Rebranding and the student fee allocation of the Queen’s StuCons service was discussed at AMS Assembly on Feb. 16.
Queen’s StuCons—previously named Queen’s Student Constables—recently changed its name to align with what students already call the service, StuCons Head Manager Caroline Jarrett said in an interview with The Journal.
“Constables is a pretty loaded term. I think StuCons is a much more friendly and accurate description of the services we provide in the in the QSC [Queen’s Student Centre].”
The service also altered its uniforms from a “stiff” grey to sport AMS colours with a more “flattering” cut, Jarrett said.
“We aren’t police on campus, and we don’t want to be associated as such.”
StuCons are peer-to-peer security officers on campus who work at a variety of events and perform risk management work.
The service typically partners with the Clark Hall Pub, which usually holds two events per week in the current year. It previously worked all shifts at TAPS, the AMS’s on-campus pub, which has been closed since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The service has mandatory AMS trainings and has started to look at equity trainings.
The service has a $12.83 student activity fee, which wasn’t fully used last year and partially rebated to students, Vice-President (Operations) Tina Hu said at Assembly.
Hu dove into the fee rebate process, which took place over COVID-19-affected academic terms. Rebating occurs when extenuating circumstances prevent a student activity fee collecting service or club from utilizing the fee in accordance with their mission statement.
“During COVID-19, because of closures and restrictions to our activities, the Student Constables fee was repaid to a certain percent,” Hu said in an interview with The Journal.
Queen’s StuCons is a mixed fee and revenue-based service, charging a subsidized fee to student groups when they use the service, according to Hu. As the service is in-person now, Hu doesn’t foresee a rebate in the future.
Coming out of COVID-19, the service lost a “significant” amount of student staff.
“[Losing staff] was a major barrier for [StuCons] to provide services to students, especially with the return to campus activities,” Hu explained.
“With the limited numbers we had, it was very difficult to coordinate and service all those events.”
During her time as head manager, Jarrett has doubled staff numbers—to around 40 members, according to Hu. She’s also “refreshed” the brand.
Going forward, Jarrett said she wants to “keep on track” with student engagement. Staff retainment and increasing partnerships are on the horizon.
“I think [that’s] the main goal and get[ting] it back to what it was in its glory days.”
—With files from Asbah Ahmad
Tags
AMS, Operations, StuCons, student fees
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