What?

This is madness! Madness? This is clearly Queen’s.

Working in the news team this year, I don’t think I can recall a time where there has been such an abundance of contentious student issues. From discussion surrounding Rector Nick Day’s letter and the special vote that took place, to the Alpine Tower controversy at the ASUS Annual General Meeting (AGM), to a motion for AMS to rent a bouncy castle with dancing unicorns and rainbows, I wonder; has this campus gone insane?

This all was made clear to me when I attended last Tuesday’s AMS AGM and the motion to have AMS rent a bouncy castle and have pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows or have their equivalent inside the castle. I don’t know the original intentions of the person who presented the motion, and as the meeting progressed my opinion became very unsure.

Originally I had thought that the intention behind the motion was to prove to the AMS that it’s easy to pass any motion at the AGM, so long as the presenter of the motion has enough student support.

However, as the debate continued, the argument itself became unclear. What originally started as an attempt to encourage student participation in holding student government accountable soon became a push to actually rent a bouncy castle for students.

Some students stated that passing the motion and having a physical bouncy castle in front of a location such as the JDUC will generate student interest. On the other hand, others spoke about how passing the motion and purchasing such a castle would be a waste of time and resources, because if students wanted to be involved they would have come to the AGM.

Some students agreed with the intention behind the bouncy castle, but didn’t believe that the AMS should actually invest in it as a physical entity. That’s when things started getting a little crazy.

There was talk generated that the bouncy castle would be a great resource for students as it would allow them to relive stress.

Others pointed to the logistics of the situation, as they were unsure if the unicorns were supposed to be printed on the bouncy castle or would have to physically be there.

As the lines became unclear, the fact that the motion almost passed with a vote of 54 in favour and 56 against was absolute insanity!

This makes me question, whether or not increased student involvement actually means greater opportunity for betterment, or does it just slow the process down and pose time-consuming objectives along the way?

Tags

AGM, Alpine Tower, AMS, Annual General Meeting, Nick Day, Signed Editorial

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.

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