Student leaders discuss Palestinian advocacy and divestment at AMS Assembly

After passing various motions relating to referendums in the upcoming fall voting period, student leaders moved to discuss Palestine and the topic of divestment.

AMS Assembly met in Wallace Hall at 5:40 p.m. on Nov. 3, passing a series of fee motions, sending several funding questions to the fall referendum ballot, before engaging in a discussion on Palestinian advocacy and divestment from Israel.

In AMS President Jana Amers’ report, she noted that one of her recent points of advocacy has been with the University Council on Athletics and Recreation (UCAR). She explained that she’s been working to solidify summer ARC membership for AMS members to be included in the current fee. While specific details weren’t provided, she explained that the work’s almost completed.

During the statement by students period, Akaran Siva, ArtSci ’28, spoke to Assembly about his concerns surrounding Bill 33.

“The biggest implication of Bill 33 is that it gives the provincial government control over student funds and how they’re used,” Siva said. “For us, this means that student-run organizations like the AMS, our 300 clubs and advocacy groups, can all lose control over their own funding.”

He called on the AMS to make a petition and issue a formal condemnation of the bill. No other statements were made by students, with Amer later walking over to Siva as Assembly moved on to speak with him briefly before returning to her seat.

Referendums and Ratification

Motion three to six in the agenda were motions from clubs to Assembly to receive for information why they feel their fees should be on the Fall referendum ballot. Motion eight sought to then approve the fees for the ballot once they had been received for information.

The AMS Assembly unanimously approved the motion to receive for information the AMS Food Bank fee increase from $4.00 to $5.50. Food Bank Head Manager Caroline Ding, who moved the motion, said the increased fee would help move the Food Bank away from a strictly first-come, first-served model toward a more reliable, accessible service for students with dietary needs.

The Assembly also approved a motion to receive for information an increase from $3.75 to $4.25 for the Queen’s First Aid (QFA). The motion, brought by QFA Co-Unit Director Andrew Kim, described QFA as a volunteer-run service that attends events by request and remains on call to respond to campus emergencies. According to Kim, a large portion of its budget currently comes from certification and training fees, which cost approximately $850 per volunteer each year.

The new fee’s designed to offset those training costs, ensuring QFA can sustain 24/7 on-call operations and provide volunteer honoraria for extended or overnight shifts.

The motion to receive the Queen’s Chess Club fee increase for information, from $0.05 to $0.10, failed after the club didn’t send a representative to Assembly. Roughly seven members abstained, with the rest voting against, and the motion was ultimately defeated.

Also received for information, a $0.10 opt-outable fee for the Queen’s University Pinoy Association (QPA) was passed with one abstention. QPA’s Vice-President (Finance) Elisha Makalintal, who moved the motion, said the new funding would allow the group to move beyond small-scale, irregular executive contributions and offer consistent programming and outreach for the Filipino community on campus.

The Chess Club motion was removed from the final motion to approve the questions for the referendum following its defeat in being received for information.

All fee questions approved for information at Assembly will appear on the student referendum ballot from Nov. 12 to 14.

Assembly also ratified four clubs under the AMS Clubs Commission: the Queen’s Anime Association, Merlin Neurotech, Surgery Frontiers Network, and Midnight Car Club. Clubs Commissioner Xian Tronsgard explained that there’s been a decrease in ratified clubs this year, explaining that there were about 20 clubs ratified last year, because the commission is “being a lot more compliant with our policies,” this year, following changes to their policy.

Discussion Period

The Assembly engaged in two topics during the discussion period. They first discussed homecoming timing, with AMS Vice-President (University Affairs) Alyssa Perisa consulting Assembly on when they feel Homecoming should take place so she could advocate to Queen’s on their behalf.

Various perspectives were given, but a strong consensus wasn’t reached before Assembly moved to a discussion period initiated by two pro-Palestinian activists.

Pearl Thacker and Jessica Shaughnessy, both ArtSci ’26, spoke to Assembly about their concerns around Palestinian advocacy and divestment from Israel.

They first asked that the AMS advocate for the development of a Palestinian University grant, arguing that “Palestinian students face barriers to higher education due to the ongoing occupation and displacement.”

Their second point requested that the AMS include another position in their Principles and Positions Policy to advocate to Queen’s “to divest from all weapons and manufacturing, in addition to institutions which facilitate militarized violence, apartheid, colonialism, genocide or violations of international human rights law.”

They also requested the AMS to ensure that its own investments uphold “the same sustainability principles” and to “divest from any holdings linked to weapons manufacturing or in violation of international human rights.”

Thacker and Shaughnessy finished their remarks by asking Assembly members, especially faculty society representatives, to engage in a discussion with them on any concerns or questions they might have.

Commerce Society (ComSoc) President, Prem Mehta-Spooner, thanked the students for coming and speaking with Assembly. He then asked what faculty societies could tangibly do to advance their goals to have a guide moving forward, acknowledging he isn’t “fully educated on things” and needs to learn more about it himself.

Shaughnessy replied that representatives should engage their students and assume a position on the points they’ve raised. She added that her hope is to unify society presidents in solidarity with the goals she’s brought to them.

Amer then referred back to the scholarship request, drawing parallels between this request and the Ontario-Ukraine Solidarity Scholarship offered to students following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, adding the power she sees in Assembly.

“With the power of assembly, a lot of other similar things have been able to materially come from Assembly to bring recommendations forward to the university in terms of how they do scholarships, […]” Amer said. “This Principal [pointing to a painting on the wall], this is our only female Principal, and the AMS actually helped prevent her term from being renewed because she wasn’t working with student leaders. So, there’s a lot of power in this room.”

A student in attendance, Ryan Thompson, ArtSci ’26, directly questioned the Arts & Science Undergraduate Society (ASUS) representatives on their thoughts on Queen’s “having over $222 million invested in the weaponry and institutions which directly facilitate colonialism [and] genocide,” and asked if they would take a stance on the issue.

ASUS President Ivana Drinziu answered her question by saying that while ASUS has no control over the University’s assets, she feels ASUS knows “what most of our students feel about the topic, or at least we can infer. In terms of ASUS, taking a stance, we haven’t issued an official statement yet on those investments.”

“We all have a personal opinion on something. We’re all working with our faculty to bring these up to administration, and what we believe is the majority student opinion,” Drinziu said, later adding she plans on taking the topic of divestment to ArtSci’s faculty board this month.

Wrapping up the meeting, Amer invited the students who brought the discussion item to the upcoming Annual General Meeting on Nov. 18.

“Anybody that’s an AMS member can motion for things and vote on discussion items,” Amer said. “I really do invite you to our November 18 assembly if you believe there are specific steps that you would like to see the AMS take.”

The discussion lasted about 30 minutes before Assembly adjourned at 7:40 p.m.

Tags

AMS Assembly, AMS Divestment, Assembly, Divestment, Palestine

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