This week’s round up of media coverage, university updates, and anti-austerity activities include: a list of action proposals from students, who met with the principal and provost, a report on the incredible solidarity at the Anti-Austerity Social, serious questions about the legitimacy of the data being collected by NousCubane, Bill 124 news, and a reminder that we are hosting a reading group at the Grad Club tonight - all are welcome!!
Punishing Staff for Being Starved: Critiques of the Nous Cubane “Service Effectiveness Survey”
On January 31, 2024, the Provost Office announced the “Queen’s Renew Project”, directed by Nous Group consultants who have been hired by the university for an undisclosed amount to help the administration make cuts to balance the budget. The first part of this project involves a survey measuring faculty and staff satisfaction with university services … Continue reading Punishing Staff for Being Starved: Critiques of the Nous Cubane “Service Effectiveness Survey”
Use Investment Income for Teaching and Learning
We all know these cuts are hurting the university. We call on the administration to consider alternative paths to achieve fiscal sustainability such as increasing the budgeted income from the Pooled Investment Fund (PIF) so that we can preserve the academic mission of the university rather than the value of its investments. As illustrated in … Continue reading Use Investment Income for Teaching and Learning
Newsletter #3 (2/6/24)
This week's round up of media coverage, university updates, and anti-austerity activities include: coverage, interviews, and call-ins on CBC Radio, the National Post, and the Queen's Journal; the launch of the Queen's Renew Project with a survey of employees, decisions to extend timelines for FAS, and a QCAA social and reading group!
Anti-Austerity Reading Group Feb 13, 5:30pm @ Grad Club
Join QCAA and Queen's Students Vs Cuts on Tuesday, February 13th, 5:30-7:30pm, on the 2nd floor of the Grad Club, for a Reading Group about austerity, vampiric consulting firms, and university restructuring. Verhoeven, D., & Eltham, B. (2023). “Nousferatu”: Are corporate consultants extracting the lifeblood from universities? Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 1–23. … Continue reading Anti-Austerity Reading Group Feb 13, 5:30pm @ Grad Club
Crisis and Confusion: CBC Interviews
CBC Ontario Morning has been actively reporting on what is going on at Queen's, namely around the confusing question of just how much of a crisis we are actually in. Yesterday (January 31), Elaine Power (a Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies/Gender Studies) and Ethan Chilcott (an undergraduate student and teaching assistant … Continue reading Crisis and Confusion: CBC Interviews
Anti-Austerity Social: Tues Feb 6, 5pm, Grad Club
Please come out to our first QCAA anti-austerity social at The Grad Club (162 Barrie St.)! Join Students, faculty and staff for informal conversation about the budget cuts, parasitic consulting firms, and how we can fight back. The event will be 5-7pm and is child-friendly. We hope to see you there!
Special Meeting of Faculty Board (Virtual) Feb 2nd, 3:30pm
Update: This meeting has been cancelled as the motion was withdrawn.
National Post article questions effects of budget cuts
On January 26, 2024 the National Post published a story about the budget cuts and ongoing tensions at Queen's. Drawing on interviews across a variety of constituents at the university, journalist Joseph Brean quickly cuts to the heart of austerity concerns: "these cuts are being made in a hurried panic, dictated from on high without … Continue reading National Post article questions effects of budget cuts
A lesson from Classics…
Daryn Lehoux, Department Head of Classics and Archaeology, recently addressed Queen's budget crisis by reflecting on the value of Humanities (and liberal arts programs more generally) for the university. He writes: In response to the press we’ve been getting this last couple of weeks, some people have been saying to me that at some level … Continue reading A lesson from Classics…
Queen's Coalition Against Austerity 