter writing campaign. The money from our fee is used to pay for the letter writing materials that we use to send letters to governments around the world urging them to stop human rights abuses that violate international law. Our funds also allow us to advertise for the annual speaker series and film festival, which brings awareness to specific domestic or international human rights issues we feel deserve to be brought to the attention of the Queen’s community.
Queen’s Baja SAE Design Team
The Queen’s Baja SAE Design Team is a group of undergraduate students who work together to create an off-road racing vehicle to compete in the North American Baja SAE Series. Every year the team designs, manufactures, and races a completely new vehicle from the ground up. Members gain real world experience in solving practical engineering problems, as well gaining management and professional communication skills. The team is one of the oldest design teams at Queen’s, having been participating in Baja SAE since the 1970s. The Queen’s Baja Team is also known as one of the top teams in the world of an international field of over 200 teams. The AMS Fee collected goes towards the team’s operating budget of approximately $25,000. Expenses include tubing for the frame, shocks, fasteners, brake components, and competition fees to name a few. The team’s ability to participate in Baja SAE is predicated on securing enough funding to cover our costs, which in recent years has become difficult due to cut-backs. As such the AMS fee is a crucial source of income for the team. If you would like more information about the Queen’s Baja Team, or about the competition, please visit our website at: www.queensbaja.com
Queen’s Bands
Queen’s Bands has been a staple of Queen’s University since 1905. We do multiple performances every week, from football games, volleyball games and hockey games to alumni events and parades. A 100+ person organization, Queen’s Bands is the most visible representation of legendary Queen’s spirit both in Kingston and around the province.
The vast majority of our budget goes to transportation, lodging and equipment upkeep. Each member pays a substantial membership fee, and we are still unable to afford transportation to all the events we have been asked to participate in. Our student fee has been the same for 12 years, while all of our costs have steadily increased.
Voting yes for Queen’s Bands ensures that we’ll be able to continue supporting Queen’s varsity athletics and Queen’s alumni events.
Cha Gheill!
Queen’s Chinese Press
The Queen’s Chinese Press (QCP) is Queen’s only bilingual publication, publishing in both English and Chinese. Formerly the Empress, established in 1994, the QCP aims to serve the Queen’s community by being a platform for diverse voices that otherwise would not have been heard. The Queen’s Chinese Press publishes monthly during the school year. Current editions are found exclusively online @ www.queenschinesepress.com, and print editions are contingent upon funding. Further, the QCP plans to initiate the QCF, a bilingual online forum that will be a thriving marketplace, a symposium of ideas, and a friendly meeting place for everyone. With renewed support, we will accomplish the above and many other projects to better serve the Queen’s community.
Queen’s Conference on Education
The Queen’s Conference on Education (QCE) is seeking an AMS opt out fee.
QCE is a not-for profit weekend conference open to all undergraduate students. The
conference is aimed at students from any and all backgrounds and faculties interested in careers in the field of education. Throughout the weekend delegates engage in professional growth through workshops, keynote speakers and discussions about the critical issues that are faced in the education system today. QCE has two main goals; to have a professional conference allowing delegates an opportunity for personal and professional growth. Secondly, our gaol is to make the conference financially accessible to all who are interested. The AMS opt out fee would be used for both of these purposes. A portion of the opt out fee would contribute to the costs associated with hosting high profile keynote speakers, as well as supplies needed for workshops. The other portion of the opt out fee would go towards QCE’s “sponsor a delegate” program. All students are eligible to apply to be sponsored to come to QCE and will be selected based on financial need. QCE strives to give undergraduate students from all faculties at Queen’s an opportunity for professional development, as well as a chance to find out what teaching would be like as a future career.
Queen’s Debating Union
The Queen’s Debating Union (QDU) is the oldest student organization on campus, and one of the oldest in North America. Established in 1843, and founders of the Alma Mater Society, the QDU has played a substantial role in Queen’s life since the University’s inception. The QDU represents Queen’s at National, North American, and World Championships, and we are currently the 11st highest ranked debating club in the world, above Harvard, Princeton, and MIT.
On campus, the QDU runs weekly meetings open to the entire student body and gives people the opportunity to learn and practice the art of public speech. The QDU will teach you to articulate your thoughts and be more persuasive—important skills both during and after your time at Queen’s. The QDU also runs a high school outreach program, teaching Kingston students how to debate and improve their confidence at speaking in public. We also assist departments like English and Environmental Sciences in their courses, and conferences like ICBC and CUCOH in their events.
The QDU’s opt-out fee goes directly back to students: we use the money to subsidize the cost of participation in the union. We compete at over a dozen external tournaments every year and host two national tournaments on the Queen’s campus annually. Renewing the $1.40 opt-out fee allows us to represent Queen’s and to maintain our local initiatives in helping the Queen’s community. We want to insure that all students, regardless of their financial situation, are able to benefit from the programs that the QDU offers.
