‘This is just a start’: AMS, ASUS donate $1,000 in support of Black lives

Donations come after call to action from the Queen’s Black Academic Society

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The Queen’s Black Academic Society (QBAS) asked student groups and clubs to match its donation of $100 to organizations supporting Black lives.

The AMS and the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society (ASUS) each announced they had donated $1,000 to organizations supporting Black lives on June 3.

The AMS donated $500 to the family of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, with an additional $100 donated to Black Lives Matter – TorontoBlack Health AllianceBlack Legal Action CentreBlack Women in Motion, and Black Youth Helpline.

“As a student run not-for-profit organization, we are proud to be supporting initiatives and organizations that our students care about,” the AMS wrote in a Facebook post. “We are now looking to our institution and are asking them to follow the lead of our students.”

The donation follows a call to action from the Queen’s Black Academic Society (QBAS), who asked in a Facebook post that student groups and clubs at Queen’s match its donation to organizations that support all Black lives.

The QBAS donated $100 divided between the GoFundMe created by Regis Korchinski-Paquet’s family and the Black Visions Collective.

In its statement, the QBAS asked the AMS to donate $500 and the University to donate $1,000. The QBAS also asked that donated funds not be taken from any Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Funds. 

The University has not addressed the request.

“We expect Queen’s to work with student’s groups to combat racism at the [U]niversity and commit to the fulfilment of many of the recommendations made in the Principal’s Implementation Committee on Racism, Diversity, and Inclusion (PICRDI) Report, which still have not had significant action,” the QBAS wrote in the Facebook post.

While not specifically mentioned in the initial request from the QBAS, ASUS donated $1,000 on June 3, split between Black Visions CollectiveKnow Your Rights CampBreakOUT!, and Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative.

“We know that this is just a start,” the Society wrote. “We pledge to use the power of our institution to support the anti-racism movement in our community, and help break down the systematic barriers faced by BIPOC students at Queen’s.” 

Tags

AMS, Asus, Black Lives Matter, QBAS

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