The statements of Queen’s Coalition against Racial and Ethnic Discrimination (QCRED) and professor Margaret Pappano reflect at best an ignorance of the the British University and College Union resolution proclaiming a boycott of all Israeli academics, or at worst a complete renunciation of the principles of non-discrimination that QCRED’s name suggests.

Engineering Frosh Week at Queen’s is defined by tradition— traditions that build a notion of camaraderie, teamwork skills and a sense of belonging. It is through the activities they participate in, the songs they learn and the people they meet that unify them into “a year.”

Principal Karen Hitchcock’s denunciation of the academic boycott of Israel is short-sighted and ill-informed.
Israeli universities are not the bastions of freedom of speech and inquiry that Principal Hitchcock imagines. They have abdicated a crucial role that all universities ought to play in society—that of analyzing and explaining the world in ways that promote justice and equality and acting as centres for critical examination of dominant ideologies and social policies.

According to a recent Kingston Whig-Standard story, Principal Hitchcock’s strong denunciation of the British University and College Union’s (UCU) proposed boycott of Israeli universities has prompted some members of the Queen’s community to call for public dialogue about the position she has adopted. One reasonable starting point for such a dialogue might be to compare Principal Hitchcock’s position to that taken by other leaders of Canadian universities. Hitchcock’s opposition to the proposed boycott is in fact widely shared.

“Mr. Tedjo admits his ‘view on the subject [of Virginia Tech] can change with [his] mood’—and how lucky we are to be privy to his mood swings. He initially proposes that, since “we have had memorials” and ‘we have had discussions,’ we need to have action. Yet the statement, ‘doing something for the sake of action is not the answer’ qualifies even this apparent call for action. These quotations are indicative of Mr. Tedjo’s complete inability to form, much less argue, an opinion, ironic for someone headlining the ‘Opinions’ page.”

“B. Shiva Mayer’s opinion piece on the “ineffectiveness” of the SGPS is flat out wrong. He might have recognized that if he turned back from his article to page 3 of the April 5 Journal describing the task force on the needs of Muslim students that the SGPS participated in through its membership in the Canadian Federation of Students (Ontario), and brought to Queen’s,” says former SGPS VP (external) Andrew Sadler.

Regardless of the causes of global warming, the chief suspect—fossil fuel burning—cannot be dismissed as a harmless industrial venture. It’s unfortunate that arguments about global warming have distracted us from the more imminent realities of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are a limited resource and not a sustainable source of energy. The burning of fossil fuels severely threatens the respiratory health of billions worldwide.

It is humorous but disgraceful for the AMS to award the Golden Cockroach Award to Phil Lam. Indeed, doesn’t the real problem lie with the housing minister, our own Kingston and the Islands MPP John Gerretsen and the government in which he serves?

“It’s inaccurate to say that ‘After retiring this year, Logan asked Greenblatt to come and speak at Queen’s in his honour.’ In addition to making me sound pretty vain, this sentence takes the credit for
Professor Greenblatt’s wonderful visit to Queen’s away from the person to whom the credit really belongs: Professor Patricia Rae, head of the English department,” says Professor George Logan.