On November 9th, and 10th please vote YES to a renewal of the Queen’s Debating Union opt-out fee. To learn more please check out our website at: http://queensdebatingunion.org/, or come to a regular meeting on Wednesday and Thursday nights in Kingston 201 at 7pm.
Queen’s Formula SAE
Queen’s Formula SAE is a student design and race team open to all Queen’s students. The team applies engineering knowledge, design skill, team building and project management to build an open-wheeled formula style race car that is raced against other universities from around the world. The 25 cent increase for this project goes directly towards materials, research and development of the car and assures that this opportunity continues to be available to students.
Queen’s Musical Theatre
Queen’s Musical Theatre (QMT) is a student-run organization which stages two professional-quality productions per year. We aim to provide an environment at Queen’s conducive to positive learning experiences for students within the framework of a working theatre company. Some of our recent productions include Little Shop of Horrors, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Man of La Mancha, and Jekyll & Hyde. We are currently working on our January production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado. Students involved with QMT have the opportunity to take part in shows through roles in the cast, orchestra, crews, and production team. In addition to our productions, we hold musical theatre related social events, such as karaoke nights, trips to see shows, and audition preparation sessions.
Money collected from our $0.50 fee (subject to individual opt-out) helps us to provide valuable opportunities for students, not only through our productions, but also through workshops, trips, cabaret evenings, and other events. QMT provides students with meaningful experience that has allowed many of our alumni to go on to develop their own musicals, attend prestigious theatre schools, and work in the Toronto and Broadway theatre scenes. With your support, we will be able to continue to provide Queen’s students with these exciting opportunities and to bring professional-quality musical theatre to the Queen’s and Kingston communities.
Queen’s University Concrete Canoe Team
The Queen’s University Concrete Canoe Team is an entirely student run design team whose undertaking is the design, development, and creation of a canoe made of concrete. The team competes annually in the Canadian National Concrete Canoe Competition with universities and colleges nation-wide. Our key objective is to provide a unique learning environment for students of all years while promoting a creative, innovative, and fun activity that encourages leadership, teamwork, communication, project management, and problem solving skills.
For the past 10+ years, the Queen’s University Concrete Canoe Team has been an excellent way for students to get involved in the Queen’s Community and meet other students with similar interests from a variety of years and disciplines. The team members interact with primarily local engineering companies in an effort to receive sponsorship for the team. The Queen’s Concrete Canoe Team is involved in all open house sessions for prospective students and is always met with interest and enthusiasm. The Queen’s Concrete Canoe Team is unlike any other club. The design and construction of a new canoe each year entirely in collaboration with their fellow peers and participation in a national competition is a unique experience and a fantastic learning opportunity. Many members have expressed that their experiences on the Concrete Canoe Team have been among their fondest at Queen’s and in some cases have learned more than they did in their classes due to the hands-on approach and interaction with knowledgeable executive members. The team has had several appearances on the Discovery Channel, Queen’s TV, and CBC National News (at the competition) due to the media attention that the unusual idea of a concrete canoe attracts. Queen’s Concrete Canoe always represents Queen’s proudly and brings positive publicity to the university
Ultraviolet Magazine
Ultraviolet Magazine is an on-campus initiative to promote art among the student body. We aim to provide an outlet for students from all faculties, to display their creative capabilities in poetry, prose, photography, canvas art, music, spoken word … and anything else that can be published. Queen’s is home to a unique and diverse artistic culture, and it is our purpose to provide exposure through open coffee houses, Random Acts of Poetry, and Art Attacks. The magazine itself is a annual publication, the result of seven months of collaborative efforts; searching and sifting through submissions to find those representatives of a provocative student identity. Alongside the magazine, Ultraviolet incorporates a CD to showcase the musical submissions – to date, UV is the only campus publication to include an audio component; music is art too. Ultraviolet is a free art resource to all students, distributed without charge. UV is now celebrating its 15th birthday, and with this minimal fee, we will be able to bring art to students for at least another few years. It is our main focus to broaden everyone’s focus. Exposure yourself; submit your voice at ultraviolet_mag@hotmail.com
Students for Corporate Social Responsibility
Students for Corporate Social Responsibility (SCSR) is a student-run association committed to promoting CSR at Queen’s University. SCSR promotes CSR through on-campus events and academic initiatives. SCSR events are open to all students and encourage participants to actively explore issues related to CSR. SCSR initiatives aim to educate students on issues related to CSR, the importance of CSR, and how students can encourage corporations to act responsibly. All SCSR’s events and initiatives are planned and managed by the SCSR executive – a team of 14 students from a variety of faculties and years.
Corporate social responsibility is a concept whereby organizations consider the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, communities and other stakeholders, as well as the environment. Sample CSR Issues: labour rights, fair trade, product testing on animals, and corporate governance CSR is important because we, as students, can have an impact, both now and in the future, as employees and entrepreneurs, on the decisions and the direction chosen by businesses.
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.