Here’s our digest of what’s been happening on campus, this time with news on collegial governance, workplace surveillance, and more.

Collegial governance

  • The Dean of FAS has struck a Process Group to help guide the future direction of FAS through the present period of restructuring. The committee’s Terms of Reference include prioritizing concepts and strategic goals in the current climate of austerity; developing a process for engaging all FAS members in developing action plans aligned to these priorities; and reporting regularly to Committee of Departments and FAS Faculty Board, the bodies that will approve recommendations. After a round of elections at each of CoD and Faculty Board, the members of the committee are as follows: Daryn Lehoux (Classics), Amitava Chowdhury (History), Sammi King (Kinesiology and Health Studies), Sailaja Krishnamurti (Black Studies and Gender Studies), Larry Widrow (Physics, Engineering Physics, and Astronomy), Hossam Hassanein (Computing); Julien Lefort-Favreau (French Studies), Carolyn Prouse (Geography and Planning); and Diane Orihel (Environmental Studies). Please stay tuned for the committee’s outreach activities and participate to the extent that you are able!
  • The Principal has struck a Principal’s Advisory Committee for the re-appointment of Vice-Principal (Research) Nancy Ross. The committee is asking the university community to “submit their views on the role of the Vice-Principal (Research) and the present state and future development of the portfolio by September 30, 2025.” Readers are urged to submit feedback on the state of research at Queen’s. If you’re concerned with the effect of austerity on research support, the prioritization of some research areas and units over others, and threats to tie performance metrics to grant revenue, submit your comments here. 
  • Bicentennial Vision: The long-awaited Queen’s Bicentennial Vision has just been released, and it is…lacklustre. Beyond the document’s ‘be best’ rhetoric (wouldn’t we all like to be best, especially in the absence of resources?), this latest vision has been evacuated of any guiding principles except financial sustainability, innovation, and commitment to undefined ‘priority areas’. What are these priority areas? How will they be determined? What is in the document, however, is a doubling down on trends QCAA has been documenting since the university launched its austerity program: language that disciplines faculty through prioritizing large grant funding; commitments to align enrollment growth (and associated tuition dollars) with undefined “‘strategic priorities”; and the pursuit of “operational efficiencies and technology-enabled service delivery” where staff once were; and a vague description of ‘clarifying’ collegial governance to become timely (which likely signals removing pesky faculty power at Senate). You can submit feedback on the document here by October 31, 2025, after which the Principal will revise the document and present it to the Board of Trustees in December for final approval. Stay tuned for in-depth analysis from QCAA in the weeks to come!

Workplace Surveillance

  • The Provost’s AI advisor, Terry Soleas, came to QUFA Council to speak about the university’s AI policies and initiatives. Council members raised several critical concerns about the university’s use of AI, including issues around surveillance. A key issue concerns the implications of the US CLOUD Act for Queen’s community members. Microsoft recently clarified that it would surrender data to the US government regardless of territorial jurisdiction – in a nutshell, it doesn’t matter where your data is stored, the US state can access it under the CLOUD Act. This means that all of our data stored on Microsoft servers is subject to US surveillance, including any user prompts entered into co-pilot (MS chatbot). This is happening at a moment when the Canadian state is adjusting its laws to better comply with US surveillance demands and is, in the words of the EFF, preparing to hand over Canadians’ digital lives to the US state. The implications of a fascist state having access to all of our data are obviously very serious and range from personal safety to intellectual property. 
  • Soleas tried to assure QUFA members that the US government does not have access to Queen’s data collected by in-house chatbot LibreChat, because all data is stored on Queen’s servers, stays on Queen’s premises, and is not sent to Microsoft. While this may take care of one surveillance issue, there is still the issue of workplace surveillance: if all data is stored on Queen’s servers, who has access to the prompts Queen’s students, staff, and faculty enter into LibreChat? Soleas could not answer this question, but has promised that he would provide a list, along with a transparent description of the security measures Queen’s is taking to protect data confidentiality from US surveillance. Queen’s administrators having access to user prompts would have serious implications for labour relations, so we look forward to seeing a clarification of these questions soon.
  • The Endpoint grievance with QUFA’s request to immediately cease its deployment is in progress, but moving slowly. The first hearings are scheduled for November/December 2025, and there may be more hearings until a determination is made. This means that the grievance process may stretch well into the next year. We will keep you informed as we receive updates.

In the Media

Get Involved

  • There will be a Dean’s Town Hall on FAS restructuring on November 6th at 2:30 pm. Save the date and show up!
  • If you’d like to get more involved in QCAA activities, now’s your chance! Please save the date for a Strat + Soc session on October 8th, 3-5 pm (Strategizing) and 5-6 pm (Social). To sign up for the session, please complete this form. 

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