The failure of the Principal, the Provost, and other members of the upper administration to inform and consult with faculty, staff, and students has made the rumour mill one of the more reliable sources of information about the rollout and impact of austerity measures here at Queen’s.
Scholars have long understood gossip as a practice of resistance that plays an especially crucial role in authoritarian contexts where withholding information is used as a form of social control (Dracklé, 2010; Holmes, 2015; Rogoff, 1995; Stewart & Strathern, 2004). Gossip allows people to share knowledge, build relationships, and demonstrate solidarity. It can also be profoundly fun, and we all need more of that right now.
Among the things we have learned via the gossip mill over the last year, was the Provost’s plan to axe QGA for master’s students. If it were not for community members sharing that rumour, the change would have gone through without consultation. Instead, we were able to organize and pause the implementation of those funding cuts. In another example, had two QCAA members not bumped into a colleague at a downtown restaurant one night last spring, we would not have known about a dozen or so layoffs in the Smith School of Business. This is the kind of news we believe it is important to circulate.
If you are aware of information that could be useful to help us understand the rollout and impact of austerity at Queen’s, please submit it anonymously to the Gossip Box so that we can share it here on the QCAA blog.
Queen's Coalition Against Austerity 