Aaron Lemkow and Queen’s Students for Accessible Education put forth two questions regarding membership in the Board of Trustees last week at AMS Assembly, but neither will appear on this
year’s referendum.
Lemkow’s question asking the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario to appoint more students to the Board of
Trustees was rejected 12-7.
Lemkow and company did not collect the required 675 signatures for either question before the stated deadline. Although they appealed for special exemption, the AMS didn’t feel they had adequate justification for the lack of signatures. Lemkow undertook diligent research to find that the University’s royal charter technically allows for the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, as the Queen’s representative, to appoint members to the board; practically speaking, however, this iscompletely unfeasible.
If Lemkow’s only intention was to raise awareness about the lack of student representation on the Board of Trustees, then he somewhat succeeded, and could be commended for that. But if he actually sought to achieve greater representation on the board, then he showed a considerable lack of practical judgment.
Although the charter states that the Lieutenant Governor may appoint up to four members, this privilege has never been exercised. It’s no wonder the question was rejected. There are three students on the Board of Trustees: an undergraduate student representative, a graduate student representative and the rector. One voice to represent all undergraduate students is nowhere near enough.
With 44 total board members, a few more students won’t result in any shift in power, but it will provide the board with more diversity of opinion and a few more members who are in touch with
what is actually going on, on campus. Given that students running for office virtually always talk about the need for increased student representation on theUniversity’s decision-making bodies, it’s regrettable that the only action taken in this regard was a poorly planned—if well-intentioned—proposed referendum question. If students really want to make a difference, they should tackle ractical action on this idea rather than merely pay it incessant lip service.
